November 3, 2016 • 2

Autumn Paths – part 2 (Romania)

Another bus station, another stop on the way to Somewhere Else.

Waiting, keeping an eye on the watch, finding ways to kill time.

Cold outside the bus terminal, that dilapidated communist era hall filled with huddling people with their bags and suitcases.

Cold – but I need that cold, need to go outside with my camera-eye and look around.

‘Don’t stay out too long, make sure you’re back on time’.

My mother used to say that, my auntie used to say that, now my life partner says the same thing.

Off I go, camera- eye peering at the new strange town…..

Finally we arrive at our destination – a town called Azuga in the mountains north of Bucharest We can stay here a couple of days before catching the train to the airport and flying back to Amsterdam.

A long walk in the cold to a small hotel at the outskirts of town. From the window of our room, a view an abandoned factory (these wrecks can be seen everywhere in Romania) and an autumn forest.

The next day we begin our last trek in Romania, a steep ascent through a forest until we reach the top of the range.

Then the descent….

Down, down….until the last stretch….walking a street in Bucharest….waiting again, this time for the end of the journey and hopefully, soon, the beginning of another….