EU Membership Romania - What it Means (European Union)

Romania has been in the news lately, as hosting the big NATO conference April 2008.

1. The site of the conference: A large area cleared out of traditional Bucharest neighborhoods, by Former President Nicolae Ceausescu, who was later executed by firing squad 12/25/1989. There is negative coverage as to Ceaucescu at ://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Ceaucescu/May2007CeaucescuEN.htm.

However, we noted special shrines to him at his grave; and in the lower floors of a museum.

He put urban renewal ahead of people, was our impression (as did Hartford in clearing the Italian ethnic neighborhoods to put up a sterile unused mall-huge walkway downtown, where the empty wind blows you away). He cleared much of inner-city Bucharest and its neighborhoods to construct Parliamentary buildings and wide boulevards, to compete with Paris, complete with an Arch of Triumph. That Parliamentary area is where the conference was held.

When we were there, at the urban renewal - urban clearances area, it was largely vacant. Acre after acre - except for a winding broad drive, and the government buildings. No people walking, vast open spaces. Sterile, not for people, only for a show of power over them, in our view. Big fountains, but ugly billboards (like in Connecticut - go, Governor Rell - out with billboards as forced visuals, violating reasonable time, place and manner for commercial advertising).

2. The neighborhood clearances and the feral dogs. In clearing the old city neighborhoods, and moving people to government housing, we understand that the people could take no pets - thus the thousands upon thousands (by now) of stray dogs, including cockers, pekingese, shelties, beagles and poodles, as well as the large yellow mixes, many Heinz 57 by now, but still many identifiable as essentially specific breeds. Foraging. Even up in the mountains now. Chasing cars, looking for food. They tell you never to put your hand down to pet, no kind words. Even to the cute. No solution, no humane help given the givens. Life and death in the transitional third world.

Back to EU:

3. European Union. We like the Financial Times for balanced, neutral accounts of our world, so this is from that UK publicaton's March 7,2008, Special Report:

Joining the EU, as happened in January 2007 (after our visit, when the horsecarts were still a norm, and, we felt, reasonably provided reasonable access to roadways for all people, including the poor, and cars were indeed careful). With EU membership, Romania qualifies for, but is not guaranteed unless it shows it can draw up and execute enough projects to qualify:

• infrastructure (roads and what else?),
  
• social and environmental purposes (what is that? horrible industrial smog south of Cluj Napoca,
• farm sector "taking them on" whatever that means. The peasants? a living wage? or assimilation of The Roma or Gypsies -- but their tradition is non-assimilation, working in a transient way. Is there a future in merely offering self-employment, having been cast off regular work for so long, see Gypsies, Roma .
  

The economy apparently is soaring, nonetheless.

Yet, political factions are warring - as is expected when cash is around. As in the US, with our ubiquitous political pork. No claim of superiority here.

In Romania, as perhaps here if there is no clear direction after the 2008 election, paralysis politically is around the bend, with warring groups squaring off. Like here. Lack of experience in "project design and management," coping with new conditions - sounds like us, here, all parties, all candidates - the world is marching on despite our misinterpretations and corruptions. Is there any real difference between east and west. Ha.

Please look up the Financial Times article.

Romania on Kosovo: Teodor Melescanu, defense minister, says (look up the article for the quotes): unhappy about Kosovo as departing from the tried-and-true process of changing borders through negotiation.

Romania also has other reason for concern if groups succeed in separation out unilaterally - separatist interests - there is a large Hungarian population in Romania. What if they want to reunite with Hungary? Mr. Bush - have you thought through your support of Kosovo's independence? See a review of the Hungarian minority, also known as the Magyar, in Romania at ://www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/assessment.asp?groupId=36002.





Positives for Romania: It has weathered Communism, Fascism,

Horsecarts now banned, major roadways

Horsecarts, wagons with auto wheels, divided supports for flexibility front to back, whole families on board, goods, equipment. On the road.

We never saw any accidents, only courteous drivers slowing up, going around, blinking lights if a cart happened to be in front, and that was the reason for the slow-up. So many of them - on main highways, everywhere. A rule for us was never drive after dark if we could help it - many carts had no reflectors, and no lights. In foggy areas, we crept.

There was a massive roadbuilding program in progress, however. We were there in the fall, also, and that meant end-of-summer pothole filling in preparation for another winter. The best time to travel in Romania then was in the fall. Spring meant the new holes gaping out there, and worst for the horses. So, European Union aspirations mean big bucks for some, and a hindrance to an already marginal life for so many poor.

See the issue of prosperity's darlings at the expense, again, of the peasant (and the gypsy) at ://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E1DA1630F931A35752C1A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

See this update, read with mixed feelings here because how else do people get around: ://www.gadling.com/2007/11/20/the-death-of-an-anachronism-horse-carts-banned-from-romanian-ro/

Cluj Napoca - Transylvania

For any who think that cities in faraway places are small, see this site - a roving aerial view of a very cosmopolitan area - www.cluj4all.com/addresses/. Here is Cluj - see ://www.clujonline.com/
Photos at ://www.ici.ro/romania/en/orase/cluj.html.


To navigate in any city, we look for the country's equivalent of the "city center" sign - centrum, or something like that. The city center signs begin at the outskirts, and the motorways, and lead you right in. Go to the main square, then look for some place to sleep. We like to park once, then walk. No driving at night if possible - vehicles may not have lights, horse carts may not have reflectors. Everyone is careful. I saw no accidents except for the usual truck-car or car-car fender-benders.

Roma update - Colum McCann; and Leafpile photo gallery, Ina Zoon

The author of the novel, "Zoli," Colum McCann - the novel based roughly on the life of a Slovakian Roma poet, Branislawa Wajs (see Gypsies, Roma, Romani, and "Zoli" wrote this current events opinion regarding the larger Gypsy issue and the European Union - ://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/10/opinion/edmcCann.php. The article is entitled, "Gypsies Put Europe To The Test: The Roma of Romania and Bulgaria." International Herald Tribune.

The issue is how Romania, Bulgaria, and other countries regarding the European Union, will deal with their minority populations.

Here is a good photo gallery of Roma, done by "Leafpile" - //www.leafpile.com/TravelLog/Romania/Roma/Roma.htm. We were not comfortable taking pictures of Roma, looks like our over-concern for people's sense of privacy was off base. Do look at these.

Further update, on the poor vs. progress. This is 3/3/08: Read "On the Margins: Roma and Public Services in Romania, Bulgaria, and Macedonia, With a Supplement on Housing in the Czech Republic," by Ina Zoon, Open Society Institute press 2001. Covers denials of health care, lack of adequate housing, and recommendations.

Itinerary after the fact - Places unfolding. Improvised travel.

Roughly: Bucharest, Snagov, Brasov, Curtea de Arges, Poinari, Sighisoara, Sibiu, Bucovina, Voronet, Putna, Vatra Dornei, Moisei, Sapinta, Sighetu Marmetiei, Ieud, Maramures, Cluj Napoca, Alba Iulia, Hunedoara, Targu Jiu, Horezu Monastery, Ramnicu Valcea, Mogosoaia Palace near Bucharest, Bucharest.

