On The Road in Romania

The next 5 days were spent in the bus touring the eastern half of Romania. We left Bucharest and headed up towards Iassy, which is pronounced Yash. It is a modern town with several universities including the University of Arts where we met the theater students and watched them perform for us at a studio in the National Theatre. Here is a photograph of the students together. Rumor has it that the students from Iassy and U.B. partied all night long at the disco, which is located directly across the street from the Professor's accommodations. (I could hear them singing and dancing at 4:00 AM when I woke up). A good time was had by all from what I was told the following morning and one of our students hopes to return to Iassy before returning home for the Fall semester. This is a Photo of the National Theatre dog which I am told hangs about the theatre looking for handouts which many students provide. The little sleep that the students had was in the dorms of the University which are in the typical Soviet style. Our dinner in Iassy was at a traditional Romanian restaurant and had the accompaniment of musicians. The violin player was skilled in the classics and it was readily apparent that he was talented beyond playing in restaurants. The next day we toured Iassy and we visited the Peoples Palace of Culture which is a lovely museum with a rather eclectic collection. My favorite hall featured musical, sound, and image reproduction equipment. This photograph shows a player piano combined with a violin player as well, very unusual.During this visit to the museum I discovered a carpet made in Romania for sale and decided to purchase it from the curator. She had discovered that she made a mistake in the exchange rate and called our delegation to rectify this matter many common people that we met each day are open hearted and honest and made our trip through the countryside a pleasant one.

What Happened?

As you may have noticed I was unable to post for many days. Internet was non existent in many locations and the rains in Northern Romania turn rather quickly in to flooding due to the condition of the infrastructure.
Here are some photographs I took in Amsterdam. This photo is Shiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
As you may have noticed I was unable to post for many days. Internet was non existent in many locations and the rains in Northern Romania turn rather quickly in to flooding due to the condition of the infrastructure.
Here are some photographs I took in Amsterdam. This photo is Shiphol Airport in Amsterdam. While there I stayed at the Hotel Shiphol which is a really nice hotel that understand what air conditioning is, something that is difficult to find in Europe. I took the train from Shiphol Airport into Amsterdam for about 6 Euros and drops you off right at the central station in Amsterdam. Once in town it is easy to get around either by tram or by my preferred mode, the canal bus. This is a real treat in Amsterdam as it follows most of the major canals and allowed me to get on and off as many times as I wanted while on my way to the final destination. The canal bus took me to many interesting stops on the way to the Van Gogh museum. Here is the Doors Coffee shop. The Doors was nice but I really enjoyed passing time at Picasso's which is a very friendly establishment. I spent a bit of time there before climbing back aboard the canal bus for the ride to the Van Gogh museum. Standing in front of these works of art is an awe inspiring experience that brought tears to my eyes. Vincent's brush strokes were so strong in the original works; something that is lost in the reproductions. Until you see the real work it is impossible to understand how inadequate any reproduction is. It is almost as if your eyes feel each layer of paint as your mind tries to understand Vincent's visions of the world. The cost of the museum was 15 euros but was worth every euro cent. The collection spans 4 floors and it is possible to see the changes in Vincent's health as time marched foward by observing the works in the collection.