Herastrau Park in the raw green

Walks and walks. Those who love walking can turn any outing into a walk. All you have to do is take your time and enjoy looking around more carefully.

My favorite walks, under the conditions of city life, are walks in the park. The city dweller, deprived of the opportunity to be close to nature, has only one possibility to enjoy it in the easiest way. By taking a walk in the park.

The problem is that parks are, however, few in any city. Whatever you do, you can't avoid repetition. I've done hundreds of walks in a few parks in Bucharest, where I live. In some parks I did more walks, depending on the proximity to home, an important criterion in choosing a place. There is another important criterion. The beauty and complexity of the park. From this point of view, in Bucharest the most impressive park is Herastrau...

The Herastrau Park

The park is no longer called that, but that's how I've known it since childhood and that's how it will remain for me. I don't like the frequent name changes dictated by political changes in the country. Now it's called King Michael I Park.

_{The park was initially intended to be called National Park (Parcul Național), but it was renamed Parcul Carol II during the period of the Carol II of Romania's cult of personality. Following World War II, it was renamed Parcul I. V. Stalin, featuring a statue of Stalin at its entrance. In 1956, during the de-Stalinization period, Stalin's statue was torn down and the name of the park was changed to "Herăstrău". The name Herăstrău referred to the Herăstrău lake, and has its origin in a dialectal version of the word "ferăstrău" in standard Romanian, meaning saw or sawmill, referring to the water-powered sawmills that were once found on the Colentina river which flowed through it.
On 19 December 2017, by a decision of the Bucharest General Council, the park was renamed to "King Michael I Park" to honor the former King of Romania after Michael I, died on 5 December 2017.Source}

Herastrau is also the largest park in Bucharest.

_{The park has an area of about 187 ha, of which 74 ha is the lake. Initially, the area was full of marshes, but these were drained between 1930 and 1935, and the park was opened in 1936. The park is divided into two zones: a rustic or natural zone (the Village Museum), which is left more or less undisturbed, and a public/'active' domain with open areas for recreation activities. Small boats are allowed on the lake. Source}

That makes it easier to try to avoid repetition when I tell about walks in this pleasant walking community, #wednesdayWalk, so well chosen and cared for by @tattoodjay!

I have written many times about this park and each time I have tried to show, in addition to the common and unavoidable places, and unique places, never shown before. Like a big club right at the entrance to the park.

Hard Rock Cafe!

I think it's easy to guess that it's a club for hard rock music lovers. I have to admit that although I am a fan of rock music, I have never been to this club.

It is an impressively large location that has been beautifully landscaped and maintained recently.

Because time is running faster and faster for me now, I have made it my goal to visit as many places that I have ignored so far and soon I will go to see a concert in this club as well when a rock band I like will be invited. Until then, I'm left with the more accessible walk in the park...

Children and flowers

A park that is primarily for children. Children who come with their parents or teachers from school.

It is, at the same time, a park for seniors, a park for flower lovers,
and as, my wife and I, fall into this category, we were pleased to see a pink wisteria, an unusual color, at least in Romania.

As written above in the description of the park, this place has been divided into two parts, one of the park proper and one of the village museum. Here is an entrance to the museum, a museum much sought after by foreign tourists who want to better understand Romania.

This village museum covers a large area and hosts peasant households from past centuries and from all regions of the country.

The Island of Roses

Just after we pass the museum area, a part of the park called the Island of Roses begins. Although I have been to this place many times, since my childhood, that is more than 50 years ago, I did not know the name of the place, which was indeed full of roses.

To get there we have to cross a small arched bridge over the waters of Lake Herastrau.

I love this bridge and it shows in the many photos I take every time I'm there.

From here we are on the Island of Roses! I said above that I didn't know that's what it was called until recently when trying to research the park, I googled more.

I wasn't surprised by the word "roses", because I knew that, there are the most roses in the park. Climbing roses on the sides and lots of roses in the middle.

The word "island" surprised me. This word made me understand that this place is an island and I didn't understand that until now! Indeed, the place is surrounded by the waters of Lake Herastrau!

I should have thought that a place that starts with a bridge and ends with another bridge could only be an island, but I never thought of that... to me it was just a park.

The island, as seen from the other end.

I have made it a point to stop this walk at the end of the Island of Roses. This second bridge was the end. But there was still a lot left to show of the island and I feel it needs to be shown...

Places and people.

People and dogs. I'll start with this.

Places.

In the middle of the island is a monument to the founding fathers of the European Union.

I am an enthusiast of Romania's membership in the EU. I am aware of the advantages of this association and how much it has contributed to the modernization of our country. I am an old man who lived more years in communist Romania than in democratic Romania. I cannot forget our desires and dreams of the past when we lived in darkness!

I have younger colleagues here who don't like this European Union. Unfortunately, they don't know how bad their position is. They think we have lost our independence as a country...

I'll give them just one example. Ukraine is fighting hard and at a colossal cost in human lives to gain independence and... join the European Union! They're not afraid of losing their independence. When they are willing to make such a sacrifice to join this club of Europe it means they know what they are doing!

Returning to Herastrau Park.

The raw green

I was most impressed by the raw green color that swept through the park.

There's a time after spring comes that I can never fix. The moment when the leaves come out on the trees!

After winter passes the trees stay bare and leafless for a long time. We all know that the leaves are coming... I wait carefully, look at the trees almost every day and notice nothing. Then I probably get bored of watching it because suddenly I see all the trees all leafy, all green. It's like it all happens in one night. I know it doesn't happen overnight but I don't understand how leaves grow from the size of a grain of rice to their mature size in such a short time.

The raw green is not just up in the trees. It's also at our feet, in the grass. The dandelion is a very fast plant, it has already set seed. Eager to spread everywhere and fill with yellow flowers.

This spring's first real walk is coming to an end...

... yet this story cannot end without a flower, as our colleague Denise tries to get us used to #alwayaflower.

I don't know how a Japanese cherry tree got lost in this park. I mean, I think I do. On the other side of the park, at the entrance from the Arc de Triomphe, there is a Japanese garden, full of such cherry trees. Probably this one in the photo also went for a walk to get to know the park better!

_{Originally written for #WednesdayWalk. Because I didn't manage to complete and post in time I was forced to transfer to #Pinmapple considering that this park called Herastrau is a very nice place for any tourist arriving in Bucharest and looking for a place to rest, relax, eat, and drink, have a coffee and even meet friends.}

Traveler to the city where I live is what I've been doing for many years. I try to show what is more interesting, more important, and not necessarily what is more beautiful in the city where I live. I don't bypass the ugly places or the sometimes uncivilized behavior that I try to explain through the history of these places but I focus especially on what I think a visitor would like to see when he arrives for the first time in Bucharest. Bucharest, the capital of Romania, a member country of the EU, is located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe. I'm going to use this tag #mycity and then put these places on the Pinmapple map for those who want to discover them more easily!

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