In bunul spirit al concursului initiat de Chinezu, si anume Ghici Romania mea, va invit sa imi spuneti care este locul din fotografie. E in Romania, relativ aproape de Bucuresti – atat stiu despre coordonatele ei. In schimbul informatiei exacte, prezentata cat mai interesant de catre comentatori, unul dintre ei va castiga o tura cu baba mea prin Bucuresti si/sau imprejurimi. Iar daca acea persoana stie si ocazia cu care este facuta poza (eu o stiu!), facem o tura impreuna chiar pana acolo, pentru fotografii; ma gandesc la luna octombrie, ca sa gasim aceleasi culori pastelate.

Hai cu spor spre viitor(ul apropiat)!

Background. It happens that I have to take over this silly, little and beautiful car shown above, with the purpose of transfering it from Prague to Bucharest. When is that? Starting May 16th or 17th, or maybe on the 25th, the latest. However, the prospect of a long delivery trip is not really music to my ears, you know. That’s because I think the best route to Romania coming from Czech Republic would have to include countries such as Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. That’s not all: I am tentatively trying to get all this package into a 14-day period, for example, and rather cheap. It’s always good to save a buck these days.

Trip goals. Basically, I would like to go through and take a quick look (sometimes a better look, it depends on the city) at the following cities:

1. Prague,
2. Dresden,
3. Berlin,
4. Wolfsburg,
5. Paderborn,
6. Amsterdam,
7. Rotterdam,
8. Brussels,
9. Dusseldorf,
10. Cologne,
11. Frankfurt,
12. Heidelberg,
13. Sinsheim,
14. Stuttgart,
15. Basel,
16. Bern,
17. Geneve,
18. Montreux,
19. Lausanne (maybe),
20. Zurich,
21. Sankt Gallen,
22. Bodensee,
23. Salzburg,
24. Vienna,
25. Bratislava,
26. Budapest,
27. Satu Mare,
28. Bucharest.

At the time of the first official writing about it, I confess having no idea whether this is a realistic plan for such a period of time or if I am a bit crazy. It’s likely that I am crazy, but that’s ok. A man adapts, finds a way.

FYI, the cities outside Romania I’ve been to so far are: a couple of Hungarian (Budapest, Debrecen, Mateszalka), Serbian (Belgrade, Kopaonik, Novi Grad), Bosnian (Banja Luka) and Bulgarian ones (Ruse, Varna, Golden Sands), Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, and a small Dutch village that I can’t remember. Therefore, this is the perfect occasion to start covering more of Europe, and it’s a big thing for me.

Must sees. This trip somehow has to include most of the elements below:

• meeting my friend Siegfried in Berlin. Maybe Zoso, too.
• meeting a couple of friends in Rotterdam, Brussels, potentially Salzburg, Vienna, eventually any other city where I find – before I leave – that there are friends there.
• driving a number of Swiss roads, as I love perfect landscapes.
• seeing the Mercedes (and Porsche) museum in Stuttgart.
• seeing the Meilenwerk showrooms in Berlin, Dusseldorf, and Stuttgart.
• seeing the Volkswagen museum in Wolfsburg.
• seeing the Sinsheim museum, particularly interested in Concorde and some cars.

You would think that the trip is organized around the idea of seeing as many cars as possible, together with landscapes. In fact, I’m not as obsessed as it might seem, and I mostly care about the people that I am going to meet during the trip and what I will learn while observing things, asking questions, or reading preparation materials, blogs and the like.

Alone??? Hopefully not. Since I don’t have a girlfriend whom I could take with me right now, I am looking for friend(s) to join me on this road trip. Ideally, these are friends I already know to some degree, but they could be twitter users or so. If you feel you’re part of a category, and you’re interested, drop a line. Seriously! But… please understand that if we agree to do this, you’re responsible for:

• your arrival in Prague, by any means of transportation (I can give you good tips about that). Mine is already arranged.
• your accommodation, cheaper if there’s more of us anyway.
• your eating, drinking and having fun.
• some sharing of fuel cost, not much I guess, maybe free if you are good company.

On the other hand, you may be interested to join me for a part of the trip, which is fine by me provided you deliver yourself to the city where you want to start the trip on the day I will be there – to be announced soon.

If I don’t find anybody interested, I’ll post some hitchhiking opportunities on http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de, a website I used myself while being in Europe without a car, to commute very quickly and cheaply between cities.

