--- /dev/null
+---
+postid: 07c
+title: Kronstadt, et alia
+date: October 19, 2018
+author: Lucian Mogoșanu
+tags: in-the-flesh
+---
+
+<p style="text-align: right">
+**Motto**:
+I'm filling my travel log with all these
+[fancy][copenhagen]-[schmancy][heraklion]
+towns in Europe, when I haven't seen barely enough of home.
+</p>
+
+By the way, notice how Romanians, these Daco-Latin peoples[^1], have
+these lovely towns with beautiful names ending in stadt? How could this
+be?
+
+Anyway, this stadt, like the [other one][hermannstadt], was founded
+sometime during the first centuries of the previous millenium, by the
+very same Sași who were looking to settle at the northern foot of the
+southern Carpathian mountains. And hey, look:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-01.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-01-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+In front of the photographer lie some walls, guarding a town hosting
+nice German houses, a variety of churches[^2] and, as the eagle-eyed
+reader may have noticed, some buildings that must have been erected by
+the communists, at least judging by their architecture. But then what
+lies behind the photographer? Well, behind the photographer lies a whole
+mountain! Tâmpa, which somehow people managed to almost completely
+integrate into the town's landscape. Here's a view of the town as seen
+from the belvedere spot:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-02.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-02-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+No, I did not fall off the top of the world. Just sat my ass there for a
+while.
+
+Just for the record, for some reason I enjoyed the atmosphere in Brașov
+more than that of [Sibiu][hermannstadt]. I have no idea how that's even
+possible, seeing as how Sibiu is "one of the cultural capitals of
+Europe", while Brașov is this small town industrialized by force by the
+communists, bearing the name Orașul Stalin -- literally, Stalin City --
+for about a decade during that era. And yet I did very much enjoy it,
+and this isn't town-atmosphere-based introspection either, but it might
+all be based on my impression -- just that, a mere impression -- that
+there were fewer [poor people][sibiu-sad-story] lying around.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-03.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-03-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Above, a very old bench made of stone, on one of the roads from Tâmpa,
+leading downtown. Tell me, who makes these things nowadays? And why
+don't they make them anymore? We've "progressed past that point", right?
+Well, fuck your dear mother as well. Anyway, below we have one view from
+the so-called Council Square, followed by one view of Tâmpa from
+downtown.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-04.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-04-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-05.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-05-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+In case you're wondering, the square was far from empty, I just sat
+there for a while to find a good moment for my shot.
+
+Moving on -- below, a view of Râșnov, also known as Rosenau (the one in
+Romania), meaning something roughly along the lines of "the meadow of
+roses"[^3]. I was told that this view is quite unique, so had I not
+mentioned it, I'm sure the reader would have guessed the location
+themselves.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-06.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-06-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-07.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-07-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Above, the fortress bearing the same name. Below, views from inside the
+fortress.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-08.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-08-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-09.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-09-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-10.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-10-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+In this last photo, notice the cats playing around on the grass. They
+did not give one grain of fuck about the so-called humans meandering
+about.
+
+And we're back in Brașov. The photos below capture a small, dark alley,
+behind the walls[^4], with a small river flowing to the side and a hill
+bearing some towers on the other side of the stream. In the first photo,
+some kids look like they're about to try taking over the world or
+something, I don't know.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-11.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-11-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-12.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-12-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Below, [another "gang"][gang], and no, no Leyla Black at the end of
+it. The end depicted in the photo brings us to a secondary (yet well
+circulated) street in the historical centre, while the other end leads
+to the George Enescu square.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-13.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-13-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Anyway, we stopped at this pub that had a *very* fancy hipster-ey
+interior design, with a piano and old books and everything. Below,
+voilà! a very small part of that everything:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-14.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-14-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Dat ass, eh? But wait, there's more!
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-15.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-15-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+I hope you noticed the smile on their faces. I hope you notice the
+expression on her face in particular, which might put the whole
+"[do not forget thy whip][zarathustra]"/"[de ce se bate femeia][femeia]"/etc.
+thing in some perspective for you. And if it doesn't, then well, what
+can I say.
