April 10, 2005: Finding my Roots. Arrival in Romania

This will be short as I think I’ve been up close to 50 hours now…and I’m beginning to fade, big time…

Left Delray Beach on Saturday at about 5 am to go to Fort Lauderdale.  Flew to Chicago, arrived at about 11 am and had 6 hours at O’Hare…then flew to Frankfurt — plane landed a bit late and connection to flight to Bucharest was quite tight.. I managed to land the window seat in the last row of the flight to Bucharest and immediately remembered that Europeans smoke…the smell on people’s clothing was like a high dose of second hand smoke… lots of it in a small space… Arrived in Bucharest at about 3:30pm today (Sunday).. It’s now about 1 am.  

After checking in to the hotel, and unpacking quickly, Adrienne and I met up with her friend and caught a cab to the Jewish Museum..which was closed.. Very few people (except for young people) speak English and the only other language that is marginally used appears to be French… Anyway, we eventually found our way back  (via a tram and a taxi) to attend a flute concert at the concert hall, which was quite beautiful, but the music was rather sleep-inducing…  The concert hall was fantastic and apparently the scene of some resistance against Ceaușescu…. After the concert (which seemed to go on forever) we went to dinner at an old bistro close by… Food was actually quite good… a little heavy but portions weren’t obscenely large, so it was bearable…

It’s difficult to get a full understanding of what’s going on without language, although Eleanor (our friend here) is teaching at the law school and she has some insight, although I think a bit tainted by the U.S. Embassy…

After a bit of hassle, I’m now functioning on the cell phone and as you can see (assuming you get this) I’m email-ready…Took a bit of clever mechanics, but it’s all working.. My room looks like some experiment — with plugs going everywhere — charging computer, the WiFi charger, the batteries for the cellphone, charging the camera, etc., etc., etc..

Bucharest is dusty, clearly without any sense of zoning… and filled with 50’s style Soviet housing that goes on for blocks and blocks… They have parks scattered throughout the city, which is nice, but they are not very well kept (and at this time of year, not very “green.”  Many historic buildings were destroyed or are in disrepair and the street pattern is chaotic.. Sort of a set of concentric circles and then lines radiating out A la Paris and DC, but the concentric circles are erratic and the lines radiating out aren’t straight…So it’s hard to figure  out where you are.. No one seems to be able to read maps, so having one is pretty useless… Even taxi drivers seem stunned when you show them a map (which we brought from the US) and cannot figure out where you are and where you want to go. …They either know the location or they don’t…kind of a simple process.. It’s also a lot hotter than predicted, so I’m a bit stuck with clothing for colder weather.. It was supposed to be 40-60 and it’s easily 75 today…

It’s been a hectic 40 hours…More to follow…