Hi! I just wanted to tell you that the concert in Nis was great. Our consul actually drove us there, and we met Igor Aleksic, talented organizer and (judging by what I am told) excellent musician. More about everything later. I need just to go pack, since I am taking off for Romania in a couple of hours.

Update: well, the couple of hours turned out much more accidented than I foresaw. Our driver from Romania wasn't able to cross the border due to the strike of various unions, including the police. Strangely enough, his drivers licence was also retained by the police for a parking infraction. I ended up taking a cab to the border cross (100 km from Belgrade) - I need to say, our Serbian driver Sinisa proved much more resourceful. At the border I was threated with a fine and many hours of waiting for not having registered with the Belgrade police upon arrival (a requirement I was never informed about), and only the good will of the border patrol officer and the intervention of Sonja spared me that additional difficulty. The change of cars happened under the strongest rain I had seen in the last 15 years at least, at the parking near the border (in the Romanian side, of course). The issue with the DL prevented my driver from taking me all the way to Bistrita, so to my ecstatic enjoyment I learnt that I had to wait 7 more hours for a train, in which I was about to spend the night, to arrive near Bistrita at 6am, just in time to start a whole day of rehearsals. Very encouraging.

On the possitive side, I must say that I enjoyed the almost compulsory, dionisiac Romanian-style hospitality of Mihai Olteanu Sr., a renowned visutal artist from Timisoara. It took me 3 hours to eat enough of his generous orders to stop eating without offending my guests. I guess I have ingested enough calories and fat for a whole week in Alaska.

Timisoara seems to be not only a charming city, but also a very artistic, intelectual one, judging by the number of bookstores and their selections, far from any whim of provinciality. I plan on uploading the few photos I took before my camera's battery died out (uff) soon... I mean, as soon as I can crash in a place with a bed, a bathroom and Internet connection. At this moment, I am in an Internet-cafe thanks to the kindness of Mihai Olteanu Jr. who accompanied me here.

So, assuming that the torrential showers and the strike do not affect the train schedule (a thing that, as much as I want to reach my destination, I am seriously skeptic about), I should be taking off in 2 and a half hours to Bistrita, to meat with Francois, from France, and the Romanian musicians that will recreate Tango Rendezvous for these concerts. Wish me luck!