Tiny and large parks are everywhere in Bucharest, huge trees align the streets.  

Under the shady branches families gather, children play near fountains, mothers feed their babies, a grandmother reads a book for her grandson, a woman sits knitting, an old man sleeps.

I was told many stories about growing up with friends in one of the little parks where now a new generation of children meet with their own friends almost every day.   Especially in the dry hot summer months the parks are an oasis, a gathering place, under the living breathing shelter of trees tended with love. The harshness of the summer heat and the chaos of the city seem somehow faraway.  Some of the gardens I got to know well were once large areas of marshes. A hundred years later we are grateful for the men who had these visions of beauty. Probably the climate changes without our doing, but the micro-climate of our living spaces can be influenced,  trees create oxygen from CO2 and many annoying insects will be eaten by birds. The trees that grow almost unrestrained in the many public gardens of Bucharest, give shadow and fresh air, they are alive with a sense of freedom and belonging. [Official Website]