good talk

I've been to Bucharest and Romania thrice, my father's mother, my grandmother for whom I just had Masses said, was an ethnic German.  Maria Theresa settled a lot of Catholic Germans there in the 1750's after the Fall of Communism all their descendants went to Germany.  I enjoyed their art  and their archeological museum (have seen a document signed by Vlad Tepes Dracula).  I've toured their Palace of Parliament the 2nd largest building in the world after the Pentagon.  Bucharest is a real nice clean city, cheap.  I took a picture of the balcony where Nicolae Ceausescu gave his last speech.  Romania's Communist Leader from 1965 to 1989 Nicolae ruled with an iron hand. Something of a maverick when the other Communist countries boycotted our 1984 L.A. Olympics the Romanians came.  In 1989 during the Fall of Communism throughout Eastern Europe Ceausescu resisted and fired on those demanding his ouster.  Also Romania was quite poor due to Nicolae's disastrous economic policies you don't lightly fool with people's pocketbooks.  Arrested, Nicolae and his wife Elena were given a 2-hour trial after which guys competed by drawing straws as to whom would make up the firing squad.  Unmoved by Elena's saying I've been like a mother to you the Ceausescus were stood against wall where Nicolae was shot while Elena was gunned down running around like a chicken in a barnyard.  Romania was the only Communist country where its former Rulers were executed and Romanians have a guilt complex to this day......Knowing when to get out of town.....