Gymnasts and Gems

Today we were headed south, back into Transylvania.  Our weather held as we took a different route back up and over the Carpathians.  At this point, I had lost track of how many times we'd crossed the mountains.  Our ultimate destination was the city of Brasov, with which both Katherine and I ended up falling in love over the coming two days.  

View from our Hotel on Friday Morning

Driving out of Targu Mures

Some things don't change...

Along the way, we stopped in the small -- and forgettable -- city of Onesti, which is the hometown of the famous Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci.  She was born here, and we visited the training center where she started gymnastics, and from where she was discovered and ultimately sent to train with the Romanian national team.  The city is obviously proud of her, and the school has multiple displays of her accomplishments, and there is a statue outside, depicting her landing during the Montreal Olympics in 1976, which resulted in the first perfect 10.0 score in the sport.  As we continued south, we learned more about her life, much of which was quite sad.  Aside from her name, I knew very little about her.  I mentioned earlier that there were rumors of her involvement (or sexual exploitation) by one of Nicolae Ceausescu's sons, to which many attribute her removal as coach of the Romanian national team, and ultimate demotion, by sending her all the way back to the school in Onesti.  We also heard of her ultimate escape from Romania to Hungary in 1989, only a few weeks before the revolution.  She was evidently mislead and exploited by a Romanian national with U.S. citizenship, who helped her escape.  She was poorly advised and had no support network to navigate the extreme media attention she received upon reaching the States.  She also had no financial support and made some very poor decisions.  It appears that things have since worked out for her, and she still lives in Oklahoma.  The folks in Onesti were very happy to tell us that she was scheduled to return next year, to take place in a ceremony marking the training school's 50'th anniversary.

Nadia Comaneci Memorabilia

Gymnasts Training Academy

Monument Marking Nadia's Perfect 10 on the Beam in Montreal

The Onesti Gymnasts Academy

On the way to Brasov, we stopped at a small majority-Hungarian town of Targu Secuiesc for lunch.  We had a wonderful traditional Hungarian meal and walked around a bit.  It was a nice way to break up the day.

Hearty Lunch in Targu Secuiesc

The Main Town Square and Park

City Hall in Targu Secuiesc

As we got closer to Brasov, the weather turned and it was lightly raining as we entered the city, which is nestled across two narrow valleys at the foot of a mountain range.  The plan had been for the bus to drop us at the oldest school in Romania, where we were to have a tour, and then we would walk on foot, through the pedestrian-only old town to our hotel, where our bags would already be waiting for us.  With the rain, it appeared we'd tour the school and skip the walk.  In the end, the rain cleared and we did get the walking tour, which was nice.  We started with a visit to the oldest school, which is also billed as the birthplace of the Romanian language.  The visit was interesting, but also very strange.  The school dates back to the 15th century, and we all gathered in a small classroom, with impossibly small and quite old desks.  Our guide turned out to be quite the character, but in a strange way.  He was clearly an academic and seemed to have absolutely no sense of humor or ability to detect sarcasm.  He also took his responsibility to share the details on the school's history very seriously -- probably too seriously.  A couple on our trip were from New York -- they were both born in Uzbekistan, when it was part of the Soviet Union -- and had emigrated to the States.  In fact, they met and married in New York, but that doesn't matter.  The man was quite the jokster, and attempted some humor with the guide which was missed, and set things off on the wrong foot.  We learned about how the Romanian language came to be, and how it was an unofficial secret language for centuries before it was written and codified, which evidently happened at this school.  The school still has the first printing press from the country, and we learned that the first things published in Romanian were actually printed in Cyrillic characters, which fooled the Saxons who controlled the region.  Brasov is another walled, fortified city, and the Saxons lived inside the walls, while the second-class Romanians were limited to a ghetto outside.  In fact, if a Romanian was found inside the gates after dark, they were immediately executed.  As part of their persecution, they were dissuaded from speaking Romanian, and certainly not allowed to print anything in their language.  By publishing phonetic Romanian in Cyrillic characters, they got around this.  The Romanian ladies on our tour found this fascinating, as they had never been taught this history of persecution in school.  

