When I was only a little kid, I used to come with my mother to Bucharest to visit an aunt who lived in Rosetti Place. At that time, I did not know the city, nor that area, and almost every time I paid her a visit, it rained or it was snow. And this is why in my mind I had created the image of a muddy, crowded and noisy Bucharest.

However, after graduating from high-school, I’ve decided to go to faculty at the University of Bucharest. It hasn’t been easy for me to get used with all the noise and the hasty passers-by who often did not even stop when I was asking for directions. Among the first places I’ve found and with which I’ve irrecoverably fallen in love, is the Cărtureşti Teahouse on Magheru Boulevard. I have discovered here a peaceful oasis situated only two steps away from the loud street.

It’s been three years now from the first encounter and Cărtureşti still remains my favourite place which I visit regularly. Then followed the cinemas with European movies (Studio, Patria, Elvira Popescu, Union, Scala and so on), I’ve discovered the pleasure of watching a Romanian movie together with an educated audience. I made time to go to theatre plays, opera and the ballet. I discovered all kinds of festivals and fairs. I wanted to get to know everything so that I can choose.

I love Bucharest because this is where a thousand different things happen in a thousand places. And if we learn to discover the beautiful buildings, the narrow streets with houses where famous writers lived, the teahouses and, the last but not least, the people gathered here from all over the country, it will be impossible not to fall in love with this city. When I returned here this fall, for my master studies, I was happy to see that several buildings on Calea Victoriei and Elisabeta Boulevard have been restored.

Of course, they are still building constructions where they shouldn’t, authorizations which should not be given, are still made out, but people gradually learn to revolt, they begin to know their rights better and better. Somebody who says that Bucharest is a filthy and ugly city only shows his ignorance towards his own home city. If we are incapable of showing the tourists that Bucharest has many things to offer, how could they possibly learn to like this city?

The cultural life does not take place with such alertness and diversity not even in the cities from the west side of the country. It is a city which slowly arouses to a new life style. It is a city which, along with the restoration of the old center, has learned to sleep no more. Go out at night on Smârdan Street and you will understand what I am referring to. Go to theatre, to the movie, go to a park or just walk down the streets. Be a tourist in your own city before being a tourist in other countries.