According to my weather forecast, provided by a popular supplier of personal communications equipment, we may only have a few more evenings of blissful autumn melancholy left, before the harshness of winter engulfs us.

I have always condemned the choice of the Athenaeum as a venue for classical music concerts. The acoustics within the beautiful auditorium are utterly unsuitable and even Maxim Vengerov struggled to get his message across recently, in a room where it seems that everyone is issued with ear muffs as they enter.

However, if you are looking for somewhere in the center of town to forget the coming of winter, the looming tragedy of the parliamentary election campaigns, the financial collapse of the European Union, stagnation in the economy, the increased chances of experiencing a car crash at Charles de Gaulle and the stress of knowing that Romania may not qualify for the next World Cup finals; I urge you to visit the Athenaeum garden at dusk.

There, as you sit uncomfortably in one of low wooden benches you can smell the last of the cut grass mingling with the damp, cooling air. Listen to the distant mumbling of conversation (miraculously heard above the adjacent traffic) between the people taking a last cigarette or waiting for their delayed partner before passing between the cream colonnades, to collect their concert ear muffs. And try to count the yelling crows, swirling above the balding trees and behind the grand façade of the Hilton hotel.

There is no greater or more peaceful experience to be had in autumnal Bucharest and it is absolutely free.

By Ronnie Smith, Guest Writer 

(photo source: sxc.hu)