When discussing the evolution of the printing press and moveable type, our regular guide Iulia tried to correct the school's guide on a couple of points.  That devolved into a testy exchange, before our guide walked away.  The local guide was certainly not to be questioned, whereas our guide was trying to clarify his English translation.  We walked upstairs to "the room of treasures."  It was a small and packed room with cases of objects, very few of which were labeled.  Our group walked around somewhat excited, commenting on various pieces.  After a few minutes, the local guide -- having said nothing more about the room -- said we would move to the final room.  Confused, the group filed out, but a few of remained.  I asked him about a book with Queen Victoria's royal seal.  He commented, "I didn't think any of you were interested, so I was going to end the tour."  He was obviously miffed at the previous jokes (which went over his head) and probably the exchange with our guide, and he was -- passive aggressively -- ready to give up.  He was happy to answer my question, after which he started to point out all kinds of treasures around the room. The few of us lucky enough to still be in the room got to hear some fascinating information.  I wish we had more time, as there were so many interesting and original artifacts in the room.  For example, for inexplicable reasons, they have the largest collection of original volumes of Don Quixote in the world.  We eventually had to move to the final room, to join the others, who were confused as to where we had gone.  This room had more artifacts related to life among the Romanian minority during Saxon rule, but ended with discussion of the Romanian national anthem, which was written and first performed in the school.  As if giving us a test, he asked if any of us knew the American anthem and challenged us to sing it.  Before I knew it, our group burst out in song, led most loudly by the immigrants among us, which is always inspiring.  The Romanians and Uzbeks were singing the loudest of all.  He seemed a bit surprised that we had been able to do it, and then he immediately broke into the Romanian anthem, which he sang in a very loud and low voice.  Our guide joined him for the first verse, but then HE WENT ON, singing all five verses, the latter four of which are really never sung.  We grew more uncomfortable as he went on, but no one wanted to be rude.  At the end, some folks rushed out to visit the neighboring church, and others of us stole some last looks and slowly walked out.  Katherine and another from our group ended up going to back in, to ask him about purchasing a map.  Katherine said he was much "more normal" in their one-on-one conversation, and he lamented that the school and museum are entirely funded by donations and lack money to display or even care for many of their treasures. For example, it just came out that they have several original Faberge eggs which are just stored in a basement, as they have not secure way to display them. What a waste.

Church Associated with the Oldest School in Romania

Inside the School Building

The School's "Treasure Room"

One of the Priceless Masterpieces

Book Written in Romanian, But Printed in Cyrillic to Fool the Saxons

Flag Flown at Coronation of Ferdinand and Marie in 1922

Display Showing Previously Outlawed Traditional Romanian Dress

Original Manuscript of the Romanian National Anthem

Once back out in the market square, our guide tried to laugh off the incident, saying that she has always "dealt with academic characters" at the school.  The rain had stopped, so we elected to walk through the old Romanian section, then cross into the old city through one of the two remaining guild gates.  She pointed things out as we went, and showed us things we might want to see the next day, during some built-in free time.

Cemetery Associated with the School

One of Two Remaining Gates to Brasov (four spires denote their authorization to carry out executions)

Synagogue Still in Operation in Brasov

The so-called "Black Church" of Brasov

Some Things You Just Can't Escape

Brasov Market Square

One of Many Jugendstil Buildings in the city

Walking Toward our Hotel

Our hotel was a renovated communist-era building on the outer edge of the pedestrian-only old city.  We had an hour or so to wash and explore a little before we assembled in the lobby.  We had a group dinner at a lovely restaurant in the heart of the old city.  It turned out to be a beautiful night, and the restaurant setting, food, and company was wonderful.  It was a great way to end the day. 

Our Group Dinner in Brasov