SEVEN DAYS FOR SEVEN MILLENNIA IN BRAILA

-text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
design Florin Alexandru Stancu-

Oh these natural cycles:
Waters and clouds,
Leafs and flowers,
The passing of the stars…

Repeatable powers!

But just our life’s track
Never comes back!

PROLOGUE

If God made the world in 7 days,
in 15 November 2015 I decided to leave Bucharest
and to dedicate 7 days in my life to admire it (the world!) in Braila,
a zone in which archaeologists had discovered
traces of a human settlement from 7 millennia ago.

After I arrived in the Viziru quarter
(where, as usual, my aunt Tanti Sila hosted me),
the cloudy dusk did not announce the spectacular days which had to follow it.

DAY 1

First morning, first surprise.

(Crowned) Venus and Jupiter,
and a promising sunrise .

And later, a colored dusk,
followed by the Moon Sickle
and the watch of the star Capella over the quarter.

DAY 2

A sunrise masked by colored clouds,
which postponed for a while the solar freedom.

Later, another walk through the quarter
under a superb dusk
coloristically influencing the Moon.

DAY 3

This time, separately, Jupiter and Venus,
and a friendly sunrise inviting me to a walk to the city’s cathedral
(where I saw its painting with the Star of Magi near the Sun)
and back.

Later, the 3rd walk through the Viziru quarter,
where the clouds diminished the charm of the sunset and of the Moon.

DAY 4

It had to be the great day,
which began with a stimulating sunrise.

In the 1950s
Romanian archaeologists discovered a site old of 7 millenia
in the Brailita (Little Braila) quarter,
placed beyond the railroads.

Following the theme,
later on that day I went to the local bridge named after the god of light,
Apollo,
where the Sun was so fascinating that he fixed me there.

All I could do was to try a few photo-pyrhouettes,
catching the sunset over the Brailita-Chercea zone,
and awaiting the moonrise over the traditional city.

Then I left the Apollo zone and I went on the Dorobanti Way
(named after an elite body of army who crossed the Danube River
and fought for Romanian independence in 1877-78),
where the mixture between
the super-colored dusk and the prominent ascension of the Moon
gave me another reason of fascination.

Finally,
the star Vega
over the spires of the new church built in the Hipodrom quarter
and the Moon (who, in the meantime, had put a crown around herself)
between the spires of the city’s cathedral
cordially saluted me.

DAY 5

Jupiter,
then Venus and Jupiter,
then, alone and apparently reduced by trees and crescent light, Venus again,
accepting the superiority of the coming sunrise,
which brought other amazing transformations of the sky.

Later, thinking that Braila is a Danubian city
and the oldest inhabitants of this zone certainly saw the passing the Argo Navis
(with its mythological superheroes),
I left the Viziru quarter and I went to the shore of the great river,
near the Palace of Agriculture (made in the 1920s to celebrate the fact that
the Braila Corn Exchange made the price of the cereals in Europe in the interbellic times),
the new City Hall (a building in the form of a ship)
and a mysterious solitary house,
to see the sunset and the Moon,
and to feel myself like touched by the joint flow
of celestial and terrestrial colors.

Finally, the Crowned Moon (again!)
made me ask myself if I visited another dimension…

(But obviously no, it was just a bit of our planet,
watched for a moment through really open eyes).

DAY 6

The sunrise among cirrus clouds invited me
to go to the 2nd bridge over the railroads,
where I tried other photo-pyrhouettes,
this time with the Sun on the direction of the city.

Later, another walk through the Viziru quarter with the dusk
and, finally, like in a superior blessing,
the Crowned Moon for the 3rd consecutive night!

DAY 7

On the last day,
the sunrise and the road to the railroad station,
accompanied by my local friends
Tanti Sila (primary aunt, adoptive mother
and main benefactor for me),
Mr. Tudorel Preda and Mr. Gore Vrabie.

Over there I climbed the 3rd bridge
and I greeted for the last time the millenary past
hidden beyond the current aspect of the Brailita-Chercea zone.

EPILOGUE

The day of 23 November 2015 began for me in Bucharest
with two morning images in the Youth quarter.

But on the evening I saw the Moon
over the Dambovita River in the Grozavesti quarter,
and I asked the water for transporting my message of gratitude
for the last wonderful 7 days,
because Dambovita pours into the Arges River,
and the Arges pours into the Danube River,
and the Danube goes to Braila…