March 2009

Oprescu Does Something Sensible

by Craig Turp March 12, 2009 Bucharest

 Here’s the story, in Evenimentul Zilei. In allowing Madonna to sing in Parcul Eroilor on August 26, Bucharest Mayor Sorin Oprescu has to all intents and purposes told Bucharest Ring – the organisers of the disastrous Formula 3 races around Casa Poporului which nobody turned up to yet which caused so much chaos in 2007 [...]

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Just Fancy That!

by Craig Turp March 12, 2009 Business

 “The last thing Romania will do is take a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). We can finance the budget deficit with money set aside by the European Union for non-euro countries.” Romanian President Traian Basescu, January 16, 2009 “We are taking a loan from the IMF because we have no idea how the [...]

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Just Don’t Ever Get Sick (2)

by Craig Turp March 11, 2009 Media

 We’ve written about the awful Romanian health system before. On Monday, the New York Times published an article – a rather good one – about it too.

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The Daily Grind

by Craig Turp March 11, 2009 Bucharest

 Two moans… 1. Took a short cut through the Bucuresti Mall’s car park today. Had to take a ticket on entry as the bastards are now charging for the car park after the first hour (which is free). Ever heard of a shopping centre charging customers for the car park? It’s an outrage. Rents must [...]

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Good, original Romanian start-ups

by Craig Turp March 10, 2009 Romania

 Talking last week to friends who are far more clued up in the world of technology than we are, Romania was spoken of very highly as a source of both programmers and ideas. The former we knew, the latter… hmmm. Not so sure. There are successful Romanian start-ups all over the place (Trilulilu, Best Jobs [...]

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A communist-era relic?

by Craig Turp March 10, 2009 Romania

 No. This sign (between Azuga and Sinaia, just before one of those ‘markets’ selling ethnic crap – most of which is, ahem, Chinese) has been around a while but it is not that old. Who put it there, and who maintains it, is a mystery. If the local authorities are responsible for it then it [...]

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From Otopeni to Gara de Nord by train. We tried. We really tried.

by Craig Turp March 9, 2009 Bucharest

 Back from a week’s self-catering in south-eastern Sudan with little more than an elephant tusk as a souvenir, we arrived at Otopeni at the weekend to be greeted by an enormous blue sign in Romanian and (quelle surprise) correct English telling us that we could purchase train tickets to the city from the booth on [...]

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