A solution to #bucharesttouristproblems

Being a tourist in Bucharest isn't an easy task. Not that being a local is much easier either but you tend to keep your head down and walk the same streets and stick to the beaten path rather than scour around for snippets of history cemented in buildings' walls.

As always, I'm orbiting the 'twilight zone' of the two categories. Not a tourist but not a daily commuter either, for the past years I have been endlessly searching for lesser known but probably more authentic monuments in the form of churches, houses, streets and galleries. And when you do find the occasional hidden gem, a light pounding of your heart takes over - not only do you feel like a veritable explorer deserving of a National Geographic spread, there's a sweet but odd sensation of a sacred place where only a few deserve to see.

Maybe I'm just making up stories but there's no denying the revelation that A.R.C.E.N's 'Cu bastonul prin Bucuresti' (i.e 'Bucharest by cane') tour has been.

Summer well 2014

It feels like I've karated my way through a brick wall, that's how tired I am. And that new sofa bed I'm now sleeping on? Yeah, not that comfy. I've actually counted 20 hours of sleep in three days, which for me is just not enough to function on, especially after the week in Vama Veche.

Nonetheless, I had so much fun at Summer well, my first ever festival (no camping involved) that took place this year in around Bucharest. It was held on a private estate Palatul Stirbey, which is otherwise a kind of monument with a big park, a lake and a manor house all transformed into a fun park for the 10.000 people that turned up.

Bucharest ShortsUp : Movies and a picnic in the Botanical Gardens

On Saturday, three of us brought a blanket and ourselves down to the Botanical Gardens in Bucharest for a really cool project: an outdoors picnic with a few shorts showing. It was such good fun and it had a lovely community feel as we all knew we had some common interest by being there.
Word of warning, don't be like my friend and take the writing on the back of your tickets literally, you ARE allowed to bring in food! We had to make do with a bag of chocolate cereals that I (rebelliously) hid in my bag, thinking we'll be checked and the precious food taken away from me...but no!

We got there (aka the entrance through Portocalelor road) and then found a little plot of grass to call ours and proceeded to chat and gossip for about an hour when the shorts started at about 9.30 pm. There were fun little 'game stations' and we tried the giant soap balloon making one...needless to say I will not be going down that particular professional road.

The movies we were shown were from Germany, Holland, France, England and the US and were surprisingly good! I don't have a massive experience with shorts but for some reason find them either very amateur-ish or a bit depressing, but these were in none of the categories mentioned above.
Of the list:

• The Business trip (French, by Sean Ellis - effective fun)
• A curious conjunction of coincidences (Dutch, by Joost Reijmers - super funny)
• Love at first sight (British, by Michael Davies - clever and made us all go 'awww' at the end)
• Watching (British, by Max Meyers - slightly less obvious, but super clever)
• Fear of flying (Irish, by Conor Finnegan - animation)
• Arret demande (French, by Thomas Perrier - every man's worst dream)
• and a few others like 'Paul Ronding is...Paul Rondin' and 'On the edge of destiny'

I especially liked 'A curious conjunction of coincidences' on the clever linking of events and making you realize that no matter the apparent insignificance of an action, the consequences are interlinked with others'. 'A business trip' also stood out because of the simplicity of the plot and the entirely unexpected ending, laughed out loud. 

They have a sequence of showings and I think this might be a yearly thing - it's definitely something I'd recommend and would go to again. The tickets are 20 lei (around £4) if you buy them beforehand - check the website for vending points- and 25 lei (£5) if you buy them at the door. 

Bring friends, a blanket and food for a good time!

WEBSITE HERE - http://shortsup.ro/evenimente/