Leo van Doesburg

On 20th April, Easter Monday, I left Romania again for an exciting new trip. Last time I wrote about the impressions of Armenia. This is the second report, as intermezzo before giving my impressions of the trip to Georgia. My plane landed, after a short flight, in Tblisi. The difference between the international airports of Armenia and Georgia is interesting. The airport in Yerevan is small, has a real round shape, but the messages were not announced in English. I had to concentrate to hear if something about Tblisi was mentioned. The Tblisi airport seemed much grander and more according to international standards, with announcements also in English but with a very strict security! I had to wait a very long time for our luggage. Also there were billboards telling that if your luggage had a yellow sticker, then you should go directly to the customs and security!. The thorns of the rose revolution in Georgia It was clear for me that the situation in Georgia was still tense and dif...

On 20th April, Easter Monday, I left Romania again for an exciting new trip. This time I was to visit Armenia in preparation for the ECPM congress; Georgia to visit the Christian Democratic Movement and to learn more about the political situation and how the ECPM could play a role to promote the Christian democratic values in this country; and to visit the meeting of the Eastern European Bureau for Christian Democracy that would take place during the Annual Congress of the European Popular Party in Warsaw. This is the first report, with impressions of the trip to Armenia. Monday evening I left Timisoara and went via Vienna to Yerevan. In the airplane I noticed that in Armenia it was three hours later in Vienna and so I arrived in the middle of the night in Yerevan but not at alltired. Accommodation was arranged by an old friend of mine, Levon Bardakjian, who offered to let me stay with his family. I arrived at his place, a nice house on a hill where I had a marvelous vie...

Dear friends, For a long time, people tried to convince me to make a blogspot where I could say a little bit about my travels, the things that are happening in Eastern Europe and my personal thoughts. However, I never have had time or opportunity to create one, but Jonathan van Tongeren and Auke Minnema - both involved in the activities of the European Christian Political Youth Network (ECPYN) – gave me a nice surprise and created this blog called: “Leo cel mare” (this is Romanian for “Leo the Great”). They explained the title as follows: “This blogspot was presented to Leo by some friends, because he is a great guy, hence the title 'Leo the Great'.” Personally I think that they made a mistake in the interpretation. Besides „great”, the Romanian word „mare” can also mean „big” referring to size or volume. Maybe this meaning of „Leo cel Mare” could fit better for me! But in any case whatever meaning is given to „Leo cel Mare”, I am very happy with the blogspot they creat...