A Thousand Apologies!

We know, we know--we were supposed to post the final installment of our trip to Milan today. Between a very long day of orientation at the Fulbright Commission, and getting ready to leave early tomorrow morning for our trip to Sinaia, Bran, and Brasov, we're just a bit too tired to write another lengthy post. We promise to wrap it up after we get back on Sunday--really!

Milan Adventures, Part II

After a wonderful but exhausting day of touring Milan on Friday, we opted to sleep in for a few hours before hitting the pavement. Saturday's weather was much like Friday afternoon's: overcast and cold, but at least not rainy. For our first activity we visited the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, housed in the estate of an important aristocratic family. The first room we entered contained a superb collection of medieval armor and weapons, which I know my Bloomington friends would have loved. The main permanent collection consisted almost entirely of late-medieval and renaissance religious art. There were many beautiful paintings, but none were by major artists. Also included in the collection were decorative arts belonging to the Poldi Pezzoli family. My favorite rooms in this section included the horology collection--an assemblage of early clocks, some of them incredibly small and all amazingly intricate--and the Wunderkammer room. A Wunderkammer, or curio cabinet, was a collection of scientific and/or archaeological items, instruments, and oddities, and in this collection they had a Devilish Automaton, a wooden devil with gears inside attached to a crank, which when turned would move the devil's eyes, cause a tongue to protrude, and emit an eery noise--cool!

By far the most interesting part of the museum, however, was its visiting exhibit showcasing netsuke. Netsuke were small decorative ornaments attached to Japanese kimonos as a counterweight for a satchel. It became popular to carve netsuke (usually made from precious woods) in the shapes of humans or mythological creatures, and they can possess an amazing level of detail for such small, handmade items. Apparently the Poldi Pezzolis collected a few as part of a larger Orientalist collection, and the rest were on loan from Japan. If you want, you can see them at this link from the museum: http://www.museopoldipezzoli.it/PP_italiano/calendario/mostre/MuseoPoldiPezzoli%20ULTIMO/000%20index.htm -B

After the PPM, we decided to have lunch at a nearby cafe, The Opera Cafe. At this point it was becoming very obvious that nearly all of the restaurants around Il Duomo, La Scala and the museums had virtually the same menu and it wasn't an especially exciting one, focusing mostly on pizza, pasta and risotto. There was also usually a fairly long seafood section, but it was typically too pricey for our budget. While I wasn't wowed by the menus, I was easily able to find something palatable; B, however, was already tired of the limited and in his view bland options, and he was quite disappointed to be faced with the same-old, same-old and becoming concerned that Milan had nothing else to offer. The restaurant itself was quite beautiful and since it had gotten late in the afternoon, many of the other patrons were having snacks or sweets and coffee. The desserts looked quite good and we both agreed that this place may have been a better choice for a mid-afternoon snack than for lunch. However, we went ahead and ate something and headed out to another art museum.

Next on the agenda was an art museum called the Brera, which was only a short walk from the PPM. It was already getting late in the afternoon/early evening when we arrived and we were somewhat concerned that we would not be able to see everything given the size of the building, but decided to try anyway. We were very surprised by the length of the line for admission when we arrived; clearly we weren't the only ones to be starting late. Once we were inside, we realized Brera, in addition to being an art museum, is also an art school, so the museum is actually not that large. The museum mostly focused on Renaissance art with a small modern art room (mostly Italian painters, although there was a painting each by Bracques and Picasso). While the artwork was beautiful, how many breastfeeding baby Jesus' can you see?