Sighet Prison, Museum of Arrested Thought. Torture, Theirs and Ours

Romania. Where people raise little children, as we do, and want them to share their values, just as we do.

The point here, as we discuss abuse, is that human beings are human beings anywhere. Each culture probably has its eras of torture and abuse, religious, political, social, and our look at Romania is triggered by our own culture's willingness to engage in it, but then deny or do it elsewhere. Including in Romania?

So: From a visual touring approach to current events. Make a shift. See Romania as an example of larger issues in all of us, and one that our children will face, just as each generation:

1. Pain, purposefully inflicted. See the Human Rights Watch site, hrw.org/campaigns/torture.htm.

When, where, by whom, how much, if any. And not as a natural adjunct to a neutral injury, or weather event. We are looking from neighborhood bullies and gangs, where seeds are sown, to international issues.

For current issues, see Joy of Equivocating, Abuse Experience and the Brain: Distorts Perception.

This looks at torture, and other forms of abuse, and the effect that those have on the person, the brain. This is in the context of the US elections of 2008, and the issue of experience of the candidates. Senator McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and subjected to abuse behaviors, information evolving. Do a search for McCain torture and see a variety of views.

Overview. We discuss torture here, from the individual, to the institutional, to the individual leader doing it. Romania has a reputation for political prisons and torture within; and a bloody history with Vlad II Tepes, the Impaler, and past President Ceaucescu. The course of events there is hardly unique, but useful as a starting place for thinking of torture, as we have to now, from the news.

1. Defining, Identifying. Gray Areas or Not. Torture is hard to define because the word itself is disagreeable - nobody wants it applied to their actions. Do you know it when you see it? Why won't they let us see? And uses of words make the acts eminently deniable.

So, don't call it torture. Call it a "severe interrogation" or "extreme interrogation," and not torture at all. See discussions of extreme interrogation at www.changingminds.org/techniques/interrogation/extreme_interrogation.htm; and this law review article, "Tortured History: Finding Our Way Back to the Lost Origins of the Eighth Amendment," 31 Pepperdine Law Review 61 (2004), available by ordering, not free, but we understand worth it, at lawreview@law.pepperdine.edu.

2. Why look at it at all. Pain-infliction issues arise from the everyday in a household, where a parent wants to spank a child, to the global. It is familiar and complex. The more we study what we have done, the more we may be able to control it. Go to Petr Ginz: Places and the Legacy, as a start: Petr Ginz, a Prague child, enduring the ghetto and then death at Auschwitz, see the post there on the legacy of heightened awareness when you can see and hear torture.

3. Torture's long history, used as "deterrent" and as "punishment" and incentive to cooperate.

Vlad. Come to Romania. To the memory of a torturer. The Romanian (then, his area was Wallachia) Vlad Tepes II, the Impaler. "Dracula," the one whose pain-inflictions kept law and order, and the Ottomans at bay for a while. What was the role of torture for him, and why.

Church, Monastery, Island in Lake Snagov, Tradition-bound Burial Place, Vlad Tepes (see details)

This is the place said to be his burial place (not, probably, see posts at Romania Road Ways - Vlad Dracula sites) at a tiny monastery in an island at Lake Snagov, Romania, near Complex Astoria, where you can stay. See the little flowers. A priest sits inside, where the memorial by the altar is.

Vlad is notorious for torture, impalings, and other techniques, but still revered for keeping back the Turkish invaders, and coping with a disorderly time,. Torture was a common means for imposing a moral order and defense. Very intricate issues, looking back now. See www.stanford.edu/group/rsa/_content/_public/_htm/dracula.shtml.

Now look at us. Our culture's view of the value of other lives. Inflicting pain is apparently ok if the goal is deterrence of something, or enforcement of something; or to get something the government wants. Or if we do not call it torture, but call it "extreme interrogation." Wordswords.

4. Everyday torture. We also do it. Is this true: Torture does not have to be political or religious. It has many forms and purposes.

4.1 Secret inflicting of pain is apparently acceptable, so long as it is kept secret. People don't intrude. Examples include domestic abuse, animal issues where we do not see the slaughterhouse, exterminators who do their work out of sight,

Do we really want pain infliction to be out of sight or easily digestible, or do we lose something of ourselves if we skip accountability. FN 1, a domestic diversion into the garden. But,
if we say we can only inflict torture if we do it directly, out in front, for reasons and to an extent that can be examined, there is another danger: If you do do it yourself, or let your institutions do it, maybe you or they won't quit. It snowballs. How to extricate - a push becomes an entanglement to worse.

4.2 Abuse is also acceptable when the words used create a disposable sub-class: Pest. Female. Gender-type designations. Unbeliever. The articulated goal - getting rid of undesirables - can also become a justification, so words used to label the victim count. Insurgent, not patriot. How do you label. Widdoo mousie? or Rodent. Vermin. A job may need to be done - rat control - but use of words facilitates, reduces resistance to how it is being done. Or, again as to words, torture is acceptable if the words used to describe the inflictee create a subclass as to whom pain is okay (a circular argument): as criminals, ethnic groups when they are to be controlled or exterminated, the death penalty. A different morality then applies to the pain.

"Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low." From "Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings," by Joel Chandler Harris, Grosset & Dunlap, NY1921, at page 9. Touch torture and you'll get stuck.

4.3 Torture is acceptable if done in increments. Everyday homespun tortures numb us.

4,4. Torture is acceptable if it produces profit, eases the burden in business. Institutional and other cultural torture. Force and pain are apparently ok if produces a profit (ex. slaughterhouses as we have them), Or is the cheap way to kill. Look again at that horrid glue tray in the hardware store for mice.

We may need to control the infestation, but there must be a decent way, regardless of the label. Is it "just" an animal?. Make people put them on the counters, so they can see? Is infliction of pain not a moral issue for certain defined groups of living creatures, including people. Either way, inflicting pain is easy to digest when you get someone else to do it for you, or hide the horror tray back in the cellar.

The numbing. We get accustomed. As in the current movie, "The Kingdom," force the child to watch the bombing. See overview of film at www.imdb.com/title/tt0431197/.

Or, more usual here, rather than forcing a child to watch people get killed in real life, we use the gradual warming of the water, until we as frogs let ourselves boil up and never knew we were dying.

4.5 Torture is acceptable if it fosters macho. More numbing, but also with the profit angle. Bull-riding. The rodeo from the bull's eye-ball view. It is expected to make the creatures fierce with pain because it is entertainment, produces a profit, or enhances macho. Or is that a false impression? See www.sharkonline.org/?P=0000000441.

Why not just ride a bull yourself, invite your friends to watch, and if it is a dull one, fine.

No, because that real event may not be profitable or consistently exciting as a made-up one.

Or Pamplona here. The bulls on the way to the ring. Condensed torture. Maybe twenty minutes in the ring.

