Alea iacta est- the die is cast: after 47 years, I will return to my country of birth, Romania, but as a visitor.

This is the time of the year when we usually plan our autumn trips and the conjunction of the musical festival George Enescu, which takes place in Bucharest (our native city) throughout September 2009, some nostalgia (well, more than some...) and friendly but stubborn insistence from a former university and professional colleague, conspired to push us to finally go ahead and commit.

So the plan is to fly to Bucharest on September 11, stay there about two weeks (with day trips) till the Enescu Festival ends and then to tour the country for about 10 more days. Return day: October 9.

We are pursuing an apartment (the same I had recommended to Deborah before she changed her trip plans, and in turn recommended to us by friends who stayed there a year ago). We will rent the apaprtment for the entire period and this way we won't need to drag all our luggage across the country.

The countdown starts. I'll report in this topic on progress, or in separate topics if warranted.

And I will update the Trip Calendar, as I hope do all our members when their travel plans take shape .

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Doru,

I will enjoy following your planning, Doru.

Do you have any living relatives still there?

Not that I know of, Terry. This will be part of the "things to do". There is much to return to, and yet much is gone. For example, our neighbourhoods, Josette's and mine, have been rased. They are gone.

But change happens, not all is bad, and we will face a different reality. It would be a mistake, I think, to wish to return to what was, as it was; this is a formula for disappointment.

But I look forward to sitting in the Ateneul Roman, the great concert hall of Bucharest, and maybe, well, not maybe but for sure, to find the seats Josette and I had as every Sunday morning subscription between 1954, a few months after we met, till July 1961 when we left.

Maybe visit the newspaper where I worked. The Radio Broadcast Centre where I worked. The University. Heck, the high school, with the statue of the famous principe (16th-17th century) whose name it carries, and the memories of the many stupid things we used to do as young boys. The University field, where I played team handball.

Meeting colleagues, though if they remained as dedicated to drinking as we were all those many years ago, this may make searching for them a bit trying.

Walking the streets, remembering friends and girlfriends, tasting the local food in the restaurants we remember and that are still standing up or discovering new ones, visiting some of the beautiful gardens which still freshen up the city, listening to the midnight concerts, taking a walk with Josette along the river (good part of it now covered, I hear) to retrace other walks from so many years ago.

And that's just a quick, so pathetically superficial list. I didn't mention the mountains, and the sea, and the lakes and the rivers. Hearing the language 24/7 around you after living in different languages for 47-48 years.

You see, Terry, this is why it is a bit daunting to go back after so much time, and why I kept delaying it.

Godspeed my friend.

This week's UK Independent has an article on the Transylvania area. Will you be visiting this area also?

quote:

But I look forward to sitting in the Ateneul Roman, the great concert hall of Bucharest, and maybe, well, not maybe but for sure, to find the seats Josette and I had as every Sunday morning subscription between 1954, a few months after we met, till July 1961 when we left.

I sat in the Ateneul Roman in 2002 and listened to a young Romanian clarinetist play the Mozart Clarinet concerto. One of the greatest experiences and deepest memory of my time there.

quote:

Originally posted by Marta:
This week's UK Independent has an article on the Transylvania area. Will you be visiting this area also?

Thanks for article, Marta!

At least the South-East portion of Transylvania for sure. I don't know if time will allow for deeper incursions. Like with Spain, one thing people hardly realise is that Romania is a pretty big country, with a great variety of terrain.

Once we're done with the apartment, air tickets and concert tickets, we will start designing with my Bucharest friend and former university colleague the trip route.

Apartment update: I found a very good good selection of listings on a website called www.inapartment.ro and a similarly reasonably good list from another, www.in-bucharest.com. The prices are well, well below what we were used in renting apartments in W. European big cities (at least for now), and the amenities included, at least on paper, appear way superior, i.e. what are definitely good apartments sleeping 2-3 (double bed and sofa in separate rooms, high speed Internet, DVD player, TV with international channels, cleaning, linen and towels changed twice weekly, initial comfort grocery supply, etc.) at between 60-70 Euro/night.

