Retro Park

This is one of those few places that manages to encapsulate all that I find wonderful about Moldova. There is a unique, sad, liberated beauty to this decrepid amusement park, a quality that feels like Disneyland after the apocalypse, that can only be found here in Moldova. This place must be some quiet, forgotten remnant of the Soviet establishment. A rickety collection of rides tossed together from spare scraps and oversized, beleagered motors and gears, a hasty and unthought stab at satisfying the masses. It is, in this, precious in its simplicity. Graceful in the purity of its emptiness. The signs read, in Russian, "ride at your own risk." There is joy in knowing that the bumper cars could explode, the roller coaster could suddenly leap from its tracks, the Ferris Wheel could slip from its housings to roll gargantuan away, with you on it. It is a haven of twisted anarchy, just for kids. Gotta love it.