On the other hand, Spain's approach for an individual bull hurt for that short time, beats years of hurt in the stockyards, then the slaughterhouse.

Small voice: should pain really be used this way, irrelevant for purposes of profit, or macho for Saint Fermin; relevant only as a dispensation when it does not count?

At least Portugal does not kill the bull. See their equestrian bullfights at //mundo-taurino.org/horses.html.

4.5. Torture is acceptable for poliical purposes, for turf, power. Back to political uses of pain: Modern times. Visit the building at Sighet Prison, Sighetu Marmetiei, Romania,; provided it and the rest of the old prison system is not being rented out - offshored. Outsourced. Then use the internet.

Go here to see the building, photos of inmates - that included professionals, politicians, academics, civic leaders - online at www.memorialsighet.ro/en/istoric_cladire_sighet.asp.
More examples of institutional torture: See Petr Ginz: Places and Legacy for post on a World War II child's exposure to inhuman treatment in his era, as a Prague part-Jew, and his ultimate death at Auschwitz. In our own place: see www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1664174,00. Or, the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International, at www.tassc.org/index.php?sn=66.

5. The Traps of Torture

Problems: how to get a society to agree on what objectives can support torture, when pain may be inflicted, and how much; and the experiential fact that, once set on the enforcement path, the inflicter-forcer won't quit.

Human and institutional corruptibility. Dangerous addictions and desires arise. Marquis de Sade. See www.kirjasto.sci.fi/desade.htm. Torturers don't quit, as to subjects or methods. Examples: See Sighetu Marmetiei in northwest Romania, the Maramures region. See earlier posts on Maramures and Sighet. Those people were not even criminals who hurt people - they were intellectual dissenters. Still criminal?

6. Individual leaders and torture. The Lure of it working. Here it can be winner take all. Individuals can bull things through, if they have enough talent, or have enough people around as a substitute for the leader's lacks. Lackeys! Surrogates can get the job done for you. For a time.

Leaders find that repression, misrepresentation and torture work - but that is true only for a while. Specific leaders may thrive, then they lose. Or do they keep on winning? What does it take to stay in power. Muscle, combined with inflicting Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, and reminders of a threat if the people do not stay in line.

Example in Romania is Vlad Tepes II, The Impaler, "Dracula." His torture was for a purpose: to keep the Ottomans at bay, as well as do acts to deter locals from breaking laws - maintain order in a disorderly time. See Romania Road Ways - Vlad Dracula sites; and overview at "Vlad Tepes - The Historical Dracula" at www.donlinke.com/drakula/vlad.

See again that lovely Lake Snagov, where we found Vlad's island earlier. It also is the place where Nicholae Ceaucescu, late dictator, had his palace, there at the shore. President Ceaucescu: see /www.historyguide.org/europe/ceausescu.html.

6. Torture, the Captive-Fear Experience, and its Stockholm effect. The Stockholm Syndrome.

Despite its irreverent air, this is a good overview of the phenomenon between jailers/oppressors and jailees/oppressees, known as the Stockholm effect: go to sniggle.net/stock.php.

In summary, the receiving end of oppression ultimately plays along, if they get little rewards.

That is the dynamic. Theoretically, and often in practice, the torturer gets you to identify with the torturer by giving you little benevolences as time goes on. Moral issue in spite of that: If that does not happen (any at Gitmo?) does or should the torturer just go on?

Read more about the Stockholm Syndrome - See iadfw.net/ktrig246/out_of_cave/sss.html. Here it is again: Just put out a) that there are threats to your survival out there, b) isolate what they can see or hear other than the captors, c) throw them a lolly once in a while, and d) make it clear that there is no escape.Here is a big one. Worth exploring. Another reason why perceived captivity, deprivation-infliction and torture work.

Make a verb of Stockholm effect: "To Stockholm." That way, we get out of the mold and can see how it as a technique can be intentionally used by governments, institutions, individuals.

Example: our gleaned definition, including the elements we have found:

Stock-holm (stock'-holm). v.t. -holmed, -holming, -holms.

1. To throw sporadic benefits at a person who
a. believes there is no escape,
b. is kept isolated and ignorant of views other than those of the captor,
c. is subject to ongoing and extreme deprivations, or is being tortured, and
d. believes that his or her life is in danger, with the result that
the person begins to identify with the controller and his or her goals.

2. To foster the psychological shift from one's self to the perceived need to keep the captor happy.

Do your own search for the Stockholm, Sweden, 1973 study following events and results of perpetrators holding persons captive at a bank robbery.

6. Enslavement by Imposed Belief Systems. Is this a form of Stockholming? Do news stations and politicians effectively Stockholm people?

Brer Fox again. Put out the bait, see who dares touch it.

Why not use fear and invective and volume, repeated, to Stockholm the citizenry. Stockholm the middle class, the poor. Let Rush prevent opposing views during his hours' advertising time and get paid (this a later update July 2008) his $32,ooo,ooo per year for the next 8 years. See old salary at://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_Rush_Limbaugh_make_per_year.

He could sponsor an entire district in Romania.

Back to the method: Isolate addicted viewers. Increasing deprivations imposed on the middle and lower classes by their government, but then a taffy. Bet there a memo on it. A function of propaganda. Then they won't focus on what you are doing.

7. Global citizen torture issues: in weighing all that is said in its defense, or how offensive it is:

7.1. The danger of pleasure felt by the torturer. Does inflicting pain give pleasure to the torturer. This has been the subject of investigation-denial-interest. See this view of the inquisition - cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/index.php?p=2474. Like a garden party. No big deal, just people being gullible about what happened.

It must give pleasure? See the Marquis de Sade site above. See all the violent sites also on the net, that you can find on your own. The topic must give pleasure, to be so prominent and colorful, universal and fascinating. Pain on the silver screen. The addiction early. The dance, abuser and abusee. The Stockholm syndrome - identifying with the abuser. See web2.iadfw.net/ktrig246/out_of_cave/sss.html

7.2. Whether torture can ever be kept under control. The torturer doesn't want to stop. You psychologists out there? When does boxing turn into it. What if the referee likes it. True or false?

7.3 Legitimacy based on longevity. It has a long history, so some may see it as fine because it is familiar. Good for schools who approach torture as a subject: see this school student oriented Elizabethan era overview of the history of torture, with its information as to the deeper past - www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/Torturepun.

7.4. How long is it effective. Before long, it gives rise to resistance, more fervor behind it, to support the tortured. What if the bees could horde back. Run! What is happening outside when you are busy inside.

The Transience of Defeat - Even Vlad the Impaler's fabled impalings to deter the Ottoman advance only lasted for some 40 years. They came back, of course. Lay low for a while. See Romania Road Ways - Vlad Tepes-Impaler Sites. Vlad is revered for his effectiveness. See Romanian history from the consulate in Athens, at atena.mae.ro/index.php?lang=en&id=215.