The problem was that I had a prioritised list based on location, and I asked about them one by one instead of asking for the, say, highest three on my list from the beginning. The result was that I found drip by drip that those I was pursuing were already booked. No wonder, since they were all within walking proximity to the two most important venues for the concerts of the George Enescu Festival: Ateneul Român and the Palace Concert Hall (Sala Palatului).

To the rescue jumped my friend and he arranged for accomodation with two bedrooms, bath, kitchen and even included (which we don't require) breakfast and some meals preparation, with us paying for the groceries. And at even a lower cost than the listings. But the main attraction in taking the apartment: from its windows one can see the garden just behind Ateneul Român, the concert hall I wrote about above. Wow! This means we will be able to go to all many night concerts (start at 22:30) as we will be just next door.

Flight arrangements update: we bought tickets through the travel affiliate of the Visa card we use and this saved us (all prices in Canadian dollars) circa $115/ticket from the lowest price available from Air Canada's direct website booking. We will also get a cashback 5% after we return. Our Visa does not cover trip cancellation and interruption insurance for young people over 65 so we bought it, again through an affiliate, for a total of $185.

So now we will go over our initial Festival ticket purchase plans and add a few more night concerts. The tickets are really very inexpensive by W. European and N. American standards, so we will splurge.

When the festival will be over, we will go to visit the country for 8-10 days, then go back for a few days to the apartment till the return home, to Toronto.

Very exciting stuff.

Exciting, indeed. Your trip is lining up very nicely, Doru.

What a special trip this will be! I envy you having the opportunity to feast on festival music - that is something Bill and I would like to do at some point, but other things keep interfering, somehow.

Thanks for keeping us informed as your planning progresses. It is fun travelling vicariously.

Judy

Resurecting a sleepy topic: only about seven weeks till departure.

My friend in Bucharest interrupted a long vacation in the countryside to come to the city and pick up the tickets for the Enescu Festival concerts. So we have the tickets.

Then he rushed back to the hilly countryside North of Bucharest, where temperature are more sufferable and the air cleaner.

Speaking of heat, it seems Bucharest goes through the hottest spell in its history, with temperatures hovering at and staying around 40 Celsius (104F) and forecast to go even higher, terrible pollution and exodus to the countryside for those who can afford it. Summer is always pretty opressive there and one of my childhood memories is how I used to leave imprints in the street asfalt crossing from one sidewalk to the other.

The ironic thing is that, I read, Romanian authorities have asked for assistance in planning for these hot conditions from the... French authorities! If people remember, the French away on vacation forgot behind them a few years ago all their elderly with the known sad results. Chilling to think about it, I must say...

Well, we will be there in mid-September so being a bit warmer than usual may turn out to be an advantage.

I debate with myself whether to spend CAD200 to update my Garmin 670 with the latest Romania maps. I wrote about this in our Technology forum; I must decide soon because it will take time for the CD to arrive. On the other hand, we will spend most of the time in "our city" and we do not plan to rent a car since we will travel in the country together with our friends. One less device to take with us, with all related accessories? And if we rent a car, we can make sure we get one with GPS.

I wrote to my former high school and I received a beautiful invitation from the Director to come and visit the school, maybe go through the records of those four years I have studied there, names of professors, lists of colleagues. It will be pretty moving.

The University is too big to even consider a more personalised visit but we will go, both Josette and I, to our respective campuses, no doubt.

We started googling names of colleagues and persons we know. Josette, with the connection to the arts, has found a lot more than me. I started collecting names, addresses, telephone numbers. None of my former colleagues became a famous writer, only one published a book as far as I know, and he and all the others must by now be retired journalists...

Next debate: two suitcases, as usual, or three? When we travel anywhere else we're kind of incognito; here it will be different. I may cave in and take a blazer, just in case. The rest of my travel "wardrobe" is always almost formal, from dress shirts (folded sleeves if it is too hot ), dark Tilley dress or travel long pants, to the Mephisto shoes. Oh, yes, a couple of ties.

Will continue the update. If I were more "with it" I would have started a blog, but I'd rather post here. I am "here", on Slow Talk, all day every day anyway.

