Romania Journal
by Peter Rashkin
July 14, 1999
I'm going to Romania for the August 11 total eclipse, and boy am I ever getting excited! I want to turn my page over to the trip for a while. Since it is dominating my life, it should dominate my page as well.
It will be my third eclipse. The first was Mexico, '91, 5 minutes and 50 seconds "in the shadow." Then Paraguay, '94, 3 minutes and 34 seconds. Here's how the NASA web page describes the path of the Aug. 11 eclipse:On Wednesday, 1999 August 11, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which
traverses the Eastern Hemisphere. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in the Atlantic and crosses
central Europe, the Middle East, and India where it ends at sunset in the Bay of Bengal.
I CHOSE ROMANIA for a variety of reasons, and for no reason at all: Best projected viewing conditions; longest duration of totality; my mother was born in a refuge camp in what is now Moldova but in 1921 was part of Romania (see my aunt's memoir). But it comes down to this: It's a big trip, anywhere along the path is somewhere I've never been; England and France, not interesting enough; eastern Turkey and northern Iraq, too interesting; Romania, just right!
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