days in Sofia - my observations
08-13-2015, 02:12 AM
Nice, intriguing details, gents! Way to go on the dish out there, yonder Romania.
THIS is a well-needed thread to start putting data down on real life in the Europe that's just a place on a map, to most English speakers.
Getting back to the Bulgaria-Romania connection, I find it interesting that most travel guides in English of Central Europe (aka, Europe East of Austria), neglect these nations.
I mean, folks - they link Central Europe to Greece and rising (if only in their minds) Turkey.
That's a lot of territory, nations, and peoples.
What might explain that neglect?
I think two things: slow train travel between them, very slow. Thus, for people coming from the West, casual travel further East is more time-consuming ans thus "not worth it."
A second reason - since these are nations one REALLY has to want to visit - is that American immigration base from Romania and Bulgaria, and hence descendants, is smaller than from other countries.
For example, Austrian and Hungarian immigration to the USA was not a lot less than 2 million from each (1.9 and 1.7 million, respectively).
I haven't looked at the numbers for Romania and Bulgaria, but I'd bet they are a fraction of that.
OK - I just did it. 367,000 Romanian-Americans; and 55,000 to 90,000 for Bulgarian-Americans.
THANKS to all posters for opening up 'terra incognita.'
THIS is a well-needed thread to start putting data down on real life in the Europe that's just a place on a map, to most English speakers.
Getting back to the Bulgaria-Romania connection, I find it interesting that most travel guides in English of Central Europe (aka, Europe East of Austria), neglect these nations.
I mean, folks - they link Central Europe to Greece and rising (if only in their minds) Turkey.
That's a lot of territory, nations, and peoples.
What might explain that neglect?
I think two things: slow train travel between them, very slow. Thus, for people coming from the West, casual travel further East is more time-consuming ans thus "not worth it."
A second reason - since these are nations one REALLY has to want to visit - is that American immigration base from Romania and Bulgaria, and hence descendants, is smaller than from other countries.
For example, Austrian and Hungarian immigration to the USA was not a lot less than 2 million from each (1.9 and 1.7 million, respectively).
I haven't looked at the numbers for Romania and Bulgaria, but I'd bet they are a fraction of that.
OK - I just did it. 367,000 Romanian-Americans; and 55,000 to 90,000 for Bulgarian-Americans.
THANKS to all posters for opening up 'terra incognita.'
“There is no global anthem, no global currency, no certificate of global citizenship. We pledge allegiance to one flag, and that flag is the American flag!” -DJT