Doru,
I am touched by your poignant descriptions and plans for your upcoming trip to Bucharest. How wonderful it will be to enjoy the music festival and other joys of Bucharest today while making small excursions into your past.

I just wanted to wish you and Josette the best for your trip, and to thank you for all that you do to keep Slow Travel such a special and informative place to visit.

Godspeed,
Cracker

Thank you, Cracker!

GPS update solution: I discovered that the Garmin Store in Bucharest is located about 100m. from the apartment we rented; emailed with the company and I will decide whether to update the nuvii once I'm there, depending on the touring plans for out of town. As to Bucharest itself, I don't think much has changed since the current 2006 Garmin version map loaded in the nuvii.

This morning we're scouring old photo albums and boxes with extra copies, the target being photos with all school and university colleagues and friends, and colleagues from work, good topic of conversation if we meet them. These are old b&w photos, 3 1/2"x2 1/4" dated from circa 1950 to 1960 and the job ahead of me is to carefully take them out of albums, scan them on my Kodak ESP-9, save them, and print them on 4x6 paper, whether from file or directly from the scanner. This should take me a good part of a whole day, if I am patient enough to do it all today.

Yesterday we had a call from Bucharest, from the aquaintances whose apartment we will use (they have a second house in the small city of Breaza, a bit North of Bucharest, in a charming region of rolling hills where many people who can afford it or inherited it maintain a second residence. Very handy during this canicular summer). Our host called to say "Ce se mai aude?", (loose translation: What's new?) and escaped the same day back to the hills. "The streets are melting!", she said.

Congratulations on your return Doru. I am just over the border in Moldova serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer. In fact, I am in a village on the other side of the river and can see Romania from there.

I do intend to visit Bucharest in the very near future and look forward to your trip report for suggestions of things to see and do.

Drum Bun!

quote:

Originally posted by GGirl2:I do intend to visit Bucharest in the very near future and look forward to your trip report for suggestions of things to see and do.

Drum Bun!

We will arrive in Bucharest on September 12 and stay till October 9, although after September 27 we may be over and about the country, itinerary still to be defined, but I don't think we will range as far as Northern Moldova. It would be quite a GTG if we could get together in Bucharest! If you think this is within the realm of possibility I could send you an email with my cell phone number.

Congrats for the amazing progress with the Romanian (Moldovan?) language! (N.B.: I read your blog.)

Si multumesc pentru urarile bune! Succes in toate!

Congrats on the opportunity to visit Romania after so long away! My husband and I went in 2005 for a wedding. He had lived in Galati for 6 months in 1999 as a volunteer, and found that a lot had changed in 6 years. I imagine it will be even more dramatic for you after over 40 years. I'll be interested to follow along if you blog or write a trip report.

My husband really enjoyed Transylvania and the countryside. We didn't have a lot of time to explore Bucharest but it seems like an intriguing city.

quote:

Originally posted by lesrosiers:My husband and I went in 2005 for a wedding. He had lived in Galati for 6 months in 1999 as a volunteer, and found that a lot had changed in 6 years.

It seems so indeed. Last night, on Euronews there was a report on the return of Romanians from various European countries to which they have emigrated for economical reasons. Most said the same: changes are positive and gradual, but visible, in the day to day life, and they plan to stay.

Hi, I'm just back from 5 months in Romania. We were living in Timisoara, where my husband was teaching at the University of the West. This was our third visit to Romania in 7 years; spent 6 months in Sibiu in 2002. We were surprised, this time, with how much Romania had changed since 2002. There is a lot more money around and more items to buy. Timisoara, for example, has a huge mall complete with American franchises like Starbucks, Bose, Apple, etc. Kids are much more focused on consumption. The infrastructure also seems a lot improved. The trains are definitely MUCH better, and many roads too. But the old Romania is also there as well. I love Romania. Such a beautiful country and with so much to offer. I hope that the E.U. really works for them. (bureacracy does feel sort of different.) I envy you the Athenul. We didn't get to Bucharest this time. But the last time we were there, we say close to the front and heard a remarkable young Romanian clarinetist play the Mozart clarinet concerto. An amazing memory.

