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  (Photo source) Here's a post I wrote back in 2009 on my lesser-used Back in Paris blog. Seems like nothing has changed for the better. Right now, ministers in the UK are trying to come up with negative publicity for living in Britain at an attempt to keep Romanians and Bulgarians away. I'm not sure they have a full understanding of 'what' Romanians and Bulgarians actually are. Only what they presume they are. Here is the post I wrote more than three years ago. Seems the parallels are overwhelming: The other day as I was... [Lire la suite]

(Photo: The Sofia Globe) Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day across the globe although in Romania, it is observed on 8th October marking the murder of 250,000 Jews after deportation to Transnistria in 1941. I began today listening to THIS beautiful Kaddische by Ravel, played by Steven Isserlis. The morning dawned with heavy, black clouds and torrential rain - very fitting for such an anniversary. As Isserlis played, the sun came out - soare cu dinti - equally fitting. The faint, fragile rays of hope, perhaps...? Back on... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) I have just seen this post on Norman Lebrecht's blog Slipped Disc written by Romanian pianist Raluca Stirbat on the appalling neglect and frighteningly imminent destruction of George Enescu's mother's house where he spent time during childhood, youth and adulthood, in Mihaileni, Moldova. Please distribute the article below (or any of the others linked) far and wide. If anyone has ANY connections that may be of help in either Bucharest or Brussels, please, please lean on them. Romania's two greatest national... [Lire la suite]

(Image source) I first came across the beautiful Princess Balaşa (née Marie Blanche) Cantacuzène (Cantacuzino in Romanian) whilst reading Patrick Leigh Fermor's marvellous book, 'Between the Woods and the Water'. Wanting to know more about her lead to a fascinating (and terribly sad) journey spanning the late 1930s through to the 1970s taking in her love affair with the author (referred to as PLF from this point on), the Second World War and then... what happened next. Balaşa and her sister were genuine Princesses, says THIS link,... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) One of both France and Europe's most distinguished 'music for film' composers, says Digital Symphonix, Vladimir Cosma has scored more than 150 films and TV productions. Indeed he has - and very proud of him we are, too. Born in Bucharest on April 13th 1940 into the family of renowned conductor and concert pianist Teodor Cosma, he studied music from a tender age, attending the National Conservatory in Bucharest, from which he graduated with two prizes - one for violin and the other for composition.  In 1963, he... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source: Grammarly) Yesterday, an image on FB (see left) triggered a discussion (and a lesson for me) with a friend of mine. It all started humorously - genre, hey! Not only can the Romanian state make a heap of money towing away illegally-parked cars and making people pay 1000 RON to get them back, but they can ALSO charge a tax for abuse of the Romanian language! They'd be raking it in... And then we stopped and thought how tragic that latter suggestion was, because, you see, the Romanian language indeed seems to be declining... [Lire la suite]

Parking in Bucharest can be looked upon in several ways: a) with a grin because it's so absurd (and seeing really is believing in many cases); b) angrily because it is so damn selfish or c) sadly because it's so absurd and so damn selfish. Let's take the first option to begin with. The Bucharestean blog sums it up perfectly: (Photo source) 'Forget Ionesco, when it comes to traffic and parking, Bucharest is your absurd theatre stage. The number of cars in Bucharest has gone way over the parking capacity of the city, with only a... [Lire la suite]

(Image source - Iulia Hasdeu by Maillart) Browsing through Whatafy earlier on today, I came across a post on the Castle of Iulia Hasdeu in Campina, a site with a story attached to it (as everywhere does in the country of my heart) that has fascinated me for many years. It inspired me to go off and do some further research of my own. There are many wonderful sites out there full of  information on this breath-takingly impressive, sad, yet peaceful monument built by a bereaved father in memory of his lost child. Several of them... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) When I dropped by FB this morning to see what was new in the country of my heart (along with the rest of the world), the first thing I fell upon was a photo (see left) of a plaque from Colegiului Andrei Saguna, Brasov, marking the very spot of the first ever performance of Ciprian Porumbescu's operetta, 'Crai nou' (New Moon). Off I went to find it on youtube. I recognised it at once, not because I had heard it in concert, oh no... but because those opening bars of the first aria are the very same as those played on... [Lire la suite]

Well, today is the day when Dan Diaconescu (otherwise known as DD) has to come up with the colour of 45 million euros for Oltchim chemical plant, even though the task book gave 2013 as the deadline to pay, he said. He won the open tender to buy a 54.8 percent stake in the industrial chemicals group last week, offering 45 million euros, or more than ten times the starting price. Most think he'll never do it. Ronnie Smith for Romania Insider writes, "There was no detailed prospectus issued and no proposals, offers, ideas or guarantees... [Lire la suite]