Midnight

I feel hope and faith.

Don't ask me why, I won't be able to give you any reasonable answers.

I look around and I see : things going the wrong way, (many) people making the wrong choices, for the second time, for the third, for the fourth... past becoming future, duplicating and repeating itself, nightmares turned to reality, defeats, painful losses.

A sample of superficial wisdom : most of us don't learn from mistakes. We just repeat them over and over and over again, convinced and convincing ourselves and each other it was the right thing in the first place. We are a bit too lazy to improve ourselves. This is what I see now as I take a look around me. Wish I was wrong.

Nothing seems to get better. And yet, somehow, it is my belief that most of the wrong things we do to each other, the least important ones, don't leave tracks behind, while - true - the most important do.

I try to take this in a positive manner : if I harm somebody badly, I still have the chance to redeem myself. It is hard, but it can be done. I had strong ties with most people I - intentionally or unintentionally, whatever, doesn't even matter - hurt. This hardiness - of me trying to make it up to someone - is what tied us together in the first place. It is what makes people become important to each other, I guess.

When we live together, we hurt one another, it cannot be otherwise. And, in that moment, we have to choose between running away, or getting closer.

You know what ? Don't ask too much logic to the post above. It's not meant to be logical.


With love,

I'm back

I feel the need to come back to blogging, just like I felt the need to take a break last year.

Around me, many things seem senseless, and yet, I feel hope and faith. I barely breathe due to my heavy schedule, and yet this blog is a part of who I am, and never ceased to be.

It'll be difficult to find the time to write, still, I think I can manage it now. If that will be the case, you will see here another post. And another. And another...


Kindle your mind.

Farewell

Words cannot express what I feel as I try to pull out these next few lines. A woman I deeply loved once, now a close and cherished friend, passed away a few days ago. She was only 31. I am shocked and stoned. I could never, never imagine this would be how we get to say goodbye.

My heart is broken. I still cannot believe this is happening.


As I watch the sun go down, watching the world fade away,
All I want to do is kiss you once goodbye.


Farewell, Michaela. Farewell, my friend.

Back

Hello all,

Considering the fact that Romania will have most probably a socialist government from now on, and considering the fact that last time when my country was governed by the socialist party there were very serious democracy issues, I decided to come back.

I shall continue posting images and writing about Bucharest, however, I'll try to write a bit more about freedom. In my view, democracy is regressing in my country, and unfortunately quite few people actually do care about it. Most of us just care about our daily ration of food.

With love,

Personal

Due to personal reasons, I am taking a blog break. I do not hide I start questioning the orientation of my blog. I need to figure it out.

My Romanian speaking friends can find me here from time to time.

With love,

Personal

24 hours from now I'll be on the plane to Madrid. I don't have expectations, I just hope everything will be fine. I think I'll be back in Bucharest before the end of the month. It is for the first time that I go to Spain.

I promise pictures and impressions.

I am so tired, I really need a break away from everything.

With love,

Best wishes

As 2011 stays back and 2012 comes along, I am taking a few minutes and trying to think what should I wish you, my friends.

Many people around me are actually happy that 2011 is over and, somehow irationally, hope for the better in 2012. I don't know what to say - I am not a prophet, I cannot tell that 2012 will be better than 2011. But look: I have to go to work if the sun shines or even if it rains. We have to live our lives and fight for our lives, no matter that the years we cross are good or not so good - or even bad.

So I say : may your life be good in 2012, my friends. May each of us get the opportunity to struggle for a better life, this year. And may each of us use it.

With love,

season greatings

Merry Christmas, my friends.

I am not in my best mood, as you might have guessed, due to my prolonged absence. But I am OK, I am always here, and I wish you all the best and a happy celebration, together with those dear (and close) to you.

Merry Christmas (or Happy Hannukah, if you please).


With love,

blogging15. Invitation to my Romanian speaking friends

I just launched my online journal in Romanian. I decided a try would be useful.

If you want to read and express your views, you're welcome, my friends.

The link was also added to the blogroll.

With love,

Cluj Napoca

I arrived in Cluj on Sunday evening, after a very long journey starting on Saturday evening, continuing with a stop on Sunday morning somewhere on a mountain top between Vâlcea and Sibiu and ending with 150 miles of road on Sunday afternoon.

The reason of my coming here was refiling my batteries, as I am really really tired and I could stand no longer Bucharest.