Thank you very much for the insights, Constance. We receive the same feedback from the friends/owners of the apartment where we will stay (imagine the street between the concert hall Atheneul Roman and the Hotel Athenée Palace Hilton, and we will stay in the building right in the corner of the street that separates the two!)

Since you mention a clarinet concert, Aurelian Octav Popa, the preeminent Romanian clarinet player and I were colleagues in the same high school, and later my wife and him studied at the Conservatory during the same period. I hope to meet him, and many others.

After the Festival we will definitely be in Sibiu and Sighisoara, but Timisoara is a bit out of our range for the visit. Beautiful city, though, with great history and good people.

And thanks for the positive news on the improvement of the train system. We may use the train for short day hops to Sinaia, Predeal and Brasov.

Sibiu looks gorgeous these days. All the money they got from being the European Cultural Capital really shows. The Piata Mare really sparkles. Have a great trip.

Doru, multumesc foarte mult pentru invitatie. Dar, imi pare rau, eu nu pot sa calatoresc la Romania acum - pentru ca Corpul Pacii zice ca Voluntari nu pot sa pleaca primii trei luni din tara.

Eu sper, ca tu vei petrece bine timp la Romania.

quote:

Originally posted by GGirl2:
Doru, multumesc foarte mult pentru invitatie. Dar, imi pare rau, eu nu pot sa calatoresc la Romania acum - pentru ca Corpul Pacii zice ca Voluntari nu pot sa pleaca primii trei luni din tara.

Eu sper, ca tu vei petrece bine timp la Romania.

Translation from the astonishingly good Romanian GGirl2 has mastered in such a short time (and it would be great fun to hear her Moldavian accent!): "Doru, I thank you very much for the invitation (my note: I invited GGirl2 to meet with us in Bucharest. D.). However, I am sorry but I can't travel to Romania now because the Peace Corps says that volunteers cannot travel during their first three months in the country (where they serve)."

GGirl, hopefully we will find another time. Good luck, R. Moldova has many needs and your work will help people there a lot. I am sure they will never forget you and will be forever grateful. And keep your interesting blog running for our benefit!

Doru, this is too exciting, congratulations to you for making this trip.

Your list of things-to-do gave me tears.
I was in Bucharest in December 1989. Busy running snipers, - we knew there were people shooting from the top of buildings; we didn't know who they were or really why, - I had no idea about any of the places you mentioned. How tragic-comic, huh? In fact I have no real impression of the place, except it was very dusty and dark, with lots of profoundly unhappy people; a young girl soldier was fascinated by my lipstick. We exchanged shirts: I now have a Romanian uniform in my closet and she got my Viyella shirt. And I fed oranges to hostile soldiers (brought 3 kg of oranges from Paris; was told they were the most effective bribe…)
Hmm, not very helpful for you…

One thing from your non-exhaustive list jumped out to me: "Hearing the language 24/7 around you after living in different languages for 47-48 years".

Do you still speak the language fluently? Do you speak in a dated vocabulary? I am curious about your whole experience, especially the linguistic part.

And always, looking up childhood friends is an experience money can't buy.

Bon voyage.

quote:

Originally posted by Americana in Parigi:
Doru, this is too exciting, congratulations to you for making this trip.

Thanks; it took me a long time to come to terms with when I left, why I left, how I left. It is a different country now, and I am much different too, alas...

quote:

I was in Bucharest in December 1989. Busy running snipers, - we knew there were people shooting from the top of buildings; we didn't know who they were or really why... In fact I have no real impression of the place, except it was very dusty and dark, with lots of profoundly unhappy people

To "dusty and dark" I would add "grey". That is true for the whole period from 1946 to the 1989 uprising and a good time thereafter. Although this country may still have a long way to go, all reports point now to a totally different atmosphere, colourful, very lively, in which the young people claim their place with disdain for politicians and happy ignorance of the difficult years their parents went through.

