Upon my return to Bucharest a few weeks ago I was told by a friend that the repaving of the Old Center was finally over. Since this has been going on for quite a few years I didn’t want to believe it. Which is why when the first ocassion came along I took a stroll around the Old Center and … lo and behold, my friend was right. With some minor exceptions – ike the Splai entrance on Şelari – the paving of Old Center is finally over. No more walking on wooden planks or crossing the street through dust or mud, depending on the weather.

Today’s photos show the decaying statues adorning the facade of the former Bank of Romanian Credit. I guess I don’t have to say that the statues are in great need for a face-lift.

Today is Theme Day at the City Daily Photo community, a monthly event that happens the first day of every month, when all participating blogs will post a picture that relates to the theme day’s description. Today’s theme is: Postcard-Worthy. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

For today’s theme I picked a shot taken in the Macca-Vilacrosse Covered Passage, which is located in the Old Town area and is one of the most popular places for going out with friends in Bucharest.

Bucharest’s Old Town has changed a lot in the last two years, becoming the central hub for going out in the city, the place to hang out, to see and be seen. Many new restaurants, bars and clubs opened up, filling the sidewalks with their tables. But because this is Bucharest and no transformation is ever complete, you can still see some of the old shops hanging on, as in today’s photograph.

Some things do change in the Old Town even if the pace is much slower than we would like. The photo above was taken last summer, the one below last week.

Today’s photograph shows the balcony of an old house (circa 1860s) on Franceză Street, in Bucharest’s Old Town. The house is in a bad shape, with crumbling walls and peeling paint but someone went to the trouble of decorating the balcony – as they knew best

Back in October I was telling you the story of the traveling she wolf and how she’s about to move house again from the Roman Square to the foot of Lipscani Street. Well, looks like the mayor kept his word and today’s photograph shows the she wolf in her new location.

Late last November I’ve posted a photo of the Stavropoleos church courtyard with the mention that the place looks always beautiful and peaceful, no matter the season or the weather. To further back my words this is how the courtyard looks now at the beginning of summer.

Today’s photograph shows a bank building on Lipscani, facing the National Bank of Romania. The books on the architecture of Bucharest that I consulted list it as being built in 1910 – 1913, but sources I found on the web say the building was most probably built before 1900. The architect is unknown. The building served as the headquarters of the General Romanian Bank, which was a branch of Gesselschaft and Bleichröder Bank (thanks to Bucharestian for this information). It was restored during the communist regime in 1983-1984 and for a while served as a shopping mall. I remember buying shoes there once. Today it’s being used as a bank again.

Taking advantage of last week’s warm weather some cafes and bars in the Old Center have already put out the tables for the summer terraces. Some of the smaller terraces had all tables full, which was pretty good considering that this was the Easter holiday and Bucharest was at its most quiet with half of the population gone to spend their vacation somewhere else.