Baneasa Shopping City

I think the "Halleluja" chorus started ringing in the girls' ears when they saw this.

Where did we park?

This is making me dizzy.

What would a trip to the mall be without a Scooby Do meet-n-greet?

Traffic was bad on the way home: note the car ahead 4x4-ing over the lawn and sidewalk to get onto the surface street. We're catching on to Romanian "driving etiquette."

I'm ashamed to admit it, but the girls have already had Happy Meals in Bucharest. Our busy Saturday included some quality consumer time at Ikea (got a high chair for Charlotte) and then we strolled the mall.

In true Mall Rat form, Ava and Audrey hit McDonald's for lunch (at least you can get a salad of julienned carrots and cabbage instead of fries. Do they have that in the US?)

The "mall" is the Baneasa Shopping City, and city is the right word. It is HUGE. I mean, probably-the-biggest-mall-I've-ever-been-to huge. Three or four floors connected to CarreFour, a gigantic supermarket. All this right next to the Drive-in (why not?) and Ikea, Brico Store (Romanian equivalent of Home Depot), and a big office supply store.

No one told me that suburban America had been imported into northeast Bucharest. At least they kept it out of downtown. But seriously, it is a very nice area, and after years of communist deprivation, it's wonderful to have such an option. Now, if only more of the people could afford to actually shop here. . . .