friday 13th july 2007 - orsova/ romania

when we arrived in orsova yesterday, after passing through the narrowest and deepest part of the danube, the first person we met was george, the municipality official, whom i knew from my trip last autumn. at the time he had said that it was all a beautiful dream, but it would probably never come true.

still animated by the show the previous night and by the breathtaking journey through the iron gate, i beamed at him and greeted him with the words: "last time we were talking about a dream, now the dream has come true". with a wry smile he answered: "let's hope it’s not gonna be a nightmare."

perhaps he's superstitious? it is indeed friday the 13th. but he is certain to also have a guilty conscience, as he hadn't done any preparation, no posters have been put up and no newspapers or media contacted...

he described his last 2 weeks with the words: "life was easy before you came, now happiness has turned into pain."