This past week I hung out in Balchik, Bulgaria. Thus I had the opportunity to speak with the locals about famous Bulgarians. Once again, I had lots of fun with my project. People the world over like to name who among them deserve a claim to fame. Famous Bulgarians Historical:... read more
Balchik, Bulgaria is a resort town on the Black Sea. The name has various spellings, which include: Balcic and Balchick. The reason for the variations derive from the fact that Bulgarian is a Slavic language written in the Cyrillic alphabet: So the name comes out as балчик. Thus, how to... read more
Before flying to JFK, I had the day in London to do what I wanted, and what I wanted was to visit the neighborhood right next to Heathrow airport, namely Hounslow, where I had chosen my hotel. Title image: A British Airways plane on its approach to landing near the... read more
Today I’m leaving Bucharest. The title image is the International Departures board today at the Henri Coandă (Otopeni) Airport in Bucharest. I’m waiting for my Check-in counter to be posted. Leaving Bucharest First stop: London where I’ll spend the night and the next day. I bought my business class ticket... read more
This blog is on Bucharest churches. However, the title image is a work from Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi with an image of Casa Poporului ‘The House of the People’ in the background and the legend ‘A Small Population With Such a Large House’ (1995). It is from the Post R... read more
I’ve done Famous Romanians and Illustrious Romanians. Now it’s time for Infamous Romanians. The inspiration for this blog came from a court ruling earlier this week in Alba Iulia, Romania. For the title image I chose Vlad Țepeș (Vlad the Impaler). He was the model for Dracula. This mural is... read more
Urban Spaces Title Image: From the collection Dan Perjovschi Post R (1995) at the Nasher Museum, Duke University. Gift of Kristine Stiles. The caption reads: Always Between Two Empires Perjovschi is making a political point about Romania’s always squeezed position in the world. If you do not know his work,... read more
Street Signs title image: a sign shop on Șoseaua Ștefan Cel Mare It’s always good to know the language of the country you are traveling through or living in because it’s helpful to know what’s going on in the public sphere. Street signs tell a good story. Here are a few... read more
On Sunday morning this week I went on a walking tour of my Bucharest neighborhood where I’ve lived for the past 10+ summers to see if I could see it in a way that might interest you. The title image is of one of the main shopping streets on Piața... read more
Integrame are my current leisure-time obsession. They’re theme-based crossword puzzles that I can kinda, sorta do in Romanian. Look at the title image where I gathered a bunch of integrame collections I’ve worked through. UȘOARE and UȘURELE are both versions of the word ‘easy.’ Look further and you’ll see pentru începători... read more