Save my soul! I have to admit the fact that I am not really street-smart about what this trip means, though by the time I leave I am committed to change that. So please, help me out here with any type of recommendation regarding traveling to these countries:

• websites or blogs about these places, or about European road trips.
• websites where I can find very cheap official accommodation/hotels/hostels, or even free accommodation on the basis of networking between travelers.
• important road restrictions or issues related to traffic, GPS, radar detectors.
• great roads to drive on, with great landscapes around them.
• other (small) cities/places I haven’t mentioned along the route that are worthwhile visiting because of a certain reason (architecture, stuff…)
• other car-related tips, especially old timer/young timer shops.
• health information.

Note that I don’t expect you to jump with tons of recommendations and save my arse, but I would appreciate if you can indicate the smallest information that is useful.

There will be another blog post soon with the timeline of the trip, dates and stuff. Wish me luck!

Intru in cate-o biserica fiindca ma aflu in nu-stiu-ce orasel iar biserica de acolo e un punct de interes cu greutate (gen biserica fortificata din Biertan), sau ca vizitez unul din principalele orase ale Europei (Praga, Berlin, Brasov, s.a.m.d.), sau comunele din Maramures, sau Muzeul Satului. Sau poate am descoperit o bisericuta intre blocuri, aici in Bucuresti – si mi se pare interesanta. Le admir si le studiez pentru partea de cultura si istorie, nu fiindca ma consider mare crestin.

De ce nu ma consider crestin? Pentru ca in acceptiunea generala, cea pe care am observat-o “in jur”, a fi crestin inseamna sa fac parte dintr-o categorie (sau hai, din aceeasi oala) cu niste oameni cu care nu ma identific. Precum cei din extrasul de mai jos, din superba carte a lui Dan Puric, “Despre Omul Frumos” – pe care e musai sa o cititi. Hai sa adaug ca exemplul este unul cat se poate de bland, pot fi si mai realist de atat.

Stii care e diferenta intre crestinul adevarat si pietistul, care pupa o mie de icoane si nu face nimic?

Am intrat intr-o zi in biserica. Era o biserica micuta, improvizata, pentru ca se lucra la biserica mare. Eram cu sotia si, din cauza mirosului abundent de lumanari, tamaie, sotia a lesinat. M-am speriat, am luat-o in brate si am iesit cu ea afara, pe iarba. Nu stiam cum sa o trezesc, ma speriasem, era, poate, o cadere de calciu, stiu eu ce. S-a trezit si mi-a spus: da-mi ceva sa mananc. Unde sa fug eu duminica, cand totul era inchis? Am intrat in biserica, era in timpul Liturghiei, si, in biserica, am gasit painile cu lumanari, dar si-un pluton de babe care le pazea, si am rugat din suflet sa-mi dea si mie o bucatica de paine, ca cineva se simte rau.

- Nu-ti dau, ca nu e sfintita, mi-a raspuns baba, cu autoritate, de parca era parlamentar.

- Dar va rog din suflet, eram disperat, doar o bucatica…

- Nu, ca nu e sfintita.

Tot asa mi-au raspuns toate cele 10 babe:

- Nu-ti dau, ca nu e sfintita.

Pana s-a trezit unul si-a zis:

- Da , fa, paine, ca-ti trag una de te sfintesc pe loc!

Acela este crestinul adevarat. Tanarul asta a vazut formele de impostura. Dar tanarului acestuia ii lipseste informatia, prin care sa vada ce inseamna adevaratul crestin…

Asadar, privesc crestinismul si credinta cu ochii mei proprii. Cred, dar ma manifest tacut. Nu ma duc la biserica ca sa-mi etalez ultimul Mercedes achizitionat, sau costumul nou de la Armani, ceasul Tissot, sau pantofii de la Geox. Despre asta pare sa fie vorba pana si cu ocazia Sfintelor Paste, lucru care imi face greata, sincer.

* In comunele din judetul Satu Mare, de unde provin, slujba de Inviere se tine in dimineata urmatoare celei pe care o stiti cei de-aici din Bucuresti.

Intamplator, sunt la fel de impatimit sa stiu ca de-abia se vinde cate-o masina zilele astea. Presimt o oarecare invigorare dupa prima veste referitoare la taxa de poluare. Nu-s tocmai sigur ca vor fi valuri mari, dat fiind faptul ca pluteste un sentiment de criza. Care se adanceste.

Apropo, azi mi-am platit taxa de poluare, vreo 24 milioane, iar frumosul meu Mercedes Benz coupe va primi permisiune definitiva de a folosi infrastructura infecta a tarisoarei noastre.