7.5 And how is a citizen to keep from being Stockholmed, by getting those little ditsy bones occasionally, into compliance with what else the ones in power want. See above. Have to outfox the fox on your own, because you won't get any help. Too many people making money and enhancing macho by inflicting pain.

....................................................................................................
FN 1 - Discussion of domestic colonialisms has been moved to Spain Road Ways, Seville colonialism post, Columbus Day.

Jewish history and Romania; from the Khazars?

Sephardi and Ashkenazi, both. Jewish history in Romania is laid out at this site through its overview of specific place names: cja.huji.ac.il/NL14-Romania.htm.

In particular, read about Brasov, Cluj Napoca, and then Moisei here, in the photo, and its destruction. Little trace of the old Jewish population now, but a ritual bath built at Moisei is still being used, as a public bath. I try not to reuse photos, but for Moisei, here is the memorial for villagers slain in WWII here. The town is in the Maramures area. See the post on Maramures. We were on the way to the larger city, Sighetu Marmetei.

For a report on the holocaust in Romania, see //www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/what_new/index_whats_new-report.

I do not recall a differentiation or identification of which of the 125 families who fled Moisei into the forest during the incident of the German attack, and whose homes were burned. I believe the whole village was burned, and at the onset of winter. Some 30+/- were caught and killed, but no information on how many were Jewish. The killings were reported as Jewish-focused in sites related to Magyar references for Budapest - and a site started in with settlements from eastern and central Europe. See Budapest Road Ways, Magyar history post.

Origins, Eastern European Jews: This group seems to be descended from European German, Spanish, Czech, Austrian, or Portuguese?

Some say "Russian" Jews are descended from their own lines, Khazars, and are looking for archeological support to the other sources. See khazaria.com/khazar-diaspora. That reviews the book, "Are Russian Jews Descended from the Khazars," by David Alan Brook.

Roma - Gypsy culture - holocaust

This is a roadside dumping area, with Roma (gypsy ethnic group) looking for clothing, anything that can be repaired and resold, or used. The gypsy population was decimated in World War II. Read about gypsies at For a basic history of gypsies, see www.gypsy-traveller.org/history/index. Do a search for gypsies .

We also saw many well-dressed Roma, traditional costume and gold.

Roma are countrywide, and have had a difficult history, including centuries (past) of enslavement in Romania and discrimination now. See "Minorities at Risk" at www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/data/rumroma. More background on Roma: go to the e-museum that the University of Minnisota offers at http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/oldworld/europe. Then click on Roma. Go to the main home page first, and see all they offer in other areas.

The holocaust in Romania was directed at Roma and Jews and other groups. Read about the holocaust in Romania at www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/what_new/index_whats_new-report.html. The holocaust was officially remembered in Romania in 2006. See www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Romania_Holocaust_Victims.php. Read its history at hist.academic.claremontmckenna.edu/jpetropoulos/ironguard/holocaust.htm. In the town of Moisei, see post here on Maramures, there is a special memorial, but no break-down of which of those killed were Jewish.

Keeping diaries of those times requires literacy and then preservation, discovery and translation - for me, into English. "The Diary of Petr Ginz 1941-1942," edited by his sister, Chava Pressburger, was discovered in 1993 but only translated into English in 2007. See The Places of Petr Ginz. See also Petr Ginz: The Places, The Legacy. Are there diaries in Romanian?

I was not comfortable taking pictures of the Roma girls or women. They are easily seen in doorways, windows, on the street with a companion, with families. I understand they are strongly protected. The clothing was exquisite in the economically advantaged groups, fine cars, great style - as anywhere where there is financial and cultural confidence for the individual. Others are very poor, but resourceful in picking out clothing and other useful items from throw-aways, and fixing and selling them.

Children beg, but a strong body language "no" - including flat palms crossing and flung out, usually brought the adult from a doorway nearby to signal a cease.

Vlachs: Possible earliest settlers in Romania, now nomadic shepherds; an entire culture;

The Vlachs are an ancient people that are in many eastern European countries. This site reports that it was the Vlachs who originally founded Romania, as the indigenous people when the Romans came. See the Romania section at mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/misc/europe.htm#Mong.

See Vlach history at www.columbia.edu/cu/romanian/articles/aromani. We have found them in Greece and Croatia, for example, see more about "Aromanian Vlachs: The Vanishing Tribe," at www.vlachophiles.net/. There are supposed to be some Vlachs in Texas - the site is at some other post here. The mother of the Hungarian hero, Janos Hunyadi (governor of Transylvania in the 15th century, castle at Hundoara, Romania) was said to be Vlach. The Vanishing Tribe site says that Vlachs set up Wallachia.

Update - from our 2007 trip to Poland. Some Vlachs migrated to Poland - see the Magurski National Park site at www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/pnp/magu.htm. There, the people were called "Lemks," and lived in the Low Beskid region, with only a few survivors now. There are vestiges of their culture, and later orthodox religion there, and in roadway shrines. The article says they were deported in 1947 for political reasons. See populations post at Poland Road Ways.

The Vlachs remain distinct, have their own ways, and predate the Romans, I understand, as do the Dacians, also of Romania. More Vlach history: www.friesian.com/decdenc2, and at www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/vlach-south.

This shepherd was the only one herding all those sheep, among 18-wheelers, and those of us in cars, through the village. Their dogs are indispensable. See more on the Romanian shepherd dogs at romdogs.tripod.com/ogar/romshdog.

He leaped across the road, carrying all the possessions he needed; and was gone. Stragglers caught up. Someone described that kind of sight as a cloud of sheep. Exactly.

Vlachs - Once there is an awareness of something new, all sorts of other information comes out - now we find Vlach references in many places and contexts. More at a Vlach site, bastian.freeyellow.com/index.

The fun part here was the good humor of the truckers -- no anger, no fingers, just open the window, lean out and chat and laugh as, when all seemed to be past, somebody went under the truck to coax out the last straggler. To an outsider, it looked like respect for someone else's assets and way of life. Room for many. What's the rush. I seldom saw any kind of road kill.

Sinaia - Peles Castle

Arrive at Bucharest, drive north, and Sinaia is the town that fits between Lake Snagov, where Vlad is said to be buried, and Brasov, Bran Castle.

Remember that we put all the Vlad III Tepes (Impaler) sites together at Romania Road Ways: Vlad Tepes. Sometimes the Vlad focus can be distracting from the rest of the history.

Sinaia. It is a prime ski area, great resort, and there is a splendid castle - Peles. Do a search for "Sinaia" and you will see a site with thousands of photos. Look. This site shows the mountains behind the castle -www.montania.ro/en_vile. The castle, Peles, has no connection to Vlad that I can find, but this site suggests by its name that it does - www.draculascastle.com/html/pelesint. How could there be a connection, where Peles was built 1873-1883? See www.infotravelromania.ro/en/castle. Still, it is magnificent, and the photos at the infotravel site include other castles - worth a look.

The town has all the shops and cafes you would expect. We don't shop, we people-watch and this was excellent.