+
+We end this brief story with another artistic moment:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-16.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-16-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-17.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/brasov-17-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Is that Picasso, I wonder? Looks a bit like him. Anyway, if you happen
+to visit Romania, make sure to drop by Brașov and the surrounding
+towns. Embrace the small yet substantial nuggets of history, and (my
+advice is to) skip the whole Dracula crap while you're there.
+
+[^1]: Mândri că suntem români, nu-i așa?
+
+ Mândri că sunteți vite, mai degrabă.
+
+[^2]: Among which the famous Black Church, nowadays mostly a museum --
+ meh. I hear the organ is very much functional though, although I
+ didn't get to hear it during my excursion through town. Too bad, but
+ something tells me that I'll want to see this one again soon, so
+ y'know, there's always next time!
+
+[^3]: Take a look at the town's coat of arms, it's not accidental.
+
+[^4]: No, really, that's what they call it.
+
+[copenhagen]: /posts/y05/07a-copenhagen.html
+[heraklion]: /posts/y05/07b-heraklion.html
+[hermannstadt]: /posts/y05/079-hermannstadt.html
+[sibiu-sad-story]: /posts/y05/079-hermannstadt.html#fn7
+[gang]: /posts/y05/079-hermannstadt.html#selection-178.0-178.1
+[zarathustra]: http://archive.is/BPYGP#selection-3074.0-3074.1
+[femeia]: http://trilema.com/2011/de-ce-se-bate-femeia/
--- /dev/null
+---
+postid: 07d
+title: Klausenburg, et alia
+date: October 22, 2018
+author: Lucian Mogoșanu
+tags: in-the-flesh
+---
+
+<p style="text-align: right">
+**Motto**:
+When they not be [stadt][kronstadt]-ing, they be burg-ing.
+</p>
+
+... though to be completely fair, reducing this to "Klausenburg" is not
+completely unlike saying the human body is a well-rounded extension of
+the nipple[^1]. So what else is there to say?
+
+For one, we can say that finding oneself in the middle of town after a
+ten-hour train trip is not the best way to examine it the first time
+after eight (or was it maybe six?) years. I couldn't recognize any of
+the places, so I just went to sleep until next day, when we jumped
+straight in the middle of the botanical garden:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-01.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-01-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Cluj's botanical garden is bigger, longer and uncut-er than the one from
+[Bucharest][gradina-botanica], and my meagre smartpnohe camera didn't
+really do it justice, *despite* this being mid-October, so outside of
+the season when it's cool to photograph flowers. For example, just take
+a look at the Japanese garden:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-02.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-02-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-03.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-03-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+or at this very nice path in the systematics area:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-04.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-04-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+or at these diversely-coloured trees:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-05.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-05-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+or at these very nicely-sculpted boobs:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-06.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-06-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+or at this very lovely buddlejacea:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-22.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-22-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+or, or, or... is reader still with me? Okay, buckle up then! Below,
+views of the Little Someș:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-07.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-07-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-08.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-08-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-09.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-09-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+The first and the last view are taken from the same bridge, yes.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-10.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-10-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-11.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-11-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Above, views from Cluj's own belvedere point (one of them, at least),
+the Cetățuia hill -- "uie" being one of the many diminutives employed in
+Romanian, "cetate" being "citadel"; so, Citadelly? Below, a snobbish
+photo of a lemonade with matcha that, I have to say, was quite pleasing
+to the taste buds:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-12.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-12-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+The ustensil on the table was used to ingurgitate one delicious, *very*
+dark, piece of brownie cake. My culinary fetishes aside, I was surprised
+to notice that Cluj lives more through its traffic-jammed roadways than
+its promenades, from which point of view it's more similar to Bucharest
+than I would have hoped and expected -- although, to be fair, there is a
+marked difference between drivers in Cluj and the ones in Bucharest,
+namely that the former aren't completely fucked up in the head. However,
+take this for example:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-13.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-13-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+This is the best photo I could take of Horea street, one of the main
+streets in Cluj. I stood there for a while on an early Saturday
+afternoon, hoping to catch a moment without cars passing from either
+direction, but no luck. So what can I say, thank you, CJ-14-PKW!
