Bucharest, once the Paris of Eastern Europe, is the capital city of Romania. Situated south of the Carpathian mountains, the city is large and sprawling, just like alot of it's 20th century architecture. But does Bucharest, and in fact the rest of Romania, have a heart? James found it hard to tell what they think. Read even just a little bit about the history of Bucharest or Romania and you can get quite confused as to what the city or the country is meant to be proud of.

2,100 years ago the area was once known as Dacia, now the name of a Romanian car manufacturer, but it was invaded and defeated by the Romans 1,900 years ago, which is the basis for the country's name. The symbol of the Dacians was a dragon. So their dragon was defeated. That defeat makes up the story depicted on Trajan's column in Rome, a copy of which is displayed in the National Museum Of Romanian History. Who celebrates their own defeat at the hands of a foreign empire? Not only that but one of Romania's most famous leaders, the christian Vlad Tepes was a knight of the Order Of The Dragon and the son of Vlad II Dracul, Vald The Dragon. So a dragon to be proud of? Excpet that Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad III Dracul, also known as Vlad the Impaler (on the account that he had thousands of people impaled on stakes, mostly turks) may not have been a very nice man. So maybe not a dragon to be proud of? He is now more famous as the inspiration for Bram Stoker's book Dracula. The country seems to have a dark obsession with vampires. But Vad Tepes did defeat the Turks, so a dragon to be proud of? One thing James noticed whilst he travelled around the city and the country is the large number of St George and the Dragon statues there were in the country. The Romanians are staunch Christians. So which is it? Are the Romanians proud of their dragon past? or are they proud that dragons are enemies? Hard to tell.