Dear Eurocrat,

After a respite in Vienna, it’s time to head back to Europe’s wild east for the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU. If you survived Sofia, Bucharest should not come as a shock.

The Communist-era tower blocks you saw in Bulgaria feature across most neighborhoods in the Romanian capital. The city’s biggest clean-up: It got rid of its stray dogs, including by euthanizing more than 25,000 of them in recent years.

Bucharest is fast, loud and sometimes aggressive. But it also has nice spots such as hidden gardens where you can sip tea in warmer months and enjoy the moment.

This guide from a native of the city should help you keep your sanity while stuck in traffic or lost in the halls of the Romanian parliament and discover why Bucharest was once called Little Paris.

1. Get ready for the worst traffic in Europe

If you ever complained about being stuck on Brussels roads, you ain't seen nothing yet. Bad public transport connections leave you facing an hour-long 16-kilometer journey from the Henri Coandă airport to the city center, meaning you'll likely rely on a taxi or an Uber instead. And so you’ll find yourself crawling along with other cars through the wide Bucharest boulevards — unless your driver decides to impress you with an illegal shortcut along the tram lines.

By some measures, Bucharest — with a population of around 2.4 million — has the worst traffic in Europe, beating much bigger cities such as Moscow and London. Most of the city’s boulevards, built under communism, were designed for times when few people could afford a personal vehicle.

Three decades after the fall of communism, the capital’s snail-paced traffic is a political hot potato. Liberal President Klaus Iohannis complained about it this spring after a bike ride in the city, and was rebuked by the city’s Social-Democrat mayor Gabriela Firea.

Firea took a pop at the head of state's provincial roots, saying Bucharest cannot be compared to the smaller city of Sibiu, which will host the EU’s post-Brexit summit and where Iohannis was mayor.

2. Get lost in parliament

If you have mastered the maze of the European Parliament, the Romanian legislature provides the next-level challenge. It’s the second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon, and many presidency meetings will take place there. You are certain to get lost — so remember to admire the big chandeliers and tall curtains amid your tears of frustration.

The so-called House of the People under the communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu was anything but. The building was Ceaușescu‘s last megalomaniacal project before he was deposed and killed in 1989.

Romanians have long speculated about hidden features of the building. While a few underground levels and a bunker for Ceaușescu are confirmed, a mystery over tunnels connecting the building to other parts of the city persists, with no official confirmation.

On the way to your meeting, don’t be shocked to see ladies sitting on chairs in the elevators, doing embroidery and pushing buttons for you: That’s their job, and you’ll be grateful to see a human face after getting hopelessly lost in the building.

3. Find yourself in the Old City

If you want to unwind after long meetings in the House of the People, take a 20-minute walk to Bucharest’s Old City, a network of narrow streets packed with bars and restaurants. A derelict area before Romania joined the EU, the area has been restored to offer everything from hipster bars to nightclubs. Some love to hate the Old City as overrated, but it’s a must for any Eurocrat visiting for the first time.

Eating or drinking coffee in an Old City cafe will be more pleasant than in Vienna, thanks to a smoking ban, unlike in the Austrian capital.

If you want to relax in a calmer atmosphere, head to Ceainăria Infinitea, a tea house also some 20 minutes' walk from the parliament building, but in a different direction. If you have more time in the city, head to Serendipity, another tea house, especially if the weather is good enough to let you sit outside.

Be sure to enjoy the terraces if you’re lucky enough to be in Bucharest when the weather gets warm. Unlike Brussels, where a terrace means some chairs placed on the street next to passing cars, in Bucharest you will discover the original meaning of the word. Head to the gardens of Café Verona or Grădina Eden to see what we’re talking about.

4. Pack in the proteins

Romania is where the meat is. It won’t take you long to discover that Romanians love multiple meats in a meal: either minced and rolled in small sausages cooked on the grill — the mici or mititei — or packed in small cabbage leaves — the sarmale.

If you’re vegetarian or vegan, expect curious looks from older Romanians who will secretly wonder what’s wrong with you. Head to the hipster bars: They will have contemporary twists on old Romanian recipes that don’t include meat.

For a snack on your way to a meeting, do take advantage of the bakeries at almost every street corner. The cheese-packed pastries such as brânzoaice or dobrogene are sure to be as filling as they are delicious.

5. Hang out with the people

Life in Bucharest is fast, so don’t be surprised to see its inhabitants stressed out and always in a hurry. You may occasionally hear them fight over someone stepping on someone else’s foot on public transportation.

No need for you to worry, dear Eurocrat, as they usually reserve their aggression for each other. The moment they know you’re a foreigner, the Bucharest-dwellers will put on their best face and do their best to help you. Trying to impress the outside world is part of Romanians’ way of life, and that will come in handy when you need directions.

If you're heading to that summit, be aware that Sibiu gives a different vibe to Bucharest: more relaxed, including a slower pace of speaking. The best example is President Iohannis, the former mayor of Sibiu. During a speech in January, he took such a long break between sentences that he triggered a radio station’s automatic system that plays music after a few seconds of silence.

6. Feel the heat

If you’re heading to Bucharest at the beginning of the presidency, you may find yourself sweltering in the heat of the plane cabin on the ride there. Dress accordingly, because Romanians like to keep it very warm inside when it’s cold outside, perhaps because they’re still traumatized by the times when there was no heating in their apartments during communism.