You can get to Cluj Napoca by car, obviously, by train or by plane. Going by train is frustrating - it takes almost 10 hours to get to Cluj from Bucharest (and I must express my amazement that, on Saturday, it took me 7 hours to get to Sibiu, which is less than 300 kilometers north of Bucharest, by train. A ratio of 40 kmph. No comment.). By car, coming from Bucharest, it is frustrating again, because of the underdevelopment of the national roads. By plane would be better, especially if you come from abroad. The airport is quite nice and very close to the city.

Places to see? Yes, there are a few. Basically, the center, but also the Belvedere hill (with wonderful panoramas of the city) and the Botanical garden. I also enjoyed the bridges over the river Someş and the main park nearby. I went to the elegant National Theater and Opera House, and assisted to a good performance of Carmen by Georges Bizet (with the observation that the French spoken on stage could have been better). However, the singing and, from my point of view, especially the orchestra, were very good.

On an easier note, the choice of pubs can take into consideration, but do not limit itself to, places such as: Toulouse, Diesel, Janis Cafe, Janis la Stuf, Demmers (if you like good tea) and Vertigo. A decent club is After eight. As for restaurants, the one I would recommend - and I thank the person who let me know about the place - is La Piazzetta. But I admit that I generally enjoy Italian kitchen, so that choice can be subjective. 

After five days, I don't know if living in Cluj is better than living in Bucharest. Usually, it takes me a little to evaluate the place I see and the people who take part to the picture. Comparing to Bucharest, there is obviously more common sense here and people seem more civilized, but not more educated. However, when getting to know them better, they function just like the kind of people you can meet in Bucharest, keeping in mind that there is a sum of cultural differences which, from my point of view, are clearly fading away.

So, as a sort of conclusion to this rather short post, I would say, to my surprise, that I did not notice important differences between Cluj and the south of the country. People are running for their material interest, which is good mainly, but they seem to put a big emphasis on that. Somehow it was frustrating to listen to people talking only about money, even the students in the university library. I have enough of that kind of chat at home.

The photo gallery:

1-2. Janis Cafe - the library

3-4. the center square, with the cathedral and the statue of Matthias Corvinus

5. flower-shop. It was called "Casa cu flori", if I recall correctly.

6. Eroilor str.

7. side street

8. the stadium

9. the river Somes

10-11. After Eight club

12. the opera (well, a part of it)

13-14. views of the city from the Belvedere hill

15. Janis la Stuf. I loved the candles lying on the piano

Kindle your mind,

Personal

I'm leaving in 10 minutes. I got the next week off.

Consequently, my next post will be written from Cluj. I guess you want to know a few things worth knowing about Cluj, so I'll see you around here, my friends.


With love,

Bucharest in photos. The city by night

Although this picture was taken last night, the image was very familiar to me more than 20 years ago.

I used to spend a lot of my time in Bucharest as a child (meaning, generally, a few months a year), which explains why I never had a strong Transylvanian accent. Back at home, in northern Transylvania, I was asked where did I come from and why I pronounce words with a Bucharest accent.

Well, a lot of my time in Bucharest was spent next to the Parliament's Palace (back then, called "Casa Poporului"), in the yard - and the church - of a splendid monastery, called All Saints (picture to follow, btw), intentionally hidden by one of the blocks in the left of this picture. You know, religion was not welcome in the Bucharest of the '80s - dozens of splendid old churches of inestimable cultural value were completely destroyed at the time. On the very place you see now the Parliament Palace, six churches had this fate. And lots of others were translated behind blocks (All Saints monastery among them), and hidden from sights. So that you know why many beautiful things in Bucharest are so hard to spot - it was a intended Communist policy: war against the old, promotion of the Communist urban "accomplishments".

The boulevard was still in the making (I remember soldiers working at the pavement of the new sidewalks), and the palace was never finished until today (if you visit Bucharest, you can still see the cranes in the back of this huge building). The main differences, tough, between then and now, consist in the fact that back then it was much darker, as electricity was scarce in Communist Romania, and of course there were much less cars.

There are quite a few people appreciating the images of this city taken during nighttime (thank you, guys!). In a Communist Romania, it would have been impossible, if not unthinkable to take this sort of images, because of the darkness and the lack of electricity.

Kindle your mind.

Bucharest in photos

The picture was taken back in 1987, if I recall properly, at the International Fair in Bucharest.

I liked that wheels, believe me, they were about 3 meters high. The truck itself - DAC 120 DE - was a curiosity and weighting about 100 tons, and was presented as a sort of a big realization of the Romanian industry at the time. 5 such trucks were exported to Australia, as far as I remember.