For specific Vlad Tepes sites - see second Romania blog: Lake Snagov, Bran, Poinari Citadel, Sighisoara, Bistrita, Hunedoara, Targoviste, Bucharest

Please visit the Vlad site blog at Romania Road Ways: Vlad Tepes for sites specifically related to Vlad the Impaler, a/k/a Vlad Dracula, a/k/a Vlad III Tepes; or his fictional offshoot - "Dracula" by Bram Stoker.

This site travels around the other Romania, a country with a vast history and culture.

Links, posts, archives

All third party websites referred to in word form, not as quick-links, pending learning more about issues raised at www.bitlaw.com. Direct linking may be risky.

Post dates show the itinerary chronology - from arrival, to departure. Do read the Archives - they show the continuing trip, not necessarily earlier posts. A new or revised post may appear at the beginning, to draw attention to it, but the plan is to incorporate it later elsewhere, if the post fits better there.


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Sibiu: "Naver"

Sibiu, Romania. Update and self-correction - from having believed these to be Roma or gypsies, some/many of whom prosper. As anywhere, the casino in Sibiu drew those with money to spend and an evening to glam, and I saw traditional dress and accessories and gala gala going in and out.

But: The men at left are, according to the comment here, traveling tradesmen, "Naver," of Saxon heritage, common mainly in the north central parts of Romania.They have a long tradition of education and skill.

A Germanic tradition here makes sense, from the overall area - see the German - Saxon walled churches located in the region, another post.

A search of "Naver" - a quick one - shows more information about the tradesmen and Templar influence: at www.curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=665&i=2, that the Templars were all part of an information/skills network between the East and to the West; that the Templars brought building skills and implements to the West, giving rise to the Masonic tradition and its symbols. And that those connections enabled the building of the ever-more elaborate Gothic cathedrals. More info?

Sibiu windows: roof gables, wide, not tall, sloped across the top to blend into the roof at both ends, rather like eyes up there. One is barely visible here, at this photo, to the right of the street light at www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Romania/photo422118. Look at the traditional Sibiu roof, this photo gallery, and scroll down for it: www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Transylvania/blog-112567; or here, look for the one entitled, "Eyes of the City," at home.xnet.com/~jkelley/BucharestBugle.fldr/BuchBugle75.

Transfagarasan Pass, Carpathian Alps, cabanas

This area is central to any trip to Romania, whether focusing on Vlad or not. This is his old castle up here, but there is much else to see. It is a high mountain road going over and through the Carpathian mountains. See www.expeditionplus.com/2006/07/the_fagaras_mountains_and_the_1. On the way, is the ruin of the real Vlad III Tepes castle, in Wallachia. See post at Romania Road Ways Vlad III Tepes - Poinari Citadel

Caution: Before going toward the Tranfagarasan Pass, check that the entire road north is open through the Carpathians. It closes seasonally, and depending on the weather. The gap on maps signifies tunnels, against rock slides and snow.

I understand there is a sign near Curtea de Arges, but we did not see it and went anyway. The route in good weather is an efficient choice because you can get from there easily to Sighisoara and Sibiu, just beyond, in Transylvania. Here is somebody's overview, "The Spirit of Romania," - www.spirit.ro/index. That is a photography and philosophy site.

There are hotel-type places for sleeping, called Cabanas. Just don't let it get dark on you. Stop in time. For an overview of the mountains in Romania, see "Romania's Road to Heaven," at www.escapeartist.com/efam/68/Living_In_Romania.

Saxon Fortified Churches - Sibiu-Sighisoara area; World Heritage

These walled Saxon churches are World Heritage sites. See www.cimec.ro/Monumente/Lpm/UNESCO/Biertan/eng. You can read the German script over the door. There were substantial migrations of Germanic people beginning in 1123, by invitation of the Hungarian King Geza, and during the centuries. The new groups kept their own language, and protected themselves with walls like these around towns and churches in the 15th-16th centuries. See www.archaeology-romania.org/projects/fortified-saxon-churches. We were told that funds are coming in again, from Germany, and from the descendants of those expelled by wars and other invasions. People also moving back.

There is a map for them at www.cimec.ro/Monumente/unesco/UNESCOen/indexTrans.

These church walls, seen from the inside, have rooms in them for entire families. Story is that if a couple wanted a divorce, they would be put together in one of these rooms for 60 days, fed and taken care of, and as a result, they seem to have worked it all out and no divorces were recorded there. Most are between Sibiu and Sighisoara. Here is a fine photo of a walled church: www.roconsulboston.com/Pages/InfoPages/Travel/DealulFrumos.

Other sites say these were Swabians, from the Danube area in Germany - see the Schwabisch Hall post at Germany Road Ways. Need to find out the difference between Swabians and Saxons.



To the outhouse. This picture is not it, but we had been going back into villages off the road to try to find our own walled churches, and came to one lovely church - turned out to be a Catholic one, but not a German one - and these ladies kept gesturing to the outside and indicating, come on.

So we did, over yards, around puddles, through gates and gardens, all winding through the village until we came somewhere and they gestured us over with great ceremony. It was an outhouse. Very hospitable. Where else would fine local folk invite tourists to their outhouse? We didn't need it, but appreciated the thought and saw parts of a Romanian village no bus tour could match. Thank you.






This photo is just outside the walls of that village. This is not an automobile society yet in the rural areas. We didn't see a motorized tractor for 10 days. Horses and carts are also in the cities and the highways. The construction of the carts is ingenious, with a break in the axel (what is that connector not between wheels laterally, but going the length of the wagon to accommodate the huge potholes and ruts? Car tires are used.

Bucovina - Painted monasteries - fresco

These Painted Churches, at the monasteries in the north, are World Heritage sites. See www.geocities.com/paintedchurches/.

Churches and painted monasteries in Bucovina and Moldovita often also served as forts. Defense and religion all at once. Many painted monasteries were mustering areas for gathering fighters,and the stories on the outer walls were a scriptural teaching tool for the orthodox while they waited - also for villagers seeking refuge inside. The monasteries usually have walls around for defense, and many buildings.

See Voronet and others at www.romaniatourism.com/monasteries. See details also atdntis.ro/romania/unicef/index.



There are many of these painted monasteries at Suceava, northeast Romania. See similar one at Arbore, www.rotravel.com/romania/monasteries/arbore.php.

Paintings are done on wet stucco (fresco), telling Bible or saint stories, often located within fortified walls. Used as mustering places or defense, against Huns or Turkish or other invaders. Teaching tool while the people waited for services or to fight. Interiors also painted.






You may also see a receptacle with beeswax candles, water and layer of sand on bottom. Candles are placed to remember a life or make a prayer. The candle burns down to its natural extinguishing in the water.






Here is an interior:

Putna - most remote of the painted monasteries

Try to get there before 5 PM so you can hear the chanting at Putna Monastery, in the north. We just missed it.




You can stay at a fine hostel (cabana) in the town, with its own companionably loud cafe, and there was another cafe on the main street. We went in that one, and immediately saw another Down young man with his parents, just leaving. We all gave especially long handshakes and smiles. Universals.