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-14.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-14-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-15.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-15-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Above, a couple of shots from the central park. You may be wondering who
+the Ciolan dude was. I wondered the same, then found out he was a top
+conductor in Cluj's philarmonic. Well, he must have done something right
+to get that statue!
+
+Below, a couple of black swans on a lake; also, some nasty plastic shit
+that could've been cropped out of the photo, but really, why sweep the
+pink flamingos under the rug.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-16.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-16-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Further below, an artsy-fartsy autumnal one, followed by a view of the
+main square in Cluj. In the far plane lie the St. Michael
+Romano-Catholic church and a statue of Matthias Corvinus.
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-17.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-17-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-18.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-18-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+Looks a bit lively, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't that animated the
+evening before. There was one small street that lived through all its
+pores, though: at the edge of the (I think) Zorilor neighbourhood, going
+through Calea Moților past the Ursus beer factory and towards the
+centre, one can make a right turn on Clinicilor, and then an immediate
+right on what is called Strada Piezișă -- literally, the Askew Street --
+which can be briefly described as a magnet for students looking for a
+good time. Yes, the street was loud and crowded (with people, not cars)
+but at least it wasn't dead.
+
+Walking further to the southeast towards the botanical garden, one can
+also find a great Japanese restaurant. This is where I was gonna post
+Japanese food porn, but I'd rather not insult the reader; I'm sure you
+know how sushi looks.
+
+Anyway, back in the central park there's this place, the Casino, which
+is actually a sort of museum or something:
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-19.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-19-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+This was the last photo that I took in Cluj. Right after that we rushed
+back to the train station, where a train brought us to this backwater
+shithole known as Teiuș, Alba. Now, I don't know about the town itself,
+I'm just judging by the train station, this desolate, stinking,
+miserable place where we waited for our next train, while being
+entertained, and entertaining an eighty year old woman "din popor"[^2]
+who was going all the way to Căciulata, to what they call nowadays a
+spa.
+
+And then the next train came -- the train from hell, going at a mere
+sixty kilometers per hour and stopping in all the stations, but always
+being a few centimeters short of jumping from the rail track way out in
+the fields. And we even slept through that, at least until the train
+brought us to...
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-20.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-20-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+<a href="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-21.jpg"> <img align="middle"
+class="thumb" src="/uploads/2018/10/cluj-21-thumb.jpg"> </a>
+
+... wait, could this be -- [Hermannstadt][hermannstadt]?! So what am I
+doing here again, anyway?
+
+Well, bear with me; first, the Sibiu in October is very different from
+the one at the end of July, in that it's much colder, but otherwise
+still quite full of people, and in any case, and quite unexpectedly,
+more animated than Cluj. There was a film festival in the Large Square,
+but unlike the music festival that I attended last time, I completely
+ignored this one, and so did many others visiting town.
+
+What I did instead was to dedicate a couple of days to a so-called
+museum tour that was quite a mixed bag. We started off with the natural
+history museum, which was short but cute, then we continued with the
+contemporary art museum, which is in fact a very small art gallery --
+the photos there were nice though. Then we moved on to the Altemberger
+history museum, where I begin bitching about how Romanian museum keepers
+are, with *very*, *very*, *very* few exceptions, a bunch of fucking
+orcs.
+
+"The photos were nice", you see, except where they forgot to add any
+meaningful labels or info about the authors. The prehistoric exhibits
+were also nice, except for the part where I wish I could have been able
+to compare them with their counterparts I've seen at the museum in
+[Copenhagen][copenhagen]. These people don't give
+ANY. FUCKING. CONTEXT. to their exhibits, which is absolutely
+infuriating. It's insulting, and not to me, you see, but, say, to the
+Goldsmiths' Guild, which was a real organization doing real things back
+in the day, which those orcs showcase in some place in Sibiu without
+absolutely any sort of attached description that was due, and no, not
+optional in any way. And then the same orcs have the gall to show me
+photos of Sarmizegetusa and Trajan's column, as if I couldn't take my
+backpack and head there to see them myself. Fucking idiots.
