31 May 2008

First Trip Airport

Mai 2004 it is a cold Day in Germany. I´m work now for a Romania Software Company and it is my first trip to Romania. I’m started from Dortmund with a train to Frankfurt-Airport 3 hour later im on the Airport now i must found the Tarom-Airline. It is so big this Airport. Tarom it is in Terminal A Counter 237. I see that i have 2 hour time, i can drink a coffee after the check in, i think but only for the Check in i need 1:30 hour. Bullshit i run to the Gate, on the way i heard my name. Mrs B. please come to gate.......shit...... fast i come to gate 42 but Taron start today from 53, oh my god and again Mr B please......Boarding and i must found my seat i found but one guy sit i say ok please sit i look for a free seat but no he want and say nu nu ....... i don’t understand but he go. I sit and the plain start and i sleep. 11:50 I’m in Bucharest Otopeni Romania.( International Airport Henri Coanda..) I think essay take you bag and than i go out and look for my driver.... Smile but not in Romania. Ok i found my bag and go out. I look for the Driver but i not found him. I call and he say sorry it is very much traffic but I on the way. I wait 1 hour 2 Hour it is very warm I think 35 C and I dress like winter because in Germany it is cold. In this time, i think 100 Guy’s ask my TAXI but Really it wares 25 Guy’s but he ask all 5 min. I’m very shock about this. I think that he don’t understand me because he ask so much Time and every time when i say No he say to me “PROST” and i think why he say prost i don’t have a drink and why i must go to the toilet because he say “Pula ma” and and what is “naspa”? I’m don’t understand but my driver is coming and we go to his car. I ask him how much km it is to the office he say 20 and the Hotel is 3 min from the Office. Fine please we can drive first time to the Hotel i ask him because i want a shower and after we go in the Office an i think we are in 20 min in the Hotel. He smile and later i Smile too. I forget we are in Bucharest Romania.








History of Romania

In either 271 or 275, the Roman army and administration left Dacia, which was invaded by the Goths.The Goths lived with the local people until the 4th century, when a nomadic people, the Huns, arrived.The Gepidsand the Avars and their Slavic subjects ruled Transylvania until the 8th century. It was then invaded by Bulgarians, thereafter being incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire (marking the end of Romania's Dark Age), where it remained part of until the 11th century. The Pechenegs, the Cumans and Uzes were also mentioned by historic chronicles on the territory of Romania, until the founding of the Romanian principalities of Wallachia by Basarab I around 1310 in the High Middle Ages, and Moldavia by Dragoş around 1352.
Bran Castle built in 1212, is commonly known as Dracula's Castle and is situated in the centre of present-day Romania. In addition to its unique architecture, the castle is famous because of persistent myths that it was once the home of Vlad III Dracula.
In the Middle Ages, Romanians lived in three distinct principalities: Wallachia (Romanian: Ţara Românească—"Romanian Land"), Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova) and Transylvania. Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary from the 10-11th century until the 16th century, when it became the independent Principality of Transylvania until 1711.
Independent Wallachia has been on the border of the Ottoman Empire since the 14th century and slowly fell under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. One famous ruler in this period was Vlad III the Impaler (also known as Vlad Dracula or Vlad Ţepeş, IPA: ['tsepeʃ]), Prince of Wallachia in 1448, 1456–62, and 1476.In the English-speaking world, Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for serving as the primary inspiration for the vampire main character in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. As king, he maintained an independent policy in relation to the Ottoman Empire, and in Romania he is viewed by many as a prince with a deep sense of justice, and a defender of both Wallachia and European Christianity against Ottoman expansionism.

Voroneţ Monastery built in 1488 by Stephen III of Moldavia (Stephen the Great) after his victory at the Battle of Vaslui.
The principality of Moldavia reached its most glorious period under the rule of Stephen the Great between 1457 and 1504. His rule of 47 years was unusually long, especially at that time - only 13 rulers were recorded to have ruled for at least 50 years until the end of 15th century. He was a very successful military leader (winning 47 battles and losing only 2), and after each victory, he raised a church, managing to build 48 churches or monasteries, some of them with unique and very interesting painting styles. For more information see Painted churches of northern Moldavia listed in UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. Stephen's most prestigious victory was over the Ottoman Empire in 1475 at the Battle of Vaslui for which he raised the Voroneţ Monastery. For this victory, Pope Sixtus IV deemed him verus christianae fidei athleta (true Champion of Christian Faith). However, after his death, Moldavia would also come under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century.
Michael the Brave (Romanian: Mihai Viteazul) was the Prince of Wallachia (1593-1601), of Transylvania (1599-1600), and of Moldavia (1600). Briefly, during his reign the three principalities largely inhabited by Romanians were for the first time united under a single rule. After his death, as vassal tributary states, Moldova and Wallachia had complete internal autonomy and an external independence, which was finally lost in the 18th century.

Etymology of Romania

The name of Romania (Rumania or România) comes from Român (Romanian) which is a derivative of the word Romanus ("Roman") from Latin. The fact that Romanians have said the name is a derivative of Romanus (Romanian: Român/Rumân) is mentioned as early as the 16th century by many authors, including Italian Humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. The oldest surviving document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter (known as "Neacşu's Letter from Câmpulung"which notifies the mayor of Braşov about the imminent attack of the Ottoman Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of "Rumanian" in a Romanian written text, Wallachia being here named The Rumanian Land - Ţeara Rumânească (Ţeara from the Latin: Terra land). In the following centuries, Romanian documents use interchangeably two spelling forms: Român and Rumân. Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 17th century led to a process of semantic differentiation: the form "rumân", presumably usual among lower classes, got the meaning of "bondsman", while the form român kept an ethno-linguistic meaning. After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the form "rumân" gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form "român", "românesc".The name "România" as common homeland of all Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.This name has been officially in use since December 11, 1861.
English-language sources still used the term "Rumania", borrowed from the French spelling "Roumania", as recently as World War II,but since then the term has disappeared entirely.