At the cafe (good food, but not in served courses as at a formal restaurant), you may see a local TV station in the pub broadcasting community events such as a local wedding that day. How else would you be invited to something like that?

Gateways - barrier to evil getting to the house; and logging

Elaborate gates mark the homes, out at the street, with walkways to the compound beyond. See Maramures gates at www.puzzleworld.org/Maramures/budes01. The bigger the gate (like our/correct that, other people's Hummers) the more prestige sought or claimed?

We found a gate also up in the mountains, where I understand the Huns were finally stopped. Their horses could not manage the forests, many still pristine. Think Cold Mountain - filmed here. But the logging is turning to clear-cutting. Can someone help out here, to get it under control? Economy and need for product, yes, but surely there is a way that can accommodate the future as well.

But is that fair? We have ours, shouldn't they get theirs?

A Welshman among the Vlachs (WWI), The Greek-Latin influence; photo galleries; Vlachs

Vlachs extend through many countries, including Greece (Macedonia), Albania and Bulgaria. Here is a site that describes how a Welsh soldier, a medical orderly, in World War I deserted and apparently lived among the Vlachs. Read abaout Dafydd Ellis at www.farsarotul.org/nl21_6.htm. Ways of life we may see as outdated, like nomadic shepherds, may have more important kinds of anchors than we offer ourselves? See the extent of the ranges of the Vlachs at www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/vlach-south.

And the post on Vlachs in this blog.

This gallery one is breathtaking on Romania. www.pbase.com/bauer/romania&page=all.

More blogs about Romania Road Ways.

Maramures: In the country, people, villages, traditional.

Traditional clothing is not seen as much as before, I understand. We saw people dressed traditionally on feast days mostly. These are from the Maramures area, off the main roads. See www.romaniatourism.com/villages.

Great numbers of people going to church, or returning, or socializing. The wooden churches are World Heritage Sites. See www.geocities.com/MadisonAvenue/7569/mypage., This has music, so you may want to reduce the volume. I increase it, myself.

Maramures: Ieud; WWII, Moisei: Roadside Memorials, and Sighet Prison, WWII

Maramures is a northwestern region with strong traditions and rural villages. See Ieud at www.puzzleworld.org/Maramures/ieud01.

We were never far from reminders of WWII tragedies. At Moisei, a little village on the way to Signetu Marmetje in northwestern Maramures, there is a particularly moving memorial. I understand that this had been a largely Jewish community, but numbers are not clear. See cja.huji.ac.il/NL14-Romania.

There were about 125 families. Villagers had fled to the forests to escape the Nazis, who followed and captured up to three dozen people, and after terrible things, shot them through the windows in the locked little farmhouse where they had been imprisoned. We found a standing-stone type of memorial here. www.puzzleworld.org/Maramures/moise01. Only the farmhouse itself was left standing. The rest of the town was burned to the ground and the inhabitants left to forage in the deep winter in the forests. It is now a small, industrial, dark town.

We are isolated here, without daily reminders of what people are capable of.

There is a pilgrimage festival at Moisei on August 15 every year, not connected to the war. We missed it, but here it is for you: www.leafpile.com/TravelLog/Romania/Ceremonies/Moisei/Moisei.

Sighetu Marmetiei is a city in the north north-east. The prison there, now The Museum of Arrested Thought, in Sighetu Marmetje, in the northeast, is open but guides are guarded in what they say. Enough is visible, however, to put together a great deal. For its history, see www.memorialsighet.ro/en/istoric_cladire_sighet.asp. In use?

Here intellectuals and government dissenters and others were kept, tortured and died, and we don't seem to be above it after all. See also "Prison of the Ministers," at www.beyondtheforest.com/Pages/RSR6.

Sapinta - Sapanta - The Merry Cemetery

At Sapanta, past Sighetu Marmetje, you will find the Merry Cemetery where a carver years ago began carving wooden markers with the customary little roof shapes above. He showed in the carving and in words how the person died, or his or her place in the community. See Sapinta at www.puzzleworld.org/Maramures/sapin01.

You can see a butcher's life carved on the marker, with the sheep and calf, a housewife, people doing the ordinary things of life.

Then you look more closely, as in this picture, and there is someone being shot by a firing squad.

Elsewhere is a child about to be hit by a car. See Paul's Blog at neptunerising.blogspot.com/2006/11/romania-bucharest-transylvania-and.html. Fine closeup of one of the wooden markers, the child and the car. How she died is part of her life forever.

On another, someone translated for me the last words of one fallen body: as having just been trying to get home across the river, when some soldiers came along and shot him, for no reason. Another marker is of the wife, mourning.

Sapinta is in the north east, past Sighetu Marmetje. The original carver died in 1977, and the work is being carried on.

Sighetu Marmetij: Elie Wiesel; Museum of Arrested Thought Political Prison, Traditional dress; festival of the cows

This is Sighetu Marmetiei, the town in northwestern Romania where Elie Wiesel was born, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, and who now is working with George Clooney (9/06) to promote action to stop genocide in Darfur. For the work and life of Elie Wiesel, see www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/photo/index. Elie Wiesel's Sighet 1920-1939. He was Chairman of the International Commission for the Holocaust in Romania. Read his speech regarding the holocaust at www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/what_new/data_whats_new/pdf/english/004_Message_from_Elie_Wiesel.pdf. Read the full report at www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/what_new/index_whats_new-report.html. Yad Vashem is the Jewish national museum in Jerusalem.

Here in Sighet is the Festival of the Cows. There was a large banquet for officials, and music and dancing, to celebrate the bringing down of the cattle from the high pastures for the winter.

The skirts are heavy felted wool connected aprons front and back.

The Museum of Arrested Thought is here - one of the chain of political prisons, now open to visitors. Guides are not open in responding to questions, but most all is all too visible. See prior post on Maramures and WWII. For more on the prison, and its torture, and a map of where the political prisons are, see Paul's Blog at neptunerising.blogspot.com/2006/11/romania-bucharest-transylvania-and.html.

The Jewish population: This was Elie Wiesel's home. The Jewish population was decimated, and the cemetery is kept locked. For background on Jewish history in Romania, go to www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/romania. They undertook a strong resistance to the Nazis, I understand.

Romanian Heroes - identify as you go

Identifying royalty, crown by sceptre by turban.
Which is this?

With the history of this area so new to the West, we recommend two steps: 1) Take a little history book - we had "Romania, An Illustrated History" by Nicolae Klepper, Hippocrene Books NY 2002. and 2) Start a list of names and dates and distinguishing features as you see the statues. Note the crown or headdress styles. I am not confident in the "images" internet search method - too many other people confused. No controls.

We saw recurrent people, identifiable by their headdresses or features. Much revered. A basic chronology:

1. Basarab I, Prince of Wallachia 1310-1352.

He unified Wallachia, from the Carpathian Mountains to the Danube River, and the Black Sea, including a part now the separate country of Moldova, and defied the Hungarians who controlled much else by refusing tribute. He defeated the Hungarians in a mountain pass area, and fended off the Tatars who controlled the region of Moldavia in the east.

