Roses Island

An exceptional January day, a mid-January as I have never seen before in my life! Sunshine, spring temperature, spring atmosphere. I suppose because I can no longer say with certainty, that it is winter now, but winter otherwise, such as I have never seen, as I have said, in over sixty years of environmentally conscious living.

A day that says... walk. Another walk in the biggest and most beautiful park in Bucharest, Romania, Herastrau Park! For @tattoodjay's community, the well-known #WednesdayWalk,

I love this park because it has a great lake. A lake with an area of 74 hectares. The path around the lake is 6 km long, I don't even need the step-counting app to know how far I've walked.

The park was laid out in 1936, around Herastrau Lake. In this area in the north of Bucharest, in 1806 there was a large forest, a lake, and some marshes. The inhabitants of the city started to walk along the lake shore. More than a hundred years passed before the place became a park.

We can still see trees from the old forest today. This is where my favorite bench is!

For me, the lake is the most important. Because I like water. But today I want to show something else in this park, because today, listening to a young father of a very young child, I was astonished to learn that I have walked hundreds of times in a place that is an island... and I didn't understand that I didn't notice! I mean, I didn't think!

Roses Island

The beginning of the island... or the end?

Here is the bridge over a canal of the lake. In front is where from spring to late autumn there are lots of roses. Only the absence of roses proves that it is now winter. A place I think of as a kind of park square. Today I realized (helped) that it is actually an island, as it is surrounded by the waters of the lake.

When I'm out walking I like to watch other people walking.

Ordinary People, People Of Iron, And People Of Stone

I like to photograph people, but because I don't want to bother and disturb them, I often photograph them from behind, so they don't see me doing it.

Here is the young father I told you about, who told his son that he was going to take him for a walk around Roses Island. I winced and suddenly realized that this place is an island and I wasn't paying enough attention to discover that!

I like the photo above the most. Because it shows three generations..., grandparents, parents, and children. The people in the photo are not related, they don't know each other, but they represent the three categories, even if the child is not visible, he is in the baby carriage.

I looked carefully at the photo and noticed something behind the characters in the photo, in fact, I knew very well what was there but it reminded me of my favorite movie, "Blow-up" which has as its central story a photographer who successively enlarges some photos he took in a park and thus discovers a murder. That's why I did a crop!

Of course, I didn't discover a crime, but still, the photo showed me two things.

First, I know this gentleman, but now I can't remember from where... and second, I can see behind them an interesting sculptural ensemble that I like both as an achievement and as symbolism.

European Union Founders' Monument

What I've called here "People Of Iron" are actually bronze sculptures depicting EU founders.

In the center, the monumental ensemble consists of a round monument made of marble and blue granite, which has a mast in the middle, on which the flag of the European Union is flown. The yellow stars found on the flag of the European Union are depicted in bronze on blue granite. At the edge of the round monument, there are 12 bronze busts representing the founding fathers of the European Union. Each bust is 1.3 meters high.

Source

A tribute to the EU by the Romanian state, the monument was made by sculptor Ionel Stoicescu and was unveiled in 2006. It is an attraction for people walking through the park, especially children, who are impressed by the size of these heads.

This part of the park is very crowded on weekends, our walk is more enjoyable when there are fewer walkers during the week. It's a favorite spot that offers a space to relax after the more strenuous lakeside walk.

Also here is another sculpture, very close to the iron heads, this time of classical inspiration.

Hercule knocking down the centaur

I called them "People Of Stone" but they're not actually stone, they're marble...

...on the other hand, there is only one man in this sculpture. The other character is a centaur, which is half man and half bull.

It represents one of Hercules' battles, the one with the centaur, of course.

The sculpture was made in 1925 by Ion Jalea, one of the important Romanian sculptors, and a member of the Romanian Academy.

It is declared a historical monument.

Also on the territory of Herastrau Park, the Village Museum was set up in 1936. A museum presenting Romanian ethnography and folklore, with exhibits from all regions of the country. It is one of the largest museums of its kind in Europe and is very popular among tourists visiting the city.

It borders Rose Island on one side, being separated only by a narrow lake, no wider than 50 meters... I think.

I'm waiting for the real spring to take a long walk through this museum.

The end of the island... or the beginning?

We also reached the other bridge that provides passage over what I would call the dry land (the land) if there was a sea here.

To the two questions asked above, the answer can be yes. It depends on which direction you want to go to the island!

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 put these places on the Pinmapple map for those who want to discover them more easily!

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