It represents the third important wetland in Southern Romania, after the Danube Delta and the Small Island of Braila. It is situated in the Romanian Plain, Burnazului Plain district, between Bucharest and Giurgiu, approximately 30 km from each.

I remember being very careful at my steps because I really didn’t want to take a bath there

This is the palace that nobody lived in…

Conservative politician Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (nicknamed The Nabob for his fortune), member of the Cantacuzino family, a family with a long-standing history in Romania, decided to build a palace in Floresti, 80 km north outside Bucharest, at his nicece’s wish, Alice.

Inspired from Paris-Versailles palaces, the shape and height of this palace are similar with Petit Trianon palace, while the style and decorations are similar with Grand Trianon palace.

Construction started around 1907. During World War I, when the exterior was coming to a completion, the roof was damaged, the reasons still remain unknown.

Gheorghe Cantacuzino died in 1913 without seeing the palace completed. The objects to decorate the interior were stored in the basement, and were never set up. They were stolen along the years. After the death of the magnate, no one took care of the castle, and no one ever lived in it. Princess Alice left to live abroad, and her uncle’s gift, the Princess’ Palace, as it was known, went into oblivion, and still lies forgotten.

At the start of World War II, impressed by the beauty of the palace, German soldiers set a guard around it. German general von Paulus even said that “the Prahova Valley, apart from oil and Peles castle, has one other immeasurable treasure: the Little Trianon palace, better made and grander than the one in Paris”.

But its fate is cruel. In 1944, the Soviets stole some Ionic columns from the building. The 1977 earthquake also took its toll. After the fall of the Communist regime, locals started ruining the exterior Baroque, neo-Classical, and Renaissance decorations, using the marble and granite to embelish their stables and pigpens.

Is it to late to restore it to the glory it deserves?

Read more about it:

Archives: RRI Encyclopaedia

AutoCAD 3D palace model

But this time it is different. I am back after the most difficult time in my life, after losing my older sister which I miss terribly. She died on the 26th of February of septic shock after 2 weeks of struggling with an absurd and out of the blue necrotising pneumonia, produced by a Panton-Valentin leukocidin (PVL) strain of meticillin-sensible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA).

I will not even begin to tell you how much it hurts, how misunderstood I feel, despite all the support from friends and strangers alike. It is a stab in the chest that will keep on bleeding, bad enough to keep me suffering, but not deep enough for me to give up life. I am literally numb and drained and somehow disoriented, always feeling the need to do something to help me stop thinking about the absurdity of it all.

The feeling of despair, rage and utter necessity to cry out of the blue are haunting me. I feel the need to trash our room (now my room, which I cannot stand being alone in), to smash everything I touch like in a nervous breakdown. But what do I do instead? I cry between these these soulless four walls until dawn and I hate myself because I only cry because of selfishness.

I cry because I miss her and it is unbearably painful.
I cry because I wish it were her every time the phone rings.
I cry because I don’t know what to say if somebody asks me if I am an only child.
I cry because I don’t have enough recent pictures with just the two of us, but enough pictures with urban landscapes to build a virtual city from.
I cry because I cannot take that Eurotrip that we always dreamt of taking together.
I cry because I feel so much poorer without her.
I cry because nobody calls me by my nickname as she did.

So there you have it, world! Despite all the appearances, I am not fine, I never was and surely after, never will be.
I can only cherish her memory by continuing to do what she believed in and by trying to never let her down. She was for sure the first person who believed in me unconditionally. Not because I was her sister, but because she believed there was a greater good in everybody. Now I feel unbalanced, having to prove myself to myself in every step I take.

Having the constant need of doing something, I’ve decided to catch up on my to-do everything list, because maybe I was feeling more of a leaf in the wind of my own destiny. My list is never-ending and contrary to any 20-ish year old believes, life apparently is not.

Maybe I will upset a few friends writing this, but there is nothing of greater importance than knowing what is truly important in your life. Because it is just as Umberto Eco said:

‘What is life if not the shadow of a fleeting dream?

And in the end, this is the one thing I couldn’t listen to from beginning until the end, since my sister died. Maybe you will.

The catalyst for these rallies was the resignation of appreciated Raed Arafat, the founder of the emergency system known as SMURD and an opponent of the healthcare reform proposed by the government. The proposal favored the private healthcare system by allowing access to government funds.

The protests have spread in all the big cities of Romania and have transformed into rallies against the government’s policies and austerity measures. In Bucharest, protesters gathered in University Square, demanding justice, early elections and the ouster of Romanian President Traian Basescu.

After nightfall, several people were hurt during clashes between demonstrators and police forces.
More protests are announced in the next days.
The Romanian officials have not yet reacted with an official response.

The Parlamentarium caters to all 23 official languages of the European Union, offers free admission and free guides which display information and short films at all points of the visit. Everything is interactive: you will be guided through the journey of European integration and its impact on our day to day life by a multimedia revolution.

We begin the tour in a yellow tunnel of voices that greet and  immerse us in Europe’s multilingual heritage. Our first stop is a room filled with 3D tactile models of the EP‘s three places of work – Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg.

Going down the stairs, we reach the “History of Integration” section, offering hundreds of iconic images, quotes, short movies and historical documents about events that have helped change the face of Europe as we now see it. With a quick scan you can find out more about any of them.

The subsequent chambers are dedicated to the work of the MEPs (Members of European Parliament).
We get to search members by name, country, political party etc. and read about them. “It’s your choice” is an interactive voting application that allows visitors to cast votes on the topics being discussed and to compare their decisions with those of fellow visitors.

My personal favorite is the “Ground of Stories” chamber. Visitors explore a 200 sq meters map of Europe with almost a hundred interactive points using moveable devices with touchscreens and scanners. They can take a virtual trip through the old continent to discover how the European Union has contributed to the development of the Member States. If you look up, you will be amazed by the unique 3D lighting installation representing a shifting map of Europe. As the light changes, it displays the results of different opinion polls.

Maybe you’re a bit tired. Don’t worry, you can take a seat between two earth globes presenting different worldwide statistics.

As you enter the next chamber, take a look at the 360° surround-screen digital projection featuring amazing locations throughout Europe. Sit down and meet fellow European citizens, willing to share their stories and to explain how the European Union and its policies had an impact on their lives and projects.

Have something to write? Post a message representing your wish from the European Parliament, you will see it projected in a room towards the exit.

A temporary exhibition about the creation of the Parlamentarium was a very pleasant goodbye surprise, as I was able to understand more about the concept, the design, the teamwork and the political dimensions of this project.

As I looked at my watch, I realised I had spent three hours in the Parlamentarium and still felt the urge to come back on another occasion.

Instead of an ending, here are some facts and figures of the Parlamentarium:

Q: What does the Parlamentarium actually mean?
A: Parlamentarium derives from the Latin word “discussion” and -arium is a word devoted to a place.

Q: How many LED bulbs are on the 3D ceiling map?
A: 13.000 LEDs over a surface area of 42 sq meters.

Q: How long did it take to complete the project?
A: 6 years, 3 months and 10 days.

Q: How many litres of paint have been used?
A: 1. 656 litres.

Q: How many photos are exhibited?
A: More than 1.400.

Q: How many meters of cabling have been used?
A: Around 40 km.

Q: How many nationalities have been working together for the realization of the Visitor’s Centre?
A: 36 nationalities.