2. John Hunyadi - 1441-1446, Transylvania - Hungarian-appointed voievod (name for ruler). A/k/a/ Janos Hunyadi, Iancu de Hundeoara. See his castle here. Like governor. Great military leader, many victories on behalf of King Sigismund of Hungary. Became governor of Hungary for a while.

3. Matthias Corvinus - statue in Cluj Napoca. King of Hungary and son-in-law of John Hunyadi. Arrested Vlad III Dracula, imprisoned him.

4. Mircea the Old - Wallachia - 1386-1395, and 1397-1418 Bucharest

















5. Vlad Dracul - Wallachia province. 1436-1442, 1443-1447 -

Father of Vlad III Dracula. Dracul meant Dragon. He was bestowed with the Order of the Dragon, a crusading order (award in Nuremberg), so was known as Vlad Dracul or Vlad the Dragon. Later assassinated by John Hunyadi, of Hungary. See Hunedoara post here.

6. Vlad III Dracula - Wallachia province. 1448. 1456-1462 and 1476.

Dracula-son of Dracul. Attacked Turkish forces. On-again-off-again support from Hungarians, obtained throne, then killed in battle against them. Had become known as Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler.

7. Stephen the Great - 1457-1504. In Moldavia province.

Cousin of Vlad III Dracula. King, fought Turks. Commissioned many monasteries. After a victory, shot an arrow off a hill and sited the next monastery there.

8. Michael the Brave - 1593-1601.

See turban-type shaped (not wound) headdress, feather, large, sloping bulbous to the leftStatue in Cluj, a historical hero, rides high in the city park here. See photo album at www.ici.ro/romania/en/orase/cluj. Overcame Turks.

9. Mattei Basarab - 1632-1654, Wallachia. Turban style headdress in shape, but floppy hat style, not wound.

10. Basil the Wolf, Moldavia 1634-1653

Barsana Monastery and towering steeples

Many monasteries, but each style represents a historical period with its invasions and need for defense, and culture group differences. In Maramures (not exclusive), many monasteries and churches are unpainted wood, see Barsana at www.puzzleworld.org/Maramures/barsa01, with its stratospheric spires. The timbers are massive. Surrounding forests are being deforested (is the government overseeing anybody? we don't oversee ourselves much, environmentally, but worth asking).


In another one, under construction near Sapanta, we were able to climb 'way up. Here is one outside staircase to the interior. The basic construction was post and beam.

Horezu Monastery

This monastery is a World Heritage site. See Horezu at www.cimec.ro/Monumente/Lpm/UNESCO/Hurezi/hurezien. The style is called Post-Byzantine Art Synthesis, and is widely seen.

Here is an elderly monk. Sometimes the facades at monasteries are similar, but I think this was also at Horezu.

Moldova, Moldavia - Romania until 1991

A country's history is also known by its borders. Some of a country's turmoils are rooted in forced border changes, or voluntary migrations, and many other factors. Look at a map, and you will see a tiny country bordering Romania, called Moldova, or Moldavia. This country was an independent state beginning in the early 1500's, but was ruled for centuries by Romania as part of "Bessarabia." It then became part of Romania in 1918, and again independent in 1991, and in that period, was also a small state in the former USSR.

See the e-museum site of The University of Minnesota at Mankato, MN,
offers a full-service museum-type website at www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/oldworld/europe/moldavia. This gives a good introduction to the history, cultures and archeology of the area.

Curtea de Arges Monastery

Curtea de Arges, Orthodox Church 1517. This was built by Basarab I, and with eye-opener origins in (legend? fact? both?). The story is that the lives of the workers were taken so they could not create such beauty again. See www.rotravel.com/romania/monasteries/arges. One did try to escape, and did not survive. Another story involves another sacrifice - a builder's wife. You can read about that at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtea_de_Arge%C5%9F_Cathedral.

At Curtea, there will be a sign as you begin the road north to the Carpathians and the Transfagarasan Pass, where Vlad III Tepes (the Impaler) had his castle, now a ruin at Poinari Citadel. The sign says whether the pass is open or not. We went without seeing the sign, all was open, and there are places to stay if you are stuck. Just don't drive after sunset if you can help it - few markers to the next stopping point.

Driving and sharing the road; hints and cautions

Sharing the road. Horse carts, ox carts. The transportation for rural people in the east is animal, and animals also do the plow/farm work, if the family can afford them.

We were there at harvest time, October, so the loads were huge.

Horse carts are also in the towns and cities. See Romanian driving rules at www.enzia.com/Pages/Car5. Horse and ox carts are on most all the main roads, and most with wagons piled high with people and goods or produce or hay, except for the more industrialized west. There they had tractors - it was 10 days before we saw a tractor.

Check the US government info on any country where you plan to drive. For example, go to travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1004. The Romanian tourism people are also helpful. See www.romaniatourism.com/while.

Afterpost- 1/2/07 - with Romania now in the European Union, what will change? Not sure.

I saw no accidents. People are courteous, but go very fast. Just watch for everyone else on the road, on foot or with animals, and pass fast in and out yourself. Other drivers will slide over and make room, I found. There are people carrying firewood and other necessaries on their backs on the roads. We just went slow and did fine, even on back roads.

Avoid night driving. If dark comes upon you, creep. All bets are off. The horsecarts and some of the older cars do not have lights or reflectors. Fog settled in one day (very fitting - at the Hotel Castel Dracula, Transylvania, east of Bistrita at Piatra Fantanele). We stayed at the hotel, reading and chatting until noon, as did most everyone else.

Drive on the right. Drivers are on the right side of the road, and very skillful.

Passing. In passing, the customs are different.
The passer tailgates. The slower vehicle immediately pulls over halfway on the burm or as far as possible. The passer whizzes out over half the center line, looks, then keeps whizzing past or pulls back in. The slower one meanwhile leaves plenty of room. The passer seldom has to go entirely into the oncoming traffic lane -- I did not see one accident caused by passing. I only saw one fenderbender in a town, a usual rearender.

Roundabouts. Most sites on driving in Romania are alarmist. Not so. Just keep going around the roundabout until you can slither off, and watch who is ahead and beside you first, then look behind.

Dogs. Watch out for the stray dogs. They are quick, but all over. Some estimates are 2,000,000. Just go slow, and keep your hands in your pockets. The situation is tragic. Dog hell, says this site : Dog hell. Horrible to read about, but if you are going there, you will see them. During a Ceaucescu relocation period when entire neighborhoods parts of great cities were being torn down and enormous public buildings put up, the government did not permit people to take their pets. So they were set loose, many survived and are all over as feral cockers and feral pekingese and everything else huge and little. No neutering program until too late. Now the government is just trying to get rid of them. Many beautiful dogs there, many sick. Many. I did not see dogs run over, though. Drivers are careful. But the news accounts say worse, things a passer-by does not see.