Imagine such a monster galloping at 50 miles per hour - its maximum speed. The back of the truck almost didn't get in the picture.

Of course, it was not a common thing to see in Bucharest, but for me it was one of the lasting memories, one of the trade-marks of the city, if you like.

PS. The blog celebrates today its 4th anniversary. Quite a performance, quite nice, don't you think, my friends? I'll celebrate this anniversary by attending a concert tonight. And I hope many years of good blogging on this very page still lie ahead. Being a blogger defines a part of who I am.

With love,

Personal

Our journey through the Bucharest of the 80s' begins with the presentation of the guide.

Our guide is a young, small - and a little scared - fellow, discovering (certain parts of) the big city while visiting his grandma and intimidated by the air of a metropolis - a city of more than 2,000,000 inhabitants even back then, during the 80's.

I chose to show this picture first because this little guy will show up in the vintage part of the voyage. The picture was taken back in 1984. I was four years old.

I loved that suite, by the way. It was mostly black and white, and combined with my blond hair, it worked wonders on women. Just kidding :)

Kindle you mind,

Personal

I am lurking around, my friends. More or less, but around.

My deep personal problem, though, is that I feel empty and de-motivated. And very tired. It is personal. And real.

I have tons of very good pictures of my city - Bucharest -, pictures taken for months now, but I just do not get to see them published.

I guess I'll write more, about things going through my head, rather than publishing photos. I feel the need to exorcise myself. or to confess - whichever you prefer, it is the same.

And I thought of a more personal project: I would like to show you Bucharest as I got to know him as a child,  when I got to spend my summer vacations here. You see, I was a normal Romanian child, but instead of spending my summer holidays in the countryside, I would usually get to spend a few months a year in Bucharest, at my granny's. Some of the pictures - as much as possible - will be vintage. Some will be 2011, as a sort of remembrance of the Bucharest I got in touch to back then.

PS. The fact that one of my grandfathers was Bucharestian makes me a honest to God Bucharestian :) ? Just kidding.

Personal

It is over.

My heart is broken.


I do not know when I will start posting again. It will definitely happen sometimes, the sooner the better.

I need a long break, to set things straight, inside.


With love,


PS. Oh, and a song to go with my state.

Personal

This is the first post in a very long time.

You should know, my friends, that this absence was not planned - and by the way - I do not know when the next post will be. I just know there will be a next post.

My life just took an important, yet unexpected turn, time became short and some things had to be taken care of without delay - like, my house.

I had also a lot of thinking to do about my life and about what should I do in the not-so-distant future. I am deeply fallen in love and it completely changes me, and changes my perspectives.

As soon as possible, and as soon as I'll get a little time, I'll be back with more beautiful pictures from beautiful Bucharest.

With love,

Personal

I am falling in love.

A gift received from life, I didn't expect. I am overwhelmed.


Kindle your mind.

My new friend

I didn't tell you this before: I have a pair of parrots. They are an inheritance - my sister left them here when she emigrated to Spain last year. Carrying them all over Europe would have not been such a good idea.

I discovered today that the two parrots, when left free, out of their cage, stay together most of the time. And I like that.

This is my new friend - the latest Kindle DX. We spend a lot of time together, not only at home, but also in the underground or on the train. My life style is changing. For the better, I might add.


Kindle your mind.

Romania in photos

A poetry comes to my mind. It is a simple one, a poetry for children actually, written by Grigore Vieru. I guess it could be translated to English, but its charm would be wasted, so I prefer to post the Romanian original text:

Puişorii

- Pui golaşi cum staţi în cuib voi

Fără plăpumioare?!

- Ne-nvelim cu ale mamei

Calde aripioare!

- Dar când mama nu-i acasă

Şi ploiţa cerne?

- Ne-nvelim atunci cu frunza

Ramurii materne.

- Dacă n-o să vină mama

Şi-o să cadă frunza?

- Cum nu o să vină mama?

Cum să cadă frunza?!

I'll go to the theater on Monday. One of my friends is a good actress, she got a part in this play, she invited me and I said I would go. I bought a ticket in the first lines.

I bought my Kindle DX today. It should be in my hands within four days. I am nuts - with accessories and taxes, the whole shebang will be way over 500 $. Cultural investment, huh. Or should I say intellectual?

This is the 400th published post of this blog. Promising more to come, and hopefully better.

Photo of the day : the mist.

Kindle your mind.

With love,