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BUCHAREST:
Spurned Latin Lover
Author: Sean Rorison
- 1999
Something I did not know about Romania before I arrived - it is
a Latin country surrounded by Slavic ones. The language is not at
all Slavic, but closer to Italian with a slant of Russian. The people
as well are featured in ways that are reminiscent of Latin, and
not Slavic, roots.
It is as if Romania is the estranged sister of the Latin world,
removed and forgotten. She lives an existence of excess and tragedy;
if Italy is the princess of the Latin world, then Romania is the
mistress - secretive, unassociated, seductive, with its own dark
motives and illicit associations, whose existence may spawn violence.
Of course Romania is entirely misunderstood in the West - it is
a country of folklore from the past, and a violent revolution from
the recent past. The gnarled trees, old dusty gothic mansions and
misty skies create the mysterious atmosphere of Romania; where the
supernatural still roams, where the unimaginable creeps into the
minds of the people. A lower class of ignorant peasants, and an
upper class of decadent and ruthless demons; this has always been
Romania, and it still is Romania.
Bucharest is a haunted
city; be it the spartan parks, the rotting Russian railcars, the
packs of stray dogs, or the abandoned houses, both gothic and communist
- it is a tired city. It is also ripe for the pickings from American
business, as the downtown is saturated with all sorts of advertising
and fast food restaurants. They are embracing Americanization to
its fullest; but this is no different than what has happened in
Romania before.
Violent dictatorships
in this country existed before Nicolae Ceausescu; Carol II ruled
during the time of Hitler, and was so ruthless that Hitler called
him his favourite dictator. Romania was the only nation to voluntarily
build its own concentration camps, to show the Nazis that they were
more than willing to succumb to the Nazi empire, hoping to gain
favour in the New World Order. When Hitler and the Nazis collapsed,
Romania fell into the hands of Stalin and the communists. Ceausescu
quickly moved to prove to Stalin that his little dictatorship would
be a model for the rest of communism, putting hundreds of thousands
to men at work building gigantic structures that no one needed or
could afford, simply to assert his obsession with dictatorial grandeur.
And when the Soviet system fell, the Romanians have quickly moved
to become little more than an economic protectorate of the U.S.A.
and E.U.
Bucharest's wide boulevards, Soviet style, make it much more impersonal
than other European cities. Gigantic monuments, testaments to ruthless
irrationalism, are dotted about the city. The most spectacular,
rising out of a sea of nameless old buildings like a monolith, is
Ceausescu's palace. It is the second largest building in the world,
after the Pentagon. In a country so poor, in a city so dirty, this
gigantic structure stands as a massive testament to the decadence
of the Romanian aristocracy. In fact, Ceausescu's wife was often
quoted as calling the citizens of Romania, "worms."
There are stray dogs
everywhere in the city; too many of them. Of course, empty lots
are filled with garbage. But there are also a great deal of gutted
cars on the sidewalks, with flat tires and broken headlights. The
city is dishevelled. If anyone ever tells you it is a romantic place,
they are only half right. Romania's people and civilization are
locked in a story of tragic Romance; it is a classic Shakespearian
tragedy of lust, betrayal, and an excessively violent climax. And
it's happened at least three times in the country's history.
One of the finest points
of interest in the city is the peasant museum; I was expecting some
silly miniature displays of old farm ranches, but instead found
a giant site of full-scale medieval peasant buildings from Romania.
The wooden crosses, thatch-roofed churches, ornate cottages, bathed
in mist and accented by gnarled trees - here is the folklore of
Romania. To live in these buildings would be to live in fear of
the unknown. It was as if every element of medieval horror came
back to me as I visited this museum.
But reflecting on the
comparison of Romania as a mistress - she is the debutante. She
is the attractive woman who will shamelessly ally herself with whomever
will provide her with the most power and money; and nothing in Romania
is done halfway.
"The heater is either
on or off; there is no in between," Anne told me, the friend
of mine whom I am visiting out here. Romania has lulled itself through
many boring decades, only to jump up into violent insurgencies that
baffle the rest of the world. Romania's psyche is either on or off.
There is no moderation in this country. People live in excess or
absolute poverty. The middle class still practice this through the
extreme emotions which seem to be the essence of this country.
And think of Romania
as the debutante who always chooses the wrong man to be with - she
does everything in her power to prove to this powerful new man that
she will be his best companion; but luck and circumstance always
work against her. And in the end, she ends up tired, broken, cynical,
lost, and very alone. Romania, being a Latin country so far removed
from the goings on of Western Europe, and instead embroiled in the
middle of communism and Balkanism, is an estranged and sad tale.
And you can see this here - read Hamlet for an idea of Romania's
circular history. And it's beginning again, as the brand new gas
stations and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants and Pizza Huts start
popping up all over the place. Romania has sold herself out yet
again, hoping yet again for glory.
Tomorrow I will head
for Constanta, Romania's Second City, which is a major port on the
Black Sea. Train connections are a bit strange right now, as there
is a rail strike on - workers are demanding a 70% wage increase
- but this is not likely to happen. It's misty, it's cold, and I
think that's exactly the way you should see Romania.
Author: Sean Rorison
Email: sarchives@lycos.com
http://travel.seanrorison.com/
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