Itinerary After The Fact

Bucharest - Snagov - Sinaia - Brasov - Rasnov - Bran - Curtea de Arges - Poinari Citadel - Transfagarasan Pass (check at southern end to check that it is open) - Sibiu - Sighisoara - Targu Mures - Bistrita - Piatra Fantanele - Putna - Moisei - Ieud - Sighetu Marmetei - Sapanta - Cluj Napoca - Alba Iulia - Hunedoara - Targu Jiu - Horezu - Calimaneste - Ramnicu Valcea - Targoviste - and Bucharest.

See also www.europeroadways.com.

Brancusi, sculptor - Roadside art, and Mystery Man

We came across this large carving in the middle of an S curve in the mountains - workmen farther down said it was by Brancusi. It did not look like a Brancusi, but I am no expert. It is a fine kind of totem pole. Will try to look it up. See www.brancusi.com/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=10&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DBrancusi%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DTSHA,TSHA:2005-32,TSHA:en. Again, if the address is long here, just stop at the dot com and see what else you need. But by whom? The mystery remains. For some of his work, see www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/brancusi/overview. This one was just suddenly there.

And who was this gentleman, in the middle of somebody's orchard as we drove by. Does anyone know what Brancusi looks like?

Who did this? Who is it? More fun not knowing. Spontaneity in Romania - these things just appear.

Bucharest - Music, food -The Dracula Club

1. First, the urban

The Dracula Club in Bucharest is kitsch plus good fun - see www.travellady.com/Issues/Issue60/dracula.htm ("Dinner At The Count's")

Food is excellent in Romania. Hearty. See overview at www.romaniatourism.com/foodwine. Try the tuica, a potent, clear plum brandy. Here are sites for or about making your own: www.vurpar.com/album/village/pages/moonshine%28tuica%29makingaparatus.htm; and www.klmphoto.com/Photos/ColorOfHay/klmCOH008; and www.pgallery.net/lucianmuntean/image-85593. A waiter brought us some when we first arrived - excellent.

Think root vegetables and potatoes, cabbage dishes, chicken and lamb and beef stews, sausages, cutlets, cornmeal porridges (mamaglia, like a mellow and rich polenta), soups -- especially ciorba, a sour soup. Breads are whiter than expected, but plenty of it. Try a single whole peppercorn on your fried egg. Lovely surprise. No stomach trouble in the whole two weeks. At this hotel, we joined with another traveler who was on her own. Good times.

2. Then, the rural. Enjoy the local pub and its music. Even watch a video of a wedding that day. See Romanian music.

3. No restaurant? Use the Magazin Mixt, a small neighborhood general store. Get salamis, cheeses and bread and other staples. They will slice everything.

4. For the car: Have a small terry towel that you can wet and keep for fingers and spills; extra plastic bags. We snacked at will. We never went hungry, and found no food we didn't like. Dan was not as keen on the mamaglia (polenta or grits) but there were substitutes - plenty of potatoes and rice.

If in doubt, ask for eggs. Use body language.

Bucharest - Ghencea Military Cemetery (Ceaucesu); Museum of the Romanian Peasant; Mogosoia Palace (Lenin)

Bucharest is a cosmopolitan city, see www.escapeartist.com/efam/63/Travel_To_Romania. And here is the national anthem: see www.geocities.com/MadisonAvenue/7569/imn.mid.nthem. We should know those things before going so respect can be shown.

Propellers in the cemetery. War heroes, pilots who died in service, are buried with propellers instead of headstones in the Ghencea Military Cemetery in Bucharest, a custom we saw elsewhere. Here is "Find A Grave" site for finding burial places, if that interests you: www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=country&FScountryid=6.

lLenin's statue is discarded behind the kitchens at Mogosoaia Palace
outside Bucharest.

At the Communist Exhibition at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, however, there is a lower level with reverential exhibits for Lenin and the Ceaucescu, and others.

The Ceaucescus are buried separately at the Ghencea Civil Cemetery in Bucharest, some aisles apart. We looked for a long time before finding either one, and were carefully watched by guards. I believe the concern was simple vandalism, and we were not hindered in any way as we looked.

There are tributes on the graves.

...................................................................
Notes from our logs, miscellany- that's all
Sighetu Marmetiei - Museum of Arrested Thought -
One of the old political prisons. Is it being used again?

Vast gap between rich and poor,
Profits vs. environmental preservation,
Industry vs. horrid smog; similar issues as here.
Are any of us paying attention?

On rural, more positive side,
Haystacks - engineering feats
Impossibly high spires
Great carved wooden gates at entryways to compounds.
Cows filing down from the pasture at evening,
Each peeling off to its own road
And standing by its own gate
To be let in.

Playing pool at Hotel Dracula.
Hokey but fabulously located in mid-major-hiking area.
Wilds.

Ladies in remote town
Where we found old fortified German church
Offering us
Use of their outhouse.
Thank you.

Cows of the household

The cows coming down from pasture in the evening are often in single file, or double, coming through the village. Each weaves off at the home street, lumbers and sways down the center or the side, and stops at the gate of its household, and just waits for someone to open the gate.

Once, Dan was taking a picture of something else, in the dirt road, not too far from our pensione when a tan one made its way slowly right toward him. Much surprise, no harm, no threat, but the idea of a partnership with one's cows, completes a circle of life somehow. No adversarial profitleeching, downer-torturing feed lot. We don't have all the answers.

Cabbage market at the crossroads - ciorba and recipes

Try the ciorba, a sweet-sour cabbage soup. Go to mcgees.com/kitchen/recipes/soupsand/ss109801. Cabbage in many things.
And stuffed cabbage. bitsyskitchen.com/romanian1. This includes Vegeta, a seasoned salt with bits of dried veg, also part of Western Balkans (Bosnia, Croatia) cooking, and available in our markets in the international foods sections. I use it now almost daily - even in eggs. There is msg in it, though.

Lost. Fog coming. Suddenly lifted and we were in the middle of a large cabbage line of trucks, extending all four ways at a crossroads on the way to Targoviste. Much bartering, selling, moving about as it got dark. Trucks piled high.

One to wash, one to wear, one for spare: plus:

Ladies: lightweight, fast-dry; basically one to wash, one to wear, and one for spare.
One lightweight duffel-backpack, with extra nylon empty duffel inside.
Two synthetic long pants, black, tan; and belt.
One pair black jeans.
One black wind-rain top with hood.
One fleece jacket.
Two synthetic turtlenecks, black and gray.
Two cashmere pullovers, black and gray.
Two short sleeve synthetic T's, red and black.
One pair hiking boots.
One pair black nubuck pull-ons, like clogs with heel-backs.
One light black flats - double as slippers, eating out
One camel skirt, long-ish, in case Orthodox monasteries required (needed in Greece, but not in Romania after all).
One wool watch cap.
One pair gloves.
Three pairs socks; one pair knee-hose.
Three pairs underwear, tops and bots.
One lightweight robe, for trekking to bath, and one nightgown. Minimal jams and jellies.