+
+The Altemberger tour was saved by a couple of people in the armory and
+the treasury actually sitting for a moment to explain things. And what
+really saved the whole thing was von Brukenthal himself, as dead as he
+is, by leaving that palace in the Large Square, which became the museum,
+which now hosts great pieces of art which you must take the time to see
+if you're ever in Sibiu. The Romanian art gallery, at least, is
+unquestionably impressive; but one can also see for example a library
+storing books written in three languages, from which English is notably
+absent. And no, I couldn't take photos of any of these, because of all
+the security "security"-ing around the place.
+
+By now this "et alia" has gotten way too long, so I'll put an end to it
+here. However, I'm not done with Sibiu -- in fact, this time the photo
+session was so productive that I'm going to dedicate it another entire
+article. Stay tuned!
+
+[^1]: The Little Someș is as good a place as any to form a settlement in
+ Ardeal, given that one can choose between all these streams flowing
+ in the region -- take a map of Romania and look up the rivers, and
+ you'll notice that there's a considerable number of them filling up
+ the area, much to the frustration of Romanian kids studying
+ geography. So then, what brings this particular place apart from all
+ the others?
+
+ Well, Cluj is sitting in the geographical equivalent of a frying
+ pan, with hills all around it forming the edges. And while
+ historians know almost nothing about the (most likely pre-Roman)
+ name Napoca, they do know that sometime around 1200 some Germans,
+ like the ones who founded [Villa Hermanni][hermannstadt] or
+ [Corona][kronstadt], were living in this place called Castrum Clus
+ -- literally, a closed castle.
+
+ So, to put the history of Cluj in perspective, it was populated by
+ Dacians, Romans, Transylvanian Saxons, Hungarians and what we
+ nowadays call "[proud Romanians][romani]", under the rule of Romans,
+ Hungarians, Ottomans, the Habsburg Empire, and more recently
+ [a-woke-en Romanians][desteapta-te]. It was and remains the heart of
+ Transylvania, where most of the guilds in the area developed and
+ thrived for a long time, where scholarly places thrived as early as
+ the sixteenth century, and so on and so forth.
+
+ Compare and contrast with [Bucharest][bucharest]'s short history.
+
+[^2]: This description of the Romanian peasant would deserve a post of
+ its own, or maybe a whole book if we're to believe, say, Marin
+ Preda, who wrote no less than two volumes on the subject. But let's
+ try to give it a very brief shot.
+
+ "În popor", as they say in Romanian, that is, in
+ [rural][urban-rural] settings, information acquisition is cheap,
+ i.e. everyone knows everyone else and their whereabouts. And how to
+ find some info on someone, other than by simply asking; and what
+ else is there to do when you don't know people around you, other
+ than getting to know them and their whereabouts.
+
+ Therefore the man, or in our case the woman "din popor", is a very
+ friendly person, sometimes too friendly, who in short order will
+ find everything around you by way of simply asking, and who will
+ tell you everything about her and her values. And heavens forbid you
+ try to avoid her or wave her away; it just doesn't work, because
+ she's been through life and thus she can easily read you, while you,
+ you haven't, so you're stuck with doing the socially acceptable
+ thing -- because what else is there to do in the middle of nowhere!
+
+ Anyway, what Preda didn't see was that the old peasant faced with
+ modernity will slightly change their values, through their
+ children's impact with said modernity. Working the land is no longer
+ a value; instead, go to France, do some construction work, then come
+ back and build a house, or maybe buy a block or two. Of course, they
+ didn't get to see their children paying that outrageously high rent
+ on a lousy studio, and the children embraced it and no one ever
+ wondered why they came back to the village, so... what can I say.
+
+[kronstadt]: /posts/y05/07c-kronstadt.html
+[hermannstadt]: /posts/y05/079-hermannstadt.html
+[romani]: /posts/y05/07c-kronstadt.html#fn1
+[desteapta-te]: /posts/y03/054-desteapta-te-romane.html
+[bucharest]: /posts/y04/077-lacul-morii.html
+[gradina-botanica]: /posts/y04/070-bucharest-botanical-garden.html
+[urban-rural]: http://trilema.com/2012/anonimity-or-the-urban-versus-rural-dispute/
+[copenhagen]: /posts/y05/07a-copenhagen.html
projects / thetarpit.git / commitdiff
