The Village Museum is one of my favorite places in Bucharest. It works for me as a sort of time traveling machine and it offers the so needed escape in this era of fast cars, huge mansions with pools and gadgets. Every time I need something to lift my spirits, I go to the Village Museum. If they'd let me get into the rooms, sit at the table and take a nap on one of the beds covered in the colored blankets, I'd probably be even happier. But I have to settle for being able to look at the rooms from the doorstep.

Early spring is probably the best time to visit the Village Museum – it is not yet very crowded, the weather is not that hot – even if most houses are amazing at keeping cool during summer. This year too, on the first real spring day, I went to visit. Even if not all of the houses were open, there was enough for what I needed. The entry ticket is RON 10, and for foreigners there are guides in various languages available.

If you have only lived in Bucharest and never traveled around Romania, never seen how some people still live in some places, if you never lived in the countryside and never had a Romanian grannie to tell you stories of how people used to live in ancient old days, the Village Museum will appear as though it is from a different story and a different world.

Moving from one house to the other, it becomes more obvious how far we've come, and a question comes to mind: was all this development for the better? I am a bit nostalgic, and while acknowledging all the good that has come to our lives with modern technology, industrialization, and so on, I cannot help but think at all the bad that has come along too. Visiting the Village Museum is my antidote to the modern world. And a bit of inspiration for the countryside house.

The interiors are colorful, and somehow serene. The color is never too much. There is a contrast between the colors and the white of the walls that catches the eye. Some rooms don't have color at all, creating a zen like atmosphere. It smells like old wood, some of the rooms have wooden floors, while in others the floor is made of clay. Life must not have been very easy back when most Romanians were living in such houses – most houses are from the late 19th century, early 20th century - but right now, it sure looks like a good alternative to me.

One of the attendants who takes care of the houses – there's one in charge of every house and you can ask them questions, if you want – said the Village Museum should expand, hopefully this year. And indeed there's an area where they're still working on the houses, and apparently some newer houses are being prepared. The Romanian village evolves and the museum should reflect it. But I have to admit I am a bit scared of how a stroll through a museum which reflects the evolution – or should I say involution – of the Romanian village would look like.

By Corina Chirileasa, corina@romania-insider.com

(photos: Corina Chirileasa/Romania-Insider.com)