English
"Good evening Budapest!", is the greeting which automatically gets the people of Bucharest riled. It has been heard in many pop - rock concerts which took place on the shores of Dâmboviţa and has sparked reactions from angry booing to bitter smiles. It is obvious that nobody should feel guilty for the lack of information and culture of those who mess up, but some efforts to cement "the placement on the map" of our capital wouldn't hurt. Somewhere between leaves and others logos cooked up in the offices of our ministries, an initiative to promote the country's biggest city would be advisable. It is not a bad idea for the world to know that we have a Delta, superb monasteries, ancient traditions and beautiful girls, but it would be a good thing for foreigners to know that when they try to fly in by plane, if they want to actually see those wonders they'd better land in Bucharest instead of Budapest. While one may somewhat excuse the stars from across the ocean, when it comes to our Latin brothers and to those in the European Union, the confusion is inexcusable. For the current head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as for the minister of the Regional Development Regionale and tourism this could be a topic which they could focus on. Any teacher with expertise could tell you that repetition is the key to learning. The capital of Romania is Bucharest, it's not such a complicated message to get across.
The final of the Europa League, between Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid, which took place last night in Bucharest has sparked vivid discussions in the Spanish press and has generated countless jokes because of the fact that many football lovers, eager to see the game live, tried to book plane tickets with the destination... Budapest. At first, the mistake went unnoticed, but eventually travel agencies noticed that something was amiss about the way the people in question saw the geography of Europe and succeeded in redirecting the supporters to the correct destination. The mistake was not only made by mere tourists but it was also multiplied in tens of thousands of copies by a prestigious newspaper, Marca, in which the map placed the "Naţional Arena" of Bucharest in Wroclaw, Poland, instead.
If the more than 240 million Euros spent on the construction of the new stadium and the organization of the final of Europa League will succeed in imprinting in the minds of Europeans that for a certain people of the European Union the sun rises in Bucharest, then the effort will have been worth it. Some fixed never hurt, for now, for the less informed foreigners we Dracula, Ceauşescu, Nadia and Hagi, but it wouldn't hurt to have a capital as well.
Euro
Dolar SUA
Franc elveţian
Liră sterlină
Gram de aur
