(God it took me long to edit this, with all the studying, exams and festivities…) but New Video, just english this time ! Go check my Bio! About singles day, small unboxing and all the things that ANYA got https://youtu.be/y3cy0unutuw
In planning a trip through German-speaking Europe that I am hoping to take this December/January, I started thinking about other overland trips that I would like to take in future. I came up with three really exciting ones and thought I would post the theoretical itineraries here!
I’m not sure when- but I’ll definitely be taking one or more of these trips in the next few years.
This trip would be amazing! It combines ancient sites, Soviet era architecture, small modern cities, a beautiful coast, low lying mountains and more. For me it would be unique in that Eastern Europe is really one of the regions that I’m least familiar with- I speak none of the languages, only know the basic outline of political history, and am not aware of much of the culture. All of this would make it the perfect kind of travel- full of learning and experiencing new things.
The trip would start in St. Petersburg experiencing the iconic “Mother Russia” before heading west through the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) this fast developing though often forgotten part of Europe interesting combines Eastern and Western Europe with some Northern/Scandinavian flair - or so I gathered from my short weekend in Latvia in 2011. That brief encounter made me want to see more of the Baltics.
From there the route would go through Belarus and Ukraine. These two large countries were two of the more connected to the core of the USSR and still exist as more reserved (especially Belarus) than other parts of the former Soviet bloc. These two nations being so large would mean long hours going through country-side, hopefully stopping in small towns, seeing the rural life a bit, making new friends, who knows.
Next would be moving into the mountains of Moldova and Romania. Considering I love low lying mountains and hills, I think this would be a highlight! Plus Moldova is probably the most obscure of the countries on the list, so getting to know it a bit would be really exciting.
Once in Bucharest, the plan is to cut directly West through Belgrade and all the way to Zagreb in Croatia and even further to Ljubljana, Slovenia. These two capital cities are said to be somewhat unknown gems of Europe, with the latter being popular with cyclists and sharing some parts of Italian culture because of its proximity with Northern Italy.
The ride down the Croatian coast of the Adriatic sea will likely be the peak of beautiful landscape on the trip. At some point though I’d move inland first to visit the campus of the boarding school in Mostar that is part of the United World College movement that I attended. After crossing through the last bits of coast in Montenegro I’d move inland a second time, through Kosovo to Sophia, Bulgaria.
After Sophia I’ll be deep in old Greek territory, visiting Alexander the Great’s sites in Montenegro and then through another beautiful capital, Tirana, Albania. I will then leave the “Balkans” proper and head down through Greece to all the ancient ruins on the way to Athens!
Wow! I’m both exhausted and exhilarated from even writing about it! Definitely would be a whirlwind experience. Hope I will do it (or parts of it) soon!
Bonus Trip: South Pacific While talking with a friend we came up with three other long trips, and though I haven’t put much thought into them, I’m including one in each of the posts as a bonus trip. This idea is to island hop around the South Pacific- seeing Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Marshall Islands, and many more! I would be done ideally on a boat, though there are lots of small planes that go between the islands as well! Who knows!
Watch “Zdob și Zdub & Frații Advahov - "Trenulețul” (official video)“ on YouTube
Covorul cu Ștefan :)
LE: summary
I recently learned that this song has become Moldova’s Eurovision entry and others would like to make sense of the video clip. Let me oblige.
Firstly, "trenuletul” is a diminutive for “train”, so a more accurate translation of the title is “the little train”.
0:38 - phone convo: he’s calling his relative “Gigi” in Bucharest to tell aunt Lucretia that he’s bringing what she asked for and the rug; Persian-like rugs are a big deal in SE Europe, with people often placing them not only on the floor but even on their walls.
The song is about a train journey from Chisinau (Republic Moldova’s capital) to neighbouring Romania’s capital, Bucharest. The two countries share the same language and used to be one, before the Soviet Empire under Stalin occupied Bessarabia (as that territory used to be named) and renamed it Republic Moldova,, even though the Eastern province of Romania (and what was left in the East of the country) was also called Moldova. Stalin also moved entire villages of Romanians to Siberia, replacing them with ethnic Russians and subjected the occupied territories to famine and idiotic policies, which kept the subjugated country economically-backward and poor.
Here’s the original lyrics first in Romanian then translated in English, with adnotations:
([trezindu-se] Trenul!
[in masina, recunoaste muzica] Oh, Advahov!
[la telefon] Aici Chișinău!
Gigi, de când nu te-am auzit, bre!
Ia transmite-i lu’ mătușa Lucreția că îi aduc ceea ce m-o rugat și covorul cela ce-i place ei.
