The hotel we stayed in was close to a lot of embassies. They wouldn’t let me take any photos of the sniper shields outside the croatian embassy, so you’ll just have to imagine those.
Apart from the obvious activities of sleep, breakfast and late night drinks, we had our initial orientation and planning meetings here, as well as the workshops, where we learned two Romanian folk songs, did a co-write, and did a meditational workshop involving sound improvisation.

On that first day we visited a restaurant serving traditional Romanian food, before walking back through the old town market and getting a tram back to the hotel. Later (that day?) we visited another restaurant where there were at least a dozen musicians and half as many dancers. After the whirling stage show they “took us to Vegas” before playing round the tables, including playing the song Ion Stan had taught us that afternoon.

Ion Stan brought Andreea Balanean with him. She was a former student of the Music School at which he teaches in Giurgiu (the imaginatively-titled School Number 7) and a great violin player (look for her on YouTube). After a lengthy wait at the side of the road while our minibus driver was ticketed, we ate at a fish restaurant on the Danube, before an early evening concert at the Music School and a ‘surprise’ trip across the Danube to Bulgaria, where we enjoyed crazy time sigs, made-up national dances and fire-hazard food. Alcohol was also involved.

On the Saturday of the visit Shane had arranged a gig at the Mystic Tree, well-known for putting on music. Ion Stan got up and tinkled the ivories at every opportunity and local thespian legend Yuri got in on the act with Tony, with spectacular results (the pictures just don’t say it...)

On the last day, we went to Peles Castle, the royal seat for the Habsburg-installed Romanian monarchy. The king was a keen woodcarver and collector of old-skool killing technology, as some of these photos illustrate. We love wood at Aortas Towers, and we certainly got some here.