Following the tour of Brera, we decided to stop to get a snack and make a game plan. We had passed an Irish Pub on our walk to Brera, which seemed appealing. While we walked around, we also found another parallel street, Palazzo Carmine with a really beautiful church and many shops and restaurants. We walked around this area for some time and were even invited into a pretty hip looking bar for a look around (the manager was soliciting quite hard to get us to stay for a drink, but we decided to continue walking in this new area to explore some more). In Milan, the tradition of aperitivo is popular and quite a good deal. Basically, between the hours of 6 and 9 PM, those patrons who purchase a drink are invited to partake in a free snack spread at the bar. The options are often similar to tapas fair. Ultimately, we chose to stop at O'Connely's for a break and to regroup. B ordered a Gin and Tonic and since we were in an Irish bar, I could not pass up the opportunity to have a cider. I was brought a Bulmer's, an Irish cider I had not yet tried and it was fair, but a little light for my taste. The odd thing was that along with the bottle of cider, I was also given a traditional pint glass- with ICE in it. Very weird. While we reviewed our options, we perused a brochure of restaurants in Milan and learned that Milan does, in fact, have more to offer gastronomically than pizza, pasta, etc. In fact, we found listings for Thai, Indian, and Japanese restaurants. We realized that most were too far for us to get to on public transport or by foot. We chose to go to an Eritrean (similar to Ethiopian) restaurant recommended by our guide book, Warsa, and what a great recommendation! This was definitely the best meal we ate in Milan and the atmosphere was wonderful. The restaurant is in a neighborhood about 3 metro stops from the tourist sights and the clientele of the restaurant were mostly locals. With full bellies and happy hearts, we headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. -S

Well, it is already getting late, and we have to get up early for an orientation at the Fulbright Commission tomorrow, so we'll have to finish our account of Milan tomorrow. More to come!

Chronicle Special Edition: Milan Adventures, Part I

Hello everyone! We got back from Milan yesterday evening, but were too tired from travelling to post anything until now. So, without further ado, an account of our Italian vacation!

On Thursday evening we arrived at Baneasa airport, situated on the northern outskirts of Bucharest. I had never flown through Baneasa before: up until a year ago it had been closed for renovations, and at any rate only services budget airline flights. I wasn't really sure what to expect, and when we arrived, it at first didn't seem so bad: there was a central waiting area around which were clustered counters for the various airlines. As it turns out, you can't actually check in for your flight at these counters: they are used for purchasing last-minute tickets and other financial transactions (more on that in a moment). As we waited to check in, it became clear that only one flight leaves Baneasa at a time; hence, only one flight can be checked in at a time. When they finally did begin checking in passengers, S and I were aghast to witness a massive horde of people hurling themselves against the counters in an amorphous blob of agitated confusion. The geometrical concept of the line, so beautiful in its simplicity, so efficient in its course from points A to B, apparently eludes Romanians! As Blake might say, what fearful symmetry indeed, when there is no symmetry to be found at all.

When finally we reached the counter, the agent informed us that our baggage exceeded both the dimension and weight restrictions for carry-ons, and that we would have to go back to the afore-mentioned counter, pay an excess baggage fee, and then return to the agent before we could receive our tickets. Depressed, we steeled ourselves and began to elbow our way through the crowd to the counter. As it turns out, the baggage fee was not very much, but the back-and-forth was a pain. Needless to say, when we realized after finally gaining our tickets that we would again have to claw our way through the crowd, going backwards past the central waiting area to get to the security check-point, I began to feel like maybe the trip wasn't worth it.

As you might suspect, one departure at a time means that there is in fact only one gate at Baneasa. It was a rather dingy room with mysterious stains running along one wall. Despite (because?) the fact that smoking is banned in the airport, the stale odor of cigarettes clung to everything. After waiting for 45 minutes, they began the "boarding process," a term I use loosely, as it was less a process than a stampede, and we did not so much board at that time as get swept up into yet another human tidal wave, this time getting crammed into a bus. The bus taxied us to the plane, where once again a chaotic swell heaved forth from the bus, dumping people at the plane's entrance.

