King Mihai and the peek into European royal family roots

I haven’t felt a chill like this morning in the bedroom in a long time. Overnight it has been three degrees. After the simple breakfast of a nice tight crusty bun that makes sesame seeds jump around when you cut it and when you take a bite, we meet P at the Universitate metro station near us.

We drive to the metro station Aviatorilor, which means Pilots, but I can’t find not why that is. We walk through the King Mihai I park. Mihai I was the last king of Romania, sitting on the throne until 1947. He was married to Anna Bourbon Parma, a woman with an insane root system in European royal houses (Wikipedia):

Anne was the younger sister of Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma and elder sister to Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma who was the second husband of Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (eldest child of King Umberto II of Italyand Queen Marie José), and Prince André of Bourbon-Parma.
As a granddaughter of Robert I, Duke of Parma she was first cousin to: King Boris III of Bulgaria; Robert Hugo, Duke of Parma; Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria; Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma; Crown Prince Otto of Austria; and Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg.

Carlos Hugo, the nephew so of the wife of the last king of Romania we know. It was he who married our Princess Irene in 1964 in the Catholic Church, which caused a crisis in the royal family. Nowadays, I would be surprised if anyone cared who and where a princess married, but these are different times. And we are so many off-the-rails princes in the royal house later that the most loyal royal fan has soaked up a layer of calluses, for that matter. Claus was one of the few with decency and a clean record.

We visit Bucharest’s open-air museum, located near or in King Mihai I Park. It is a special historical collection of houses that nicely shows how people in the different regions of Romania used to be housed, let’s say 50 years before and towards the turn of the last century.

One metro stop to Piața Victoriei and a short walk to Casa Oamenilor de Știință, a traditional restaurant. We eat in the garden. It is just doable in terms of temperature (i.e., just not too cold). We are helped by a waiter who speaks hardly any English but is very helpful. He doesn’t write anything down. He walks back and forth muttering to himself. Our order arrives flawlessly.

We descend to the Atheneum, a very beautiful building. The low light shines beautifully into the entrance. We walk down the spiral staircase to the concert hall. The double basses are on the stage. A piece by Faure is on the music stand.

I try to mark the points we visit on Google Maps as much as possible:

https://www.google.nl/maps/@44.4499354,26.0510414,13z/data=!4m6!1m2!10m1!1e1!11m2!2sYBbyeDvurrBxTqe_yvDSYk1OR-Y7tg!3e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAyMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Bucharest arrival, smooth, friendly, without human contact

bucharest

Suitcases far too large drive flight attendants almost crazy. The overhead bins are stowed with much ado.

We land in Bucharest, or at least the Bucharest airport, which is as far from Bucharest as Schiphol is from Amsterdam.

I install the Bolt app and request a cab. We arrive at our downtown apartment in just over half an hour.

mucharest

We check into our apartment entirely without human contact. We find the key for the front door in a key box and open the door via an app.

We walk into town with no particular destination, with A and P having come to our apartment. P has to go to Luca because he loves it. Luca is a chain serving coffee, and the famous Roumanian pretzels slash hotdogs are stuffed with meat or cheese and olives. I eat vegetarian, so it’s cheese and olives for me.

Shopping at Delhaize, which is called Mega here and is actually just an Albert Heijn, including the price level.

amante

In the evening, we eat Mexican food at Amante, a few blocks away. The restaurant’s choice of loud dance music is strange.

Old note: hating humanities?

Another note from reading this article “Hey, Computer Scientists! Stop Hating on the Humanities” in Wired on ethics in tech and science.

The fact that so many computer scientists are ignorant or disdainful of non-technical approaches…

Really? Fact?

The author fails in her arguments, not only in this paragraph. She goes off the rails in more places.

A more socially focused curriculum would not only make coders less likely to cause harm; it might also make them more likely to do good.

Computer scientists are bad people that hate humanities, but can be converted into good people if they are exposed to the humanies.

That me a bit too much of the religious othodoxy I was exposed to in my childhood.

The topic of ethics in technology is too important to be discussed in platitudes.

Note from 28 August 2016, moron

I make the loose notes in my iPhone Notes app. Digging through old notes, I found this one. No clue why I saved this. Must have been in some weird or vicious mood.

moron  stupid, cool 

8    dummy stupid, fool 

8    lowbrow  stupid, fool 

8    philistine  person, fool 

7    dunce , stupid, cool 

7    fathead n.stupid, person, fool 

7    nitwit  stupid, fool 

7    slacker  stupid, fool 

6    dolt n.stupid, person, fool 

6    goldbrick n.stupid, person, fool 

6    half-wit  stupid, fool 

6    pinhead n.stupid, person, fool 

6    simpleton n.stupid, person, fool 

5    dumbbell  stupid, fool 

5    anti-intellectual  person, fool 

5    blockhead  stupid, fool 

5    dope n.stupid, person, fool 

4    goof-off n.stupid, person, fool 

4    underachiever n.stupid, person, fool 

4    extravert  active 

4    extrovert  active 

4    gregarious adj.talking, feature, which 

3    imbecile n.stupid, person, fool 

3    klutz  active 

2    hunk n.fool, stupid, person 

2    friendly adj.talking, feature, which 

2    outgoing adj.talking, feature, which 

2    sociable adj.talking, feature, which 

2    energize v.action, active, doing 

2    pretty boy  fool, charismatic 

1    anti-nerd n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    au courant adj.cool, person, fashionable 

1    ball player n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    beefcake n.fool, stupid, person 

1    benighted adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    bonehead  cool, charismatic 

1    cannon folder n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    charisma n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    cheerleader n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    chowderhead  cool, charismatic 

1    cool adj.person, fashionable 

1    def adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    downtown adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    drop-out n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    dumb adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    dumb jock n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    fashion plate n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    foolish adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    geek n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    groovy adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    idiotic adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    ignorant adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    illiterate adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    jock n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    mod adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    moronic adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    mundane n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    nonintellectual adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    now adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    pimp n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    player n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    retard  cool, charismatic 

1    slick n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    slow adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    socialite n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    stud n.fool, stupid, person 

1    stupid adj.fool, idiot, person 

1    superstud n.fool, stupid, person 

1    trendy adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    turned on adj.cool, person, fashionable 

1    uncultivated adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    uncultured adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    uneducated adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    unenlightened adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    unintelligent adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    unlettered adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    unread adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    with-it adj.person, fashionable, cool 

Sitting and watching like having punishment duties

Rijssenhout. The residents of the houses on Aalsmeerderdijk sit in their front yards with faces as if they are doing punishment duties. Then again, they look out on capital villas on the other side.

The ferry across is free; the pay machine is out of order.

Pumping and damming work on the Uiterweg. Water must have been on the road here for weeks this spring.

Neon suit

On a bench sits a man in a neon-colored suit and black boots. His hair is long, blond, and blow-dried. A traffic controller who has put on his work clothes?

People wear coats again. Summer coats, but the coats are out again, shifting the seasons.

Seagulls and crows scream from the rooftops. The sound reminds me of the raven in Japan.

A man in a t-shirt too tight around his waist, accentuating hefty love handles.