Romania - Take a Photo?
By Susan McKee

It was my last afternoon in Romania, the fifth day of a visit that started and ended in the capital city, Bucharest.

The drive from the Carpathian Mountains had deposited me at my hotel by 4:30 p.m., so I decided to spend the remaining sunshine photographing the neighborhood - a leafy enclave bisected by a wide boulevard.

The stone mansions, most constructed by wealthy industrialists at the turn of the last century, had now been turned into ambassadors' residences and other official buildings. I wandered north on Kiseleff, snapping photos all the way to the Arcul de Triumf, its massive structure dominating a multi-avenue intersection much like the more famous triumphal arch in Paris.

After photographing the arch, built to celebrate Romania's independence from Turkey in 1877, I headed back south on Kiseleff, marveling at the colonnaded balconies and intricate stone window frames of the villas. The light was beginning to fade, so I was especially pleased to find full sun illuminating the facade of a wonderful building on a side street.

My mistake.

The guards on duty instantly took exception to my camera. Two sprinted across the street to confront me-one rather officious type in full uniform and the second a soldier in camouflage with automatic weapon.

I never argue with anyone pointing a gun at me. Yikes!

A quick conversation determined that we shared no language in common, but I clearly understood that they were escorting me away from the consulate and toward a place to resolve this evidently egregious violation.

That place turned out to be the Russian embassy, where, after much animated explanation, the pair handed me over to a clearly amused Romanian policeman.

"What's wrong, officer?" I asked in my most innocent, confused-tourist voice. "It is forbidden to take pictures of the Ukrainian consulate," he replied. "It's a restricted area."

Hmm. There was no sign prohibiting pictures. I was on a public street. I’d been taking photos nearby for almost an hour by then. And, I didn’t even know that the building I’d just snapped WAS the Ukrainian consulate. Evidently the Cold War has not quite ended for this former Soviet republic.

The policeman asked for my passport. "Ah," he said, smiling. "American.". Then, he carried on a rapid-fire conversation in Romanian on his radio.

"What now?" I asked.

"I write down your name, and you walk away."

I did, carrying the forbidden photo with me. Know anybody who wants to buy a copy?

---Intrepid international journalist Susan McKee has never worked as a spy.

IF YOU GO - Start at the website of the Romania Tourism Office: www.turism.ro. You can fly into Romania on the state airline, Tarom: tarom.digiro.net.

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