The plane itself was an Airbus, and the seats were large and comfortable. So comfortable that the guy sitting in front of me decided to recline all the way back into my lap. Maybe he was lonely. I was glad to arrive at Bergamo airport, leaving my new friend behind. Once at the airport, we easily found our shuttle-bus to Milan, and relaxed during the hour-long drive to Milan. The bus pulled into Milan's Stazzione Centrale, one of Europe's largest train stations, and from there we had a twelve-minute walk to Hotel Edolo. I will admit, at first glance I was not overly pleased with our room; it seemed rather spartan and cramped, and I contemplated walking out and finding another hotel, but we were tired and the room was clean, so we decided to stick with it. We asked the concierge for suggestions on where to go to eat, and he recommended a neighborhood pizzeria just across the street. It was definitely a place frequented by locals, and was both cheap and low-key, which made us happy. S got a vegetarian calzone, and I ordered a pizza topped with Parma ham. Not very sophisticated food, but for fourteen Euros we got a very large meal. Sleepy and full, we called it a day, and tried to rest up for a long day of site-seeing.

Friday: (S here-B was starting to get writer's fatigue) We woke up earlier than we would have liked on Friday morning after our tiring journey the previous day. Thankfully, breakfast was included in the price of our room, so we didn't have to find a place to eat. The hotel's breakfast was fair- two kinds of cereal, croissants, yogurt, coffee, tea and juice. Not very exciting, but we ate enough to get full and headed to the newsstand (called the tobacconist by Milanos) to buy tickets for the tram and since the tram was nearby, we were able to head directly to Il Duomo (the Cathedral) where we were meant to meet our tour group. We initially had some trouble locating our group, but we managed to do so and went on a 3 hour tour of Milan's highlights. We started with Il Duomo- a beautiful Gothic church with so many intricate marble carvings outside and in and beautiful original stained glass windows. Next, we toured La Scala- the famous Opera house and then we were taken to Sforzesco Castle, a building that was a castle first and then an army barracks for many years. In addition to being a beautiful and architecturally interesting building, it also houses several museums (ancient art, decorative arts, prehistory and proto-history, Egyptian, musical instruments, furniture, prints collection, and photos) as well as 3 libraries, all of which are free each Friday from 2pm-5pm. Following the Castle, we headed to the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in which the original Da Vinci Last Supper is housed. Visitors can only view The Last Supper in groups and only for 15 minutes, but it was truly amazing to see such a famous and inspiring piece of art. While admission isn't expensive, reservations are required, so either paying for a tour that guarantees a view or booking early are the only ways to see the masterpiece. This concluded our tour and we found ourselves again at Il Duomo, something which would become a theme. Directly next to Il Duomo is The Galleria- an arcade of shops (mostly expensive- Prada, Chanel, etc) and restaurants that range from McDonald's and Burger King to a beautiful 5 star restaurant. Our breakfast having worn off and the rain starting to fall, we chose to get lunch at one of the more reasonably priced places. It was during this experience that we began to realize just how expensive food in Milan is and became careful about where we chose to eat in the future. The food was good and once we were finally feeling bolstered again, we walked back to The Castle Sforzesco to take advantage of the free museums. We were able to tour about 3 of them (Ancient Art, Decorative Arts, Egyptian) before 5 PM. We then began walking down Via Dante, the street between Il Duomo and the Castle, which is filled with shops and restaurants. We stepped into The American Bookstore and took a look around and then got a quick snack at a cafe while we tried to decide what to do next. We looked through our guide book and some brochures, and decided to try a restaurant offering authentic Milanese cuisine, which was recommended by our guide book. It took us a while to locate it on the map and a bit longer to find it for real. We arrived at the restaurant around 6:40 to find it closed. We quickly realized that it and other restaurants around do not open for dinner until 7 PM, so we started walking back to the main street instead of just standing in an alley waiting for a restaurant to open. In the end, we chose to eat at a different establishment. B decided to order a steak, which was fair and I had a Milanese speciality, saffron risotto. The risotto was OK, but I don't know what all the fuss is about. This place was sort of disappointing and expensive, which was frustrating, but the saving grace was the tirimisu, which was lovely. After all of this, we headed home on the tram and all but collapsed in the bed after our 12 hours of touring Milan, mostly on foot. We knew we had another big day of touring ahead and got some sleep.
To be continued ... B and S.

