The Dutceacs and their hometown

Well, usually I hesitate in putting up pictures of people, I think it is a sensitive issue (according to some traditions, taking one's picture is like stealing one's soul), but these are "my" people so I guess they should have a place on my page. And of course, there is Bucharest, the backdrop of my growing up - hard to leave aside, with all is concrete and lost splendour...

Landscapes

As the train was rushing us by the Transylvanian plain and over the Carpathian mountains, I could not resist taking some pics of the surrounding landscape. Just a sample below:

Travel to Romania - Cluj

Between the German and the Romanian episodes there is nothing really particularly exciting or worthy of note that I can write about. A lot of preparation work for two summer courses and some writing, plus, of course, the everyday...
At the beginning of June however, excitement came in the shape of our trip to Romania (these days I travel there quite often, it feels like, at least once a year for 2-3 weeks!), motivated in particular by the special occasion of Irina and Dan's wedding.
But before we reached Bucharest, the location of the fete, we stopped a day in Cluj, the cultural capital of Transylvania, to visit both the city and our friends Cornel and Anca.
Here are some images from this culturally-mixed place, where half of the city is Hungarian and half Romanian, and where Habsburg influences are clear.

An old building with a face-lift

A panorama of the city with the Catholic cathedral at the center

Men at work - it almost looks like a set-up, but it isn't - they just are perfectly aligned!

The interiour courtyard of a monastery converted now into a music highschool - what an atmosphere these teenagers have!

Femeia Romana

Well, it has been a long time since I wrote something in this blog, but I have been traveling and then ... the minutes just slipped through my fingers, and so did the days, the weeks...
Now I am back!
Some of you have been asking me what I have been reading these days. For the most part it has been a pretty poli-sci, history, political mythology kind of business. There is some fiction on my nightstand, but I will get back to that in a later post. Now I wanted to mention that even though these days I'm into history textbooks a lot, the reading is not always that boring! There are some surprises, for example this description of a Transylvanian Romanian woman, circa 1785: "Româncele sunt supuse, prietenoase, îndatoritoare, si foarte harnice. Femeia munceste la câmp, vede de copii si de casa, toarce si tese pentru nevoile casei si pentru vînzare, îsi întocmeste si-si curata ea însasi îmbracamintea, creste pasari, duce sau mâna pasarile la tirg la vânzare, toarce din furca in timp ce merge cu caruta sau merge pe jos". (Christophor Scipp)
A translation with some degree of accuracy would say that the typical Romanian woman is obedient, friendly, dutiful, and very dilligent. The woman works in the field, takes care of children and the home, spins and weaves for the household and for sale, she makes and cleans her own garments, raises fowl, carries them to the market for sale, and while she walks she spins her yarn". Talk about multi-tasking!

New Pictures: Historical Sites, Romania

As I was mentioning previously that we visiting sites of historic importance, including THE Dracula Castle (a complete fabrication, btw, I think Vlad Tepes spent one night in this place at most), here are some pics from that part of our Romanian excursion.

The Bran castle (aka Dracula's Castle)

Interior courtyard with fountain, Bran Castle

Risnov Fortress, the Eastern Tower

Risnov Fortress, Small streets

View of the Piatra Craiului Mountains from the top of Risnov Fortress

One of the old closes or very narrow streets - heritage of the medieval style of urban (non) planning

One of the beautiful houses of Brasov that I was talking about.

Brasov - nice building

Sweet Sweden, again

Oy, it has been a long time since I posted something here... But I had good reasons, mainly the lack of good internet connections while I was in Romania. Now that I returned to Lund, I hope to keep up with the weblog.
As I was mentioning previously, Martin and I engaged in what is known as social tourism, by fixing our health problems in Romania where it is much much cheaper than in Sweden (or elsewhere, I would guess). And despite their devilish reputation, Romanian doctors are quite good at their job (especially the ones we consulted). Therefore Martin got rid of his glasses/ contact lenses via a laser eye surgery and I have perfect teeth again! Yupii!
We also had some time for traveling around the country. Have been twice to the seaside, in a small place (I don't want to call it resort as it is very rustic and wants to remain that way) on the border between Romania and Bulgaria. Good weather, good company, good atmosphere - nothing wrong with dancing on the beach until 3 am !!!
I also went back to my favorite town in Romania, a town I used to visit very very often but have not seen in 5 years -Brasov, the gateway bewteen Walachia and Transylvania, an old medieval fortress developed into a commercial center, with loads of gorgeous houses and a lovely atmosphere. I was also extremely glad to meet some of my old friends who still live there or came to visit for the summer: it felt so good to catch up!
Around Brasov there are several castles and fortresses that we also visited, including the famous Dracula Castle - so Martin can say he's been in Dracula Country :) He also took a small excursion hiking in the Carpathian mountains together with a Swedish friend who joined us for a week. It was a nice "Discover Romania" tour for him (or at least I hope it was).
Now we are back in Lund, in a new apartment (huuuuge, now is the perfect time to pay a visit, we have so much extra space) which we tried to furnish the best we could but still has an echo... The weather here is perfect, sweet and sunny, a truly lovely time.

Romania

A few words from Romania. We are still in Bucharest, struggling to put our health back on track (Martin with his eyes, me with a tooth – I will have my first artificial tooth and I am not even 30, such quick decay!). If things come out alright, we plan nevertheless to travel around a bit, see the countryside, the mountains and even the seaside.
The weather has been very fickle here, with lots of storms and floods. In some parts of the country whole villages have been destroyed by the waters. Now it seems that summer came back to stay, but you never know… Hopefully it will stay sunny and warm!