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My food was taking a bit too long at this cafe in Brasov. Luckily there were people to photograph behind that window. Like these two friends:



I know you want to see the second one closer too. Here, I took a photo of her too:



A minute later they got inside the cafe and sat at the table next to mine.
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Transylvania uses Brexit in its campaign to attract British entrepreneurs. Interestingly, they excluded Scotland and Northern Ireland and combined England and Wales together.



http://www.transylvaniabeyond.com

I think the bit about not wanting to be stuck on the same island with Boris and Nigel is not necessary. I would use something softer and not so negative because one does not have to try hard to get negative about Romania with its super corrupt politicians who can make Boris and Nigel look like Buddha and Mother Theresa so you just don't want to be in the looking-for-negatives space here.

Two Romanians have launched a DIY immigration campaign to tempt British entrepreneurs who are unhappy with the EU referendum result to relocate to Transylvania.

"Transylvania Beyond" is pushing promoted ads on Facebook saying: "If you don't fancy the idea of being stuck on an island with Boris & Nigel for the rest of your life, we might have a plan."

The post then links to a website encouraging people to move to Transylvania, the Romanian region famous for its association with Dracula. The website, specifically tailored to British citizens, then lists reasons to move such as great scenery, healthcare, good airport connections, fast internet speeds, and a large number of tech specialists.

The website ends with this message: "If you're interested to build a company in Transylvania, let us know and we can introduce you to the startup & tech community in Cluj, Transylvania."

The outreach is tinged with a sad irony — much of the right wing press' campaign against EU immigration has focused around the number of Romanians who have come to the UK. It's heartening to find they still have a place for Brits in their home.

"What we don’t have here is a solid entrepreneurial culture. If we can get a few hundred British entrepreneurs to move here and start a business here, we might solve the problem and create the spark that this region needs, in order to become a major tech hub in Europe."

Docea says the campaign has already been "more successful than we could have expected", adding: "Every 9 minutes there’s a new email coming from a British entrepreneur impressed by the story and interested in relocating to Transylvania.

"If we keep going like this, we expect to reach a thousand British entrepreneurs interested in Transylvania in less than a month. If 5% of them will actually start a business here this year, it’s already an amazing achievement for our region."


As well as the Transylvania Beyond campaign, the Guardian reports that Bucharest newspaper Gandul has launched a "Romanians for Remainians" campaign calling for Brits to "leave the Brexiters, the quarrelling and the weather behind" and "start brand new life."



http://uk.businessinsider.com/brexit-transylvania-beyond-eu-british-entrepreneurs-romania-2016-6

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/28/romanians-for-remainians-an-adoption-offer-for-bewildered-brits

There are quite a lot of Brits who already live in Transylvania, we have heard about more than a couple of writers for example. The guy who runs the largest real estate agency is also British apparently, he used to be a design manager at Aston Martin we were told. We also heard about one guy who helps the children of Romanian elite get into Oxford and Cambridge and prepares them for it. He is doing very well apparently. And there is Prince Charles of course. You can become his neighbour in Breb on the cheap. We were told that he spends at least a couple of weeks each year there and William and Harry also visit.
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Poland is depressing and there are vampires in Romania
Spain is far too hot and where the fuck is Lithuania?
To be fair Slovenia is lovely (we are only kidding, it sucks too)

A nice pro-EU song from "Tonight with John Oliver":

Selfie

Jun. 17th, 2016 01:32 am
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In Galati, Romania.

More selfies here.

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I would not have noticed her no would I have taken this picture of her if it wasn't for her dad. The girl was walking ahead of her parents, very relaxed, the mother was looking around also very relaxed. But the dad did not look happy and was tense. He was giving this look to anyone who looked in the direction of his daughter. I just had to take this picture of them because of the dad. I do not know if it captures how on guard he was and his reaction at least a little because I saw it in person and I cannot see this picture separately from that experience.

In Brasov, Transylvania, Romania

Clown

Jun. 14th, 2016 09:38 pm
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In Sibiu, Romania.

The Athenian one made for a better shot, it is here.

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It was a rainy day with no sun. The sky was overcast but it still looked great.

In Transylvania, Romania

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you still can't help it, it is automatic.

In Brasov, Transylvania, Romania

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In Baile Tusnad, Transylvania, Romania

I love NY

Jun. 10th, 2016 06:49 am
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The Roma boys in Transylvania are easily recognisable by their hats, they always have them on. And you cannot miss a Gypsy girl, their dresses and headscarves are very colourful, often to the point of trippy.