To Milan we go!

B and I are leaving in a few hours to fly to Milan. We are very excited and already have reserved tickets with a tour company for tomorrow morning. Our camera battery is charged up and we are almost packed. We'll add photos and stories when we return in a few days! -S

Restaurant Review #4

B and I are starting to realize that our weekend activities are starting to sound the same from one weekend to the next, but it is true that we went to yet another Indian restaurant this past Friday.

This particular restaurant, Barka Saffron, is in an area of the city I have never been before and we definitely had to take a taxi. The restaurant is intended to be a place welcoming of the arts community and a relaxed, homey environment. On these fronts, it certainly lives up to its hype. The decor is reminiscent of a coffee house or less smokey version of a pub. The restaurant is near the University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, so their were several student/professor types there and frankly of all the Indian restaurants we have been to it was the busiest. In addition to their Indian menu, they also have a Tapas menu and some Thai offerings. B and I chose to stick with the Indian menu and ordered as appetizers the lamb samosas for B and vegetable pakoras for me. The appetizers were quite good and the portions large (still no tamarind chutney, though). The story changed when it came to the entrees however. For starters, the breads we ordered, puri and roti, were awful! The puri were so fried the outsides were crispy and the roti literally had no taste. Furthermore, my entree of aloo ghobi was very boring. Indian food should be a lot of things, but boring is not one of them and B's spicy lamb was certainly not spicy. The food was what you would imagine a home cook's first attempt at making Indian food without a specific recipe might be. Fair but missing on spices. This would be fine if we were, in fact, at someone's home, but as we paid for the food, it was disappointing. In addition, the portion sizes were pretty small, which is disappointing as well. Barka Saffron is a great place to go to be with friends, have a drink (their red wine by the glass was pretty nice) and a snack and have a nice evening, but if it's great Indian food you are craving, there are other places in Bucharest to go. I initially wanted to give Barka Saffron 5.5 samosas and B, as always more generous, said 6 so make of it what you will. The tour of Bucharest's Indian restaurants will continue. One more to go! -S

Romanian Class

On Thursday (3 days ago), I attended my first formal Romanian class. Despite myself, I was a bit nervous beforehand and B sweetly walked me to class, which is not very far from our place. When I first arrived, we were all asked to gather in one classroom and based on the chatter, I became more nervous as those chattering around me seemed all able to speak Romanian fairly well. Fortunately, once we split up into the Beginner (me), Intermediate, and Advanced classes, I felt more comfortable since the other 6 students in my class seem more or less on my level. Our teacher seems pretty nice and was good at getting everyone to participate. I am the only American in the class, the others are Greek, Italian, Bulgarian, Spanish, Polish, and Turkish. Most seemed to be in Romania for employment. Since it was the first meeting, we met only for one hour instead of two and I found myself walking home with the woman from Poland. It turns out she lives pretty close to us as she is the wife of the Ambassador from Poland and their Embassy and the Ambassador's residence are a couple blocks from our street. She was very nice, but I am sure she will excel in this class as she already speaks Polish, English, French, and Russian! We will meet twice a week for two hours each session until mid-March. I hope this allows me to get a bit more proficient with my Romanian and helps to pass my time. My one regret is that I wish the classes were during the day when B was at the archives instead of the evening, but all in all, I think it will be a good experience. -S

Errands and Education

We apologize for the lack of posts lately. The last several days have been rather unremarkable with B and I just getting back into the swing of things. B has been going back to his research centers to get some work done and I have been trying to accomplish some errands. Due to the lack of a clothes dryer here, we have been taking our heavier clothes (ie sweaters, etc) to our local dry cleaners. We must go quite often, as the ladies who work there know both of us by sight and though its not a particularly interesting errand, it has become my favorite place to go since they are always so nice. One clerk in particular is always a delight. Despite my lack of Romanian language skills and her lack of English, she always goes out of her way to make sure I understand the procedure, going as far as walking me to the posted schedule on the door or price list on the wall to point out the info she wants me to understand. She often talks to me a lot, but I usually only understand about 10% of what she is saying. She is so nice, however, that I always smile and say "da" (yes) a lot so she won't know I have no idea what she is saying. Also, their entire price list was significantly decreased at the beginning of December and they have a frequent user program, so all in all an enjoyable errand.