Mâine dimineață să fie la gară să mă aștepte, ă?!)
Pleacă trenul!
Chișinău – București.
Oh-oh
Merge trenul, parcă zboară,
Dintr-o țară-n altă țară.
Merge și nu poate pricepe:
Care țară? Unde-ncepe?
Țară veche, țară nouă,
Parcă-i una, parcă-s două.
Ba aparte, ba-mpreună,
Parcă-s două, parcă-i una.
Hey ho! Let’s go!
Folklore and Rock’n’roll.
Pleacă trenul! Unde eşti?
Chișinău – București.
Oh-oh…
Și-ntr-o țară, și-n cealaltă
Joacă hora laolaltă.
Și în fiecare țară
Face farmece vioara.
Când ajunge trenu-n gară,
Parcă n-a ieșit din țară,
Parcă-a mers, fără să iasă,
De acasă pân-acasă.
Hey how! Let’s go!
Folklore and Rock’n’roll
Pleacă trenul! Unde eşti?
Chişinău – București.
Hey ho! Let’s go!
Folklore and Rock’n’roll
Pleacă trenul! Unde eşti?
Chişinău – București.
Hey how! Let’s go!
Folklore and Rock’n’roll
Pleacă trenul! Unde eşti?
Chişinău – București.
Chişinău – București
Merge bine…
[VAMA; conductor in uniforma]
(-Bună seara! Avem concert, da? Amuzant! Unde mergem?
-Vesel! Ce vremuri trăim, brat! Toată viața numai în telefoane și ne vedem o dată-n 100 ani. Dar viața trece… Dar ți-am adus un coniac și un disc „Frații Advahov și Zdob și Zdub”…
-Și covorul nu?
[fluiera oh-oh]
-Întoarce înapoi la gară, că am uitat covorul în tren!)
—
Here’s the automated translation, soon to be corrected:
([wakes up] The train!
[in the car, recognizing the music] Oh, Advahov!
[phone convo] This is Chisinau!
Gigi, how long has it been since I’ve heard you?
Tell Aunt Lucretia I’ll bring her what she asked for and the rug she likes.
Tomorrow morning be at the station waiting for me, K?!)
The train is leaving!
Chisinau - Bucharest.
Oh-oh
The train is going, it seems to fly,
From one country to another.
It’s going and can’t understand:
Which country? Where does it start?
Old country, new country
Seems like one, it’s like two.
Either apart, or together,
Seems like two, it’s like one.
Hey ho! Let’s go!
Folklore and Rock'n'roll.
The train’s leaving! Where are you?
Chisinau - Bucharest.
Oh-oh…
In one country and the other
They play the hora together.
And in every country
The violin charms.
When the train arrives at the station
It’s as if it never left the country
It seems to have gone on without leaving,
Within the same home.
Hey ho! Let’s go!
Folklore and Rock'n'roll
The train’s leaving! Where are you?
Chisinau - Bucharest.
Hey ho! Let’s go!
Folklore and Rock'n'roll
The train is leaving! Where are you?
Chisinau - Bucharest.
Hey ho! Let’s go!
Folklore and Rock'n'roll
The train is leaving! Where are you?
Chisinau - Bucharest.
Chisinau - Bucharest
It’s going well…
[CUSTOMS; train conductor in uniform enters]
(-Good evening! We have a concert, right? Funny! Where are we going?
-Happy! What times we live in, bro! All our life on the phone and I see you once in a century. And life goes by… But I brought you a brandy and a “Advahov Bros & Zdob and Zdub” record…
-And the rug, right?
-[whistles Oh-Oh] Let’s go back to the station, I forgot the rug in the train!)
the year is 2023, eurovision is on and the next country to perfom is moldova. you wonder who is moldova bringing this year and these guys just walk on the stage:
i’m happy so many people loved moldova’s eurovision song, but you should know that aside from the great music and fun performance, the lyrics about a train ride from chișinău (moldova’s capital) to bucurești (romania’s capital) are quite meaningful and very sweet.
like most other countries, moldova and romania’s present day borders are pretty new. there’s a long history of regional unification/separation behind that, but by the time moldova (largely as it is now) was occupied and annexed by the soviet union, these two had been one country for a while. the issue of reunification after moldova gained independence in 1991 is. complicated. i won’t go into details but it’s important to know it’s become a huge talking point for post-communist right-wing nationalism and, depending on who you’re talking to, conversations about it can go downhill really fast.
my point being, however you feel about reunification, it’s just so nice to listen to this fun little song that’s basically ‘this train ride is great and if you happen to look out the window you probably can’t tell which country you’re in’ because it goes, as the lyrics say, 'from home to home.’
