One more thing. I used to be very fussy about proper spelling, and I still am. But I wrote this in a burst of inspiration one cold Winter day, dreaming of exotic travels and fine food while procrastinating digging up my car from under a foot of snow and while my brain refused to focus on a theorem I had to prove. I have classes tomorrow and I have no time to check the spelling of names I pulled hastily from my memory.
If you notice something wrong, hold on: vacation is around the corner, and this time I stay home. Travel reveries will re-emerge, and then I will put order in my collection of travel photographs, and look up words in dictionaries and travel guides, and all will look well. Come back later, if this caught your attention.
2005 note.
An old Romanian joke comes to mind, as I revisit and add to my travel notes. It dates from the times when we were stuck in a country where very few could venture outside. And now, only a few will probably remember or understand it, but I can't help adding it here, with a sort-of self-deprecating tone: "mai e state ..." Ileana Streinu