I also went grocery shopping and was able to buy "American Chocolate Cookies" from a store that seems to carry a lot of international products. We had bought one package of these last week and B is a fan. Though the packaging simply calls them Chocolate cookies, the signs on the display specify they are an American type cookie and indeed they are pretty similar to Chips Ahoy or such. I was also able to find today (at last) all-purpose, glass and bathroom "wipes", which is fantastic since I have really been missing bleach wipes. Now if I could just find a Febreeze like product, we would be in business.

In addition to the errands, I also found out today that I will be able to start formal Romanian language courses on Thursday through a local organization. I am excited to start the classes and hope that I can meet some other folks from the class. I had to take a pre-test today for placement and I think it will be pretty clear that I belong in the beginner class. I will also continue to meet with our landlords' son for conversation, which might be a better use of his time with me. -S

Restaurant Review #3

After the snow on Thursday and given how tired we still felt, we both took it really easy on Friday and spent time recovering and relaxing around the apartment. Finally around mid-afternoon we couldn't take it any longer and went out for a walk to the dry cleaner's and then around a few streets in our neighborhood we had not been to yet. It was a nice walk and it was not nearly as cold as we thought it would be. When we returned from our walk, we decided to go out for dinner at an Indian restaurant we had not been to yet, Haveli. We started out lucky as not only were we able to find a cab just outside of our house, but the driver actually knew where the street of the restaurant was located. In addition, his route showed us a short cut to one of the major shopping areas we frequent, which will be especially useful this winter. Off to a great start!

On to the actual restaurant. While the street on which it is located leaves something to be desired, the interior of the restaurant was really nice and they actually had separated smoking and no-smoking sections. The menu was fairly large and offered the usual North Indian items, as well as a few others. We both ordered a drink and decided to share an order of the vegetable samosas-we must have a baseline by which to compare all restaurants, you see. The samosas were good-not the best ever, but good. The spices did not seem to be completely evenly mixed and the dough was extra crispy on the edges. Once again, there was no tamarind chutney to be had. Its not clear if the ingredients are not available here, if there is a perception that the Romanian palette won't enjoy it (though they seem to love all things sweet) or it simply doesn't seem essential, as it does to us, but we wish we could get some.

For dinner B ordered the Kadai Gosht and I ordered the Palak Paneer (I have given up on ordering Dal Makhni here) and we got an order of stuffed (aloo) paratha to share and some rice. The dinner was excellent, but the portions were a bit small. B really enjoyed the lamb and agreed that the spice level was just right. My spinach was very good, if a little creamier than I am used to. Overall, we have agreed we would rate Haveli 7 Samosas- tying it with Karishma. We would gladly return there and also were sent home with a copy of their menu, which will be wonderful since they deliver! -S

Snow!

Yesterday afternoon as I left the Holocaust Institute, it began snowing here in Bucharest.

Knowing that it was too cold to walk the entire way home as is my usual want, I trudged to the Universitate metro stop, but took a different route. Rather than walking straight up Calea Victoriei and turning onto Regina Elisabtea, I chose to navigate the cobbled alleys and side-streets of the Lipscani neighborhood. Afficianados of medieval architecture would generally find themselves disappointed by Bucharest, which has little to offer in the form of a concentrated "Old Town". The Lipscani neighborhood affords one charming exception to this rule. I started with the oldest section, walking past Hanul lui Manuc (Manuc's Inn) a hostelry situated along the original trade route through Bucharest. Currently closed for renovations, the Inn is at least two hundred years old, which makes it young compared to the structure immediately behind it, the citadel built by Vlad Tepes--aka the historical Dracula--in the fifteenth century. Not much remains of the structure today, and a good deal of imagination is needed to mortar the fragments together into the grand structure it once was. Winding may way from there, I walked down Str. Lipscani itself, which in the 1800s and early 1900s was known as one of Bucharest's premiere mercantile spots. Lipscani intersects with Calea Victoriei just past the former headquartes of the Romanian National Bank, built in 1885. And so it felt like I was walking through the centuries, snow-blanketed and quiet.

