Search Results

Experiencing Nature up Close

by Neil Woodburn on

Looking to commune with nature this year?  Hoping for some quality time with the lions and tigers and
bears?  Well, here’s your chance to play Grizzly
Man but without, hopefully, the same tragic demise.

Our friends over at The Independent have just published a Ten Best list for Close Encounters with Natural
Wonders.  They provide us with details on how to hang with pandas in China, fraternize with bats in Romania,
keep a safe distance from polar bears in the Svalbard archipelago (Norway), stalk snow leopards in India, and howl at
the moon with grey wolves in Yellowstone. 

The article also lists a few less exciting natural wonder opportunities such as bird watching in the Outer
Hebrides and counting badger poop and deer dung in Oxfordshire’s Wytham Woods—not exactly up my alley, but
at least I won’t get eaten by a bear.

 

Red Corner: Propaganda Exhibit in Bucharest

by Neil Woodburn on

Exhibitions on fascist and communist propaganda are nothing new in Europe. Nearly every former communist country has exhibited various archives from this dark period. The Romanians, however, have added a very unique twist to their current offering which just opened at the National Archives in Bucharest.

“Fascism and Communism – Ideology and Propaganda in Romania 1938-1989,” is enhanced by a series of comments written not by experts on the topic of propaganda, but by local school children. Pairing the innocent minds of children with the evil science of propaganda is a brilliant concept as can be seen by the following student comment offered up in the press release; “Children in our country are not allowed to play on the grass in the parks, while elsewhere, children play especially on grass in the park, because for other people children are more important than grass.”

Wow. Spoken with the true clarity only a child can possess.

Red Corner: Buying your Vacation Home in Eastern Europe

by Neil Woodburn on

Looking for a cheap vacation home to buy abroad but France and England are a bit out of your price range? Well, look no further than Eastern Europe, deep Eastern Europe. Real estate in Prague and Budapest are already out of many peoples’ price range, but lesser visited towns in Bulgaria and Romania are not. In fact, experts predict that both of these countries are prime real estate investment opportunities. And, if I might add, beautiful countries in which to have a second home.

According to an article in The Observer, Romanian real estate is expected to offer returns of over 400% in the next ten years-due to a combination of current low values and the anticipation of the country entering the European Union in 2007. Although 50 years of communism has left many buildings in sorry shape, there seems to be plenty of quaint ones to choose from on this British-based real estate site. And why Romania you ask? Well, the mountains of Transylvania, for example, are stunning. There is the Black Sea cost (not as stunning), and the capital, Bucharest-known a century ago as the Paris of the East.

Another article, this one in The Christian Science Monitor, discusses the benefits of buying vacation homes in Bulgaria-site of fine ski resorts and warm summers. After the fall of communism, many Bulgarians moved to the cities to look for work, leaving their country homes empty and awaiting foreign buyers. The article chronicles the adventures of a couple in search of a $20,000 vacation home in the countryside. They eventually find one nestled amongst a fairytale “Lord of the Rings” setting. It has mountain views and fruit trees, but no bathroom or plumbing. I’m curious to hear what the $5,000 houses also on the market have to offer.

Red Corner: The Iron Curtain Bike Trail

by Neil Woodburn on

It was Winston Churchill who first coined the term Iron Curtain to refer to the heavily fortified border region between Western Europe and the communist Warsaw Pact nations. For years, the very term conjured up images of barbed wire, snarling guard dogs, and Kalashnikov toting Slavic thugs. If the EU has its way, such visions will be replaced by ultra-fit cyclists in little black pants and brightly colored helmets.

The EU is considering a proposal to create the world’s longest heritage trail along the former Iron Curtain. The 4,250-mile bicycle and walking route would begin at the Arctic Ocean where Russia and Norway share a border and then continue south, crossing through the Baltics, Poland, the former East Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and then skirt along the southern border of Bulgaria all the way to the Black Sea.

Whoa, that’s a long way. It was easier to escape from the Soviet Union than it will be to conquer this trail.

Word for the Travel Wise (01/25/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

A few years back when I was spending more time in Romania, but had some time to spend in Hungary and enough time to get lost in Budapest alone I found myself in several exciting places. On my way to Statue Park I got a little turned around, but once back on the right course I met this friendly Canadian girl who was traveling alone as well and headed in the same direction. We decided to check out the gigantic memorials from the Communist dictatorship together and while her company was great it was a local Hungarian gentleman that stole my heart. Earlier that day I had taken a trip up to Castle Hill where he was working, answering several sight-seeing individuals questions. I don’t know how it happened or what word triggered our half hour long exchange of eastern and western linguistic study, but he wanted to make sure his accent was as pure sounding of any westerner, say from Portland. In exchange he wanted me to sound like an eastern European woman.

Today’s word is a Magyar (Hungarian) word used in Hungary:

Köszönöm – (ker-ser-nerm) thank you

Looks tricky at first, but this one is actually fairly easy. The Hungarian lingo is a Finno-Ugric language, which you can learn more about at Wikipedia, right now let’s stick to the places you can learn it for free. Hungarotips is a completely free site with beginner, intermediate, and advanced lessons. This impulzus web page has everything you’d basically find in a LP guide. There’s no audio, so read a little about the alphabet and then find someone who’s willing to make sure you speak like a local. The verbal exchange will be very rewarding I am sure.