Regarding the 1989 events, we will be staying in an apartment right at the edge of the former Royal Palace Square area, where bullets from snipers were then very real and immediate; it is the building adjacent to the Athenée Palace Hotel; since you were there, you would be able to place exactly where the apartment is.

quote:

One thing from your non-exhaustive list jumped out to me: "Hearing the language 24/7 around you after living in different languages for 47-48 years".
Do you still speak the language fluently? Do you speak in a dated vocabulary? I am curious about your whole experience, especially the linguistic part.

This is a tough question. When I left I was 25, with university studies completed there. I was a young journalist, broadcaster and aspiring writer, so I think the level at which I used the language was, let's say, above average. [Note: Today Josette and I went through documents we were then able to sneak out with us, among them those attesting to our professional records, studies, etc. Strange feeling.]

Josette and I never stopped speaking Romanian among us: it is the language in which we knew each other, and I would die before I would call her "honey", baby", "sweetheart", "love", and other endearments in English. So English is our official language and Romanian our private one. The boys know what they had picked up from us, and it's funny to hear them sometimes...

The reports I have on the language today allow for changes, modernisation of terminology but also for an extent of vulgarisation, but I don't think this is unique to this country. I started looking up the websites of the main newspapers there, and it feels (I am looking here for a really adequate description) like swimming in oil...

quote:

And always, looking up childhood friends is an experience money can't buy.

Childhood friends I am unlikely to find, but maybe colleagues. Josette may do better in this field, because musicians live cleaner and longer lives and their brains are forever stimulated, while journalists die young, on duty or of cirrhosis... I figure switching by necessity to banking added a few years to my life (On second thought, an international banking career holds as much promise of cirrhosis as a journalistic one

Again, thank you for the thoughtful words.

If what happened in the Romania between the immediately pre-WWII and post 1989 times could be of interest, there is an exceptional book: "The Hooligan's Return" (2006 Prix Médicis Étranger) by Norman Manea, my junior by a few months and the kind of writer I would have wanted to be. The English translation is excellent; I didn't see the French translation. Norman Manea is still, I believe, the writer-in-residence at the Bard College, therefore an academic collega of our Mod David!

quote:

"The Hooligan's Return"

I will read it, but am much more eager to read "Doru's Return".

Yikes, I did not mean I "ran snipers". I meant to write I "ran FROM snipers".

Doru, I rarely venture out of 'Italy' on the board, and now I see what I have been missing. What a wonderful trip this will be. I can't begin to imagine ...

I hope it is everything you and Josette could wish for.

quote:

Originally posted by MargM:
Doru, I rarely venture out of 'Italy' on the board.

See what you miss?

quote:

Originally posted by Americana in Parigi:
Yikes, I did not mean I "ran snipers". I meant to write I "ran FROM snipers".

I interpreted it as "I ran THE snipers"

quote:

I interpreted it as "I ran THE snipers"Big Grin

You can understand that, whether running THE snipers or running from them, I was not in an actual mindset to take in the sites !

Reminds me of a Dino Risi movie in which Vittorio Gassman played a rich induistrialist who, with his colleagues in a bank, ran into a terrorist takeover. In those Red Brigade years, that was such a frequent occurrence that all the bankers just sighed and said: "not again!" and carefully laid their cashmere coats on the floor and lay down. Then Vittorio Gassman exclaimed in admiration for the Renaissance ceiling of the bank building. Someone else said: of course, the architect was muckety muck. They then engaged in a deep conversation about the building architecture, straining to get a good view as a ninja terrorist walked back and forth in front of them, aiming an AK47.

OH MY! I just noticed this thread for the first time!
I am so very happy for you and Josette. And, even though I wish that I could be "remembering" all the places you will be posting about. I am consoled to realize that I will be "anticipating" instead.
Tell the owner of that apartment that Dan and I still plan to be there some day.
And please, frequent, voluminous posts!

quote:

Originally posted by Deborah:Tell the owner of that apartment that Dan and I still plan to be there some day.

Deborah, I will ask but I don't think this is an apartment "for rent"; these are friends of friends and they have a summer house up into the hills under the Carpathian mountains and they have taken us in as a favour. This is why there may not be a review... But it never hurts to ask, and I definitely will.

Strange coincidence this evening.