At home, though, we're reaping the benefits of 21st-century technology. We finally figured out how to port video from our laptop to the tv, so now we can watch our DVDs on a bigger screen. We also upgraded our cable to digital for a very low price, meaning we get over thirty additional channels--plenty of distractions to keep us occupied during snow days.--B

A Bit of Reflection

S and I have slowly been getting back into the swing of things. On Sunday evening, after a delicious dinner of traditional Romanian cuisine prepared by our landlords and skyping with our families, we nestled into luxurious slumber--until the alarm clock jolted us awake at 3 AM. It was still set from when we had to leave for the airport in December. S was able to go back to sleep, but I stayed up for the next five or six hours. Monday, therefore, was pretty much a wash, and we settled for unpacking our things and buying groceries as benchmarks for a successful day. Yesterday wasn't terribly productive either, but it was nice to relax and settle back into our apartment. Today I returned to my research, and S ran errands. In other words, back to normal.

It seems hard to believe that just a few days ago we were home with our families, and enjoying all the things it is so easy to take for granted. Two events in particular made me feel grateful for my family, and the incredible opportunity to be with them this holiday season. The first was the death of my grandfather Basil (or Pop to me, my sister, and cousins). He passed away less than a week before S and I were scheduled to return to the States. Losing someone you love--and I loved him very much--is always hard, and to have it occur while overseas, so far from everything, only compounds the usual feelings of loss and disorientation. S as always provided immense comfort to me, and tried her hardest to find a way for us to make it back in time for the funeral. Alas, it was not to be. I am extremely grateful for her support. I love Pop very much, and am still very sad I could not make the funeral, but being able to skype with my family that day certainly helped. Although a sad day, I was again reminded of how lucky I am to have such a large and loving family.

When S and I did make it to NC, I felt like we immediately slipped into the comfort of being home at Christmastime. The Germans have a marvelous word for the sensation--Gemuetlichkeit--which is difficult to translate into English but can be taken to mean the epitome of coziness, which is certainly how it felt, especially on Christmas Eve. How shocking and sad, then, when we all woke early Christmas morning (around 1am) to the sound of sirens. Going outside onto the back deck, we could see the cause: the house four lots down from ours had erupted into flames, sending cinders and ash roiling up into the sky where they floated like molten snowflakes. It was beautiful and terrible at the same time. Later Christmas Day, after opening our presents, we walked down to see the remains. There was nothing left save bits from a couple walls. All the rest had burned. Thankfully, the family living there had fled in the nick of time and were safe. Again, it was a time to make me feel grateful for the opportunity to be with family, and safe in our own home.

So now, as we try to accustom ourselves to the long haul, the next seven months in our Romanian sojourn and the cold winter inaugurating it, I hope we can keep those memories of love and family, of gratitude and Gemuelichkeit with us, close to our hearts.-B

Exhausted!

We are back in our apartment in Bucharest - safe and sound (as they say) and Exhausted!! Thankfully there are no notable events about the journey or return to Bucharest (no break downs in grocery stores or the sort :)) to mention and we are now currently trying as hard as humanely possible to not go to sleep at 7:30 PM.

We had such a wonderful time back in the US for the holidays and are so thankful to our families for making it happen. The saying "Time flies when you're having fun" has never seemed so true. While waiting to fly back to the US, two weeks seemed to drag on forever, but once we were home we felt like we had just arrived when we were having to pack our bags to return to Bucharest.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, safe travels and a chance to relax and enjoy your loved ones. We are grateful that we did and will start working on getting settled back to life in Bucharest tomorrow- for now we can only concentrate on our fight against jet lag. Wish us luck! -S