Many moons ago when I landed in Romania, knowing but a single word of the local language, I carried under my arm a well-thumbed guidebook written in English to help me and yes, even to guide me. Unfortunately, it was full of errors and misinformation and even caused a slightly hairy scene with one of my hosts when he saw a photograph of a peasant … Continue reading Crappy Guides to Romania – Tim Dowling of The Guardian
Here is a photo from a blog written by a guy who was a Christian missionary in Romania. You’ll notice that the bottom meter or so of every tree is painted white. All over the country you see this, along side highways, streets and even foot paths. Why? This is not an idle question. People all over the internet have been asking it for years. … Continue reading The Mystery of the White Trees!
In the Communist days, there was a tremendous frenzy to house people in cities in apartment buildings, each one known as a bloc (blawk). There is a classic Romanian film called The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. Totally worth seeing. There’s a line in there that I absolutely love, where Lazarescu’s female neighbor says “totuşi suntem la bloc” which translates to something like “we have to … Continue reading How to Negotiate and Survive the Romanian Bloc
Adapted from an article I wrote two years ago, here for your erudition: When you first come to Romania, you will inevitably be invited to play a game. The invitation will come unannounced and you will have no choice about whether to play unless you are quite prepared. The game’s rules are not enshrined in any rulebook, nor is there any official name, but it … Continue reading Playing the Change Game
Sadly, as I detailed at length here, riding the rails here in Romania ain’t quite what it used to be. Simply put, for me riding CFR, especially in those “heady days of yore” was quite often akin to Teddy Roosevelt sailing off to Africa in search of adrenaline. It was quite an adventure for me, especially since I started out at almost zero knowledge of … Continue reading True Tales of Riding the Rails in Romania
All Things Romania 