I was watching a DVD, “Primo Levi’s Journey”, which follows the steps of Primo Levi and other Italian inmates freed from Auschwitz, trying to get back to Italy, a trek of one thousand miles, that took more than 9 months from Auschwitz to Torino. These were refugees; Europe at the time was flooded with these moving masses of people, seemingly aimless, but all determined to return where their life journeys were brutally interrupted many years before.

One of the stages of this migration for Primo Levi and his comrades, who went first east and then turned south and west, was Bessarabia, and then Romania (Bessarabia remained under Russian control and is now the major part of the Republic of Moldova). As they crossed into Bessarabia, Levi is quoted: “And suddenly I hear a speech familiar in its music”. He was referring to the softer Romanian spoken in Moldavia on both sides of the border. (I think GGirl2, who is now with the Peace Corps in the Republic of Moldova, will be happy to confirm this reaction by Primo Levi...)

Then the shock for me: as the filming crew arrives in Bucharest, an old man, a local Italian is interviewed and he speaks Italian, the Italian weighted with the burden of the Romanian accent, and with the subtitles on the screen appears a name: Modesto Ferrarini. This Modesto Ferrarini was a person I knew very well, sports reporter at the same newspaper where I worked. He was older than me by 8-10 years, but we were close enough to consider him a friend despite the difference in age. He was a charming man, not very tall but strong, and when I last saw him he was probably 35, heavier by a good 10-15 kg. than the Modesto that now appeared on the screen. He talked about his family (his grandparents came from Gaio in Friuli to work as mosaic layers) and then I just hit the "pause" button and looked for a long time at Modesto at maybe 80 years old (the documentary was filmed in 2005).

In 1989, after the Ceausescu regime was taken down, I wrote a letter to Modesto and to another former colleague; they were both working at the national sports newspaper then. I never received a reply. I don't know if the letter was ever received. I did not follow up.

I will look for Modesto and for P.H. the day after I arrive.

And it is so that Primo Levi decided to become a part of my trip to Romania.

Added missing word.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Doru,

Oh, Doru, I do hope you find them when you are there. How amazing would that be!

Doru, what a wonderful thing that would be!

Doru, I've been closely following this thread and trying to imagine your excitement. It is so perfect that music will be a major focus. Now this additional twist adds a bit more mystery. I wish you both a beautiful adventure and look forward to reading all about it.

Doru, that is amazing! Good luck with your quests and with making peace with the past.

Oh, how I hope you find Modesto.

OK, so we're off to Bucharest on Friday!

I will try to keep in touch and report, but blogs are not my thing, and I don't know what I will find there in terms of connection options. I know that the lady who rents to us the apartment has email, ergo has an ordinator (or-dee-nah-tor with accent on the last syllable; Romanian for computer, like the French, who say ordinateur) and some type of connection. If it is a dial-up, forget it. Also, I would rather not spend time in Internet cafes, except for short messages. Best case scenario, I will report as frequently as I can on the Rest of Europe forum.

We are packing; it seems that in the post-Enescu Festival car trip we will include the famous monasteries in the Northern Moldova (Maramures), in the footsteps of our member TominVB, so we have more stuff to take with us to cover possible mud and cold conditions. We spoke today with the lady at whose apartment we will stay in Bucharest, and she said that there was snow in the Carpathian mountains (6000 ft. or so...). We're safe from snow but, since we plan to take cable cars (gondola) to elevations of 1400-2000 m. (multiply by 3 for feet) we need sweaters and related accessories.

It was a bit hectic in the last few days (we had unrelated but happy events) so now we try to concentrate and figure out details.

In the meantime we have a couple of suitcases done.

I guess next I 'll talk to you from Bucharest!

Doru,

I just came across this thread.

Sincere best wishes to you and Josette from Liz and I - and Meredith (our lunch GTG in Toronto) and Steve and Brad (our lunch GTG in Rome).

I am even later than Doug in finding this thread, prompted by the news that you had started your trip. I should look at other forums, like Marg says above.

I did know the trip was in the planning for this fall and now fall is here - I look forward to reading each installment and have only the best wishes for you and Josette to have the trip of a lifetime - what a remarkable thing to be able to do.