The third Romanian connection for us is via Cupertino. Adam Bannister's friend Ann Arutiunova threatened for a couple of years to bring over her friends Radu and Andrei, and she finally did. Radu and Andrei were from Romania via a long stay in Vancouver; and they quickly introduced us to Tibi who had come via Montréal, and Bogdan, who came to California briefly with his parents and decided he would return to Bucharest. The conclusion you might draw from this is that you can tolerate Anglophone North America a lot better if you get used to it in Canada. If Cupertino is all you know of this place ... well! Bogdan now lives with his grandparents, who let me sleep in their TV room for two nights which is so far beyond the call of anything, especially since I was just getting a cold then and not too much fun.

Bucharest is a boomtown.

A billboard featuring a stork.

An abandoned library from the Communist era.

Ben and Paulina Timis. Ben is a musician. I know them because Dan Timis worked at Opcode and we customarily visit his parents when we are in Romania.

A copper roof.

A 19th century mall.

More European public nudes. There is a real lack of nakedness in the US and it's boring and stupid.

My host, Bogdan Patrascu, and Cristina. They are kind of a soap opera. Maybe you could get an RSS feed. I tend to be partial to the points of view of my friends.

I didn't usually take pictures inside Orthodox churches.

At the Romanian Village Museum. Traditional villages from all over Romania contributed characteristic architecture to be gathered in one place in Bucharest. The occupants of the houses were shot.

A traditional fallout shelter.

An interior. After dinner in Teasc I felt pretty up on the traditional villages of Dolj, at least.

Traditional wine barrel.

Traditional blue door with earthquake damage?

Traditional ferris wheel.

Building houses using traditional techniques.

For everything else, there's chainsaws.

View across the river.

Transplanted church.

Nabatean hearth.

You wonder why people ever moved to cities when they could be living in houses like this. Oh wait, starvation.

On to Iasi