In Sibiu, Romania

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The most interesting thing to me about any place that I visit is the people. Whenever I am trying to research a place I always want to see the recent pictures of the people in the streets first too.

I spent a couple of hours in Iasi in Romania so if you have always been interested what people in Iasi were like, you are in luck, here are a couple of photos for you.

There are a lot of kids there. These two are rocking the sunglasses like mum.



This one is carried by mum. I dig the flower girl's socks.



Older men will not be seen in public without their hats.



Read more... )

Stork nest

Jun. 9th, 2016 05:12 pm
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Storks are everywhere in Romania. There were dozens of nests in every village we passed through.

Saint Anne

Jun. 7th, 2016 10:39 pm
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A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting across the border in the Romanian part of Moldova, in the city of Piatra Neamt. We hope to start a project there this winter. The city is surrounded by the mountains and would also be a nice place to spend some time in winter with all the skiing at our doorstep.

Before driving back to Moldova we visited the Bistrita Monastery just about 5 miles away from Piatra Neamt. The monastery was dedicated in 1402. It's main relic is the miracle-working icon of Saint Anne, which was given as a present to the monastery in 1407 by Lady Ana, Voivode Alexandru I's wife. Apparently the icon was given as a "patronage gift" to Lady Ana by empress Jelena, wife of Manuel II Palaiologos, emperor of Constantinople.



I really liked the church where the icon is located. It was different from the more modern Romanian and Moldovan Orthodox churches and reminded me of the Mount Athos churches. Old monks were sitting randomly on the floor in the darkness reading huge old books in candle light, mumbling something and not paying any attention to us. We were the only visitors at the time.

The monastery also has an important collection of medieval art in its museum.
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Everyone is talking about the election here but for a change it is not the U.S. election (yes, they do talk about it a lot even in Moldova) but the mayoral election in the town of Dragusani across the border from here in Romania. There all three candidates happened to have the same name: Vasile Cepoi. And they are not related to each other. Each of the three main parties is led by its own Vasile Cepoi in Dragusani. The voters are urged to be extra careful when voting to ensure that they don't pick the Vasile Cepoi they did not intend to vote for by mistake because the standard pre-printed ballots are designed to stress the candidates' names and not the names of the candidates' parties.

This situation has benefits too. The people of Dragusani already know that Vasile Cepoi will win the election and will be their mayor. Apparently they also went ahead and printed a lot of the new official stuff which required knowing the name of the new mayor already.
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I was told that the wooden synagogue in Piatra Neamt, Romania was the last wooden synagogue in Europe. I haven't checked yet. But I did take a photo of it, here it is:

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A group of guests showed up unannounced at our Romanian host's house during our stay and I volunteered to move to a small house at the back of our host's parents's garden not very far away for one night as they tried to ensure everyone had a bed for the night. I did not regret it, the view was spectacular and our host's mother cooked an awesome breakfast for me in the morning.

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This is the entrance at the back of our host's garden. There is a stream a couple of hundred meters down the mountain path from there. I forgot a bucket near the stream and was going to go and get it but ran into our host's son at the back of the garden and he thought it would be better to bring the bucket back in the morning because "it is getting dark and there will be more bears now".

I still went and got the bucket. I worked in the City and definitely saw more bears than that Transylvanian boy. My last trade was part of a bearish strategy. And yes, "it is getting dark and there will be more bears now" is as true about the markets as it is about Transylvanian forests.

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I had to drive through Bran in Transylvania yesterday (this is where the "Dracula Castle" is) and this time I noticed that all of the trade there is done in three languages, Romanian (obviously), English (understandable) and surprisingly, Hebrew. One also can hear Hebrew spoken everywhere in the shops and the restaurants too. Israelis seem to love this place.

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We gave everything edible we had with us to these two friends.

In Transylvania (again), Romania

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The grave of a bishop next to an old Orthodox church in central Iasi, Romania. The flowers are in a KFC cup. An empty Coke bottle just completes the picture.

Iasi (pronounced "Yahsh"), is the capital of Romanian province of Moldova. Moldova was split after the WWII. The western part remained with Romania and the Eastern part was annexed to the Soviet Union by Russia. The Eastern part became an independent state after the Soviet Union broke down. The western part is still a province of Romania.

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