Romania Roam

Chuck recently took a trip, with two US Army civilian colleagues, to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, which recently became one of the newest member countries of the European Union. It was a week long visit intended to assess the potential for research collaboration with researchers in various organizations in that country. They visited the National Defense University, the Military Technical Academy, the Military Engineering and Technical Research Agency (which has Army, Air Force and Navy components) and met with members of the materials department of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and the government's Metallurgrical Institute. One afternoon was spent with a Romanian software company that specializes in electronic learning and which presented them with a variety of very impressive products -- the company has grown from nearly nothing to 500 employees in just a few years, with a 20% annual growth rate. From a business and professional standpoint it was both very busy and very valuable.

Kathi, along with Pat Johnson, the wife of one of the Army scientists, made the trip as well. The ladies were able to do a lot of sightseeing during the days the others were visiting various Romanian institutions.

So, what can we tell you about Bucharest? Well, like almost every European city, it contains a great variety of beautiful monuments and buildings, museums and cultural attractions. And, of course, having been part of Soviet-occupied Europe for so long (until the revolution of 1989), the city still has evidence of those oppressive and bleak days -- the most visible being the decaying, ugly buildings the Soviets seem to have erected in very large numbers everywhere they held sway. Today, however, Romania is a new member of the European Union, with both unemployment and inflation low and with real wages increasing nicely. The process of privatization of previously-state-owned industries is being tackled in a

measured way (about 30% are now privatized) and numerous small businesses are opening in an environment of increasing entrepreneurship.

Bucharest, like Prague and Budapest (we haven't gotten to Warsaw yet), has its legacy of many beautiful buildings from the 19th and early 20th century. The ladies got to visit a number of these during the days. Since 1989 there has been a significant construction boom of modern office buildings. Shown here is the Atheneum, a busy venue for concerts and lectures. Also shown, on the left, is the George Enescu (a revered Romanian composer) Museum of Music. There's not enough room here, of course, to try to show you as many of them as we'd like, but you can see more of them at http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/2403377#125946731