Romanian adventures, research in the UK, and another injury for the record

So, after dislocating my patella yesterday whilst boxing with a trainer at the gym, I now find myself confined to the couch with my leg iced/elevated, and finally with the time to write this long overdue post. I have to say, it's been a crazy and mostly wonderful, if somewhat stressful, few months.

After crashing at my friend Liz's in TO for 3 weeks, I flew to London and stayed with (another) Liz and her fun flatmates, Cameron and Sandy, for 3 weeks whilst I attended a fabulous conference at the V&A, got some of my research plans sorted out, and caught up with friends. I then went up to Scotland for 2 weeks - a week each in Edinburgh and Glasgow - where I tried couchsurfing for the first time. Both awesome experiences. Unfortunately, I was stuck grading term papers for most of it, and didn't get to have nearly as much fun as I would have liked.

I finished the papers on time, though, and then headed to Manchester to meet up with a colleague of mine, before moving on to Cheltenham to stay with my friend Sarah for a few days. I ended up back in Edinburgh for a few days in there, though, to check out a possible alternate case study for my dissertation, and I managed to make it to the Beltane Fire Festival on May 1, which was one of the most incredible spectacles I have ever seen! Such a fabulous way to celebrate the holiday, although I'm rather sad I didn't get to jump over any bonfires, myself. My friend Aoife was there the same weekend too, which was so much fun. I also did a day trip to Glastonbury a couple days before I flew to Budapest, and finally managed to see the ancient oak trees, Gog and Magog, near the Tor. Just beautiful.

May involved a well-earned, long overdue 3 week vacation in Romania, with two days at each end in Budapest, Hungary, my point of arrival/departure from Cheltenham. Romania was a beautiful, if sometimes challenging, place to travel, but it was so worth it. The people I met were just amazing, and it totally opened my eyes to the impact that communism had on that part of the world. I think that, as a little kid in the '80s, I had not until now fully realised the impact of the Cold War, or of how fascist regimes across Europe so drastically and detrimentally altered the lives of its peoples.

My journey started in Budapest, where I (of course) first went to the famous Kerepesi Cemetery, which has some of the finest monuments I have ever seen - true works of art in their own right. I also went to see the Natural History Museum, which can only be described as "interesting" (seriously - there was a huge Noah's Ark populated by random taxidermy mounts. No idea). After taking a sleeper train from Budapest, I arrived in Bucharest to meet up with my friend Adrian from Switzerland, whom I met and travelled with in Orkney last year. Bucharest was a city of real contradictions - on one hand, terribly dim concrete communist-era apartment blocks and packs of wild dogs; on the other, posh designer stores and some of the highest real estate prices in Europe. I'm glad that I saw it, but don't feel a real need to go back there! We headed to Brasov next, and while the area around the train station possessed the same dismal apartment buildings, the historic downtown surrounded by mountains was absolutely charming. We stayed there for two days, although unfortunately Adrian had a family emergency and had to head back to Switzerland days early on the train. Left on my own a bit earlier than expected, I met a great couple from Edmonton and travelled with them to Sighisoara, visiting Bran Castle en route. So much fun Dracula kitsch for sale - I bought a cute little wooden vampire doll, hehe. I stayed two days there, and went hiking in the hills around the town after my new friends left, finding some oak trees hundreds of years old which, fortunately, survived plans for a Draculaland theme park that never ended up being built.

From there, I went back to Brasov and on to the village of Sinca Noua which, years ago, was to be the original site of my PhD research. I stayed at Equus Silvania for the weekend, which was the big splurge of my trip and completely lovely. I went hiking (even though it was very rainy!), watched wild bears in a hide in a national park (we saw 8 of them!), and did a horseriding lesson - it felt like the first real time I could relax and let go of some of the stress I'd been carrying around for months. Of course, because I finally relaxed, I ended up with a bad head cold, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I moved on to Miercurea Ciuc in the mountains, and (of course, b/c that's my luck) arrived just in time for the annual Hungarian pilgrimage to the weeping Virgin Mary statue in town. I met a great guy on the train who is a reporter for the local paper - and who helped me to get out of the train compartment when it was suddenly swarmed by Roma! - and he spent the evening showing me all the sights of the town (including this amazing natural spring where the water is naturally carbonated - people sit in this pool for therapeautic reasons, and they also drink the water). I was feeling extra sick by the time I left, though, and it was a long and stuffy ride to Piatra Neamt. It took me awhile to find the hostel, mainly because it looked like it was housed in an old hospital and had a bit of a mental-institution vibe about it. That said, the lady who ran it was lovely (if a bit stifling, in a motherly sort of way!) and she made me dinner and brought me tea and toast late at night when she saw I was ill. So sweet.

I went to the village of Gura Humorului next, with the intent to use it as a base from which to see the painted monasteries of Bucovina. I walked 4km to the first painted monastery at Voronet after finding lodging with another sweet-but-smothering woman who spoke no English aside from "good" and "nice". Fortunately, she had a young boarder about 14 yrs old who could translate between us. Unfortunately, I was still feeling rotten, and the rain during the walk was more of a torrential downpour. After giving in and hiring a taxi for the ride home, I stopped at the main hotel in town where the woman at the counter was able to recommend a local taxi driver who could take me to all of the monasteries the next day for 50 Euros. Sounded like a deal to me. And, thankfully, the sun came out for most of the day, and the driver ended up being fun company. Not to mention, the monasteries are absolutely stunning! I was disappointed that my plan to spend a few days hiking from one monastery to the other didn't work out, but ultimately just pleased to be able to see everything that I wanted. I made my way to Suceava after hearing about a great hostel there, and I was not disappointed! My host, Monica, was awesome, and the other guests were a lot of fun, too. It continued to rain, so I decided to stay an extra day whilst nursing my cold, and Monica taught me how to make some delicious Romanian food. It was so, so nice.

Next, Monica connected me with a contact of hers in the NW, in the town of Sighet, which is close to the Merry Cemetery. The train there was ridiculously long, and the guy was nice (although not a great guide), but mostly I'm just glad I got to see the cemetery because the hand carved and painted markers were stunning. I also got to see a traditional distillery, and came away with a cute little bottle of horincka (double-distilled Romanian moonshine made from plums and apples) that has a traditional wooden decoration inside.

From Sighet, I took a minibus back to Budapest, and spent the next couple days enjoying the city and good company at another great hostel. I also went to the zoo, and was rather shocked to see that visitors were encouraged to feed giraffes like they were in a petting zoo! Very mixed feelings about that.

It was a lovely trip, but I was really glad to get back to the UK by the end! It's great to be back in London, and my research at the Hunterian Museum is going reasonably well so far (though it's proving somewhat difficult to recruit people for interviews - hopefully that will get easier.)

I've also decided to extend my trip from July 21 until mid-August, since I really need more time for research, and if the new semester doesn't start until mid-September, I may as well take advantage of the time I've got. I really don't want to go back to TO until I absolutely have to.

I promise there will not be such a big gap between this update and the next - although I suppose that may depend on how quickly my knee heals. ;) Send me some good healing energy in the meantime, and wishes that everything will work out!