Yesterday afternoon we rented a car and drove west through the Moldavian countryside to the area of Bucovina, whose numerous, highly-decorated monasteries are a UN World Heritage site. To drive in Romania one really needs NASCAR credentials, but we did it nonetheless. The roads are good -- usually two-lane, but sometimes four -- but the degree of difficulty is high. How, after all, is one supposed to fly along a winding road while trying to avoid the horse-drawn carts loaded with straw or logs on the right and, at the same time, the BMW 5-series and other fast cars headed straight at you (or coming up straight behind you) at 130 km/h?

At any rate, we arrived safely at our first stop, Voronet, then drove to Moldevitsa and through the mountains 20 km to Sucevitsa monasteries. In the 1400s and 1500s, these monasteries were fortified against invading Tartars and Turks. As I understand it, when the townfolk would gather here during invasions, the monks used the walls illustrated with stories from the Bible to instruct the illiterate population. Every bit of each monastery, inside and out, is beautifully illustrated. See the photo gallery on the website for photos.

We spent the night in Suceava at the comfortable Continental Hotel, $100 for a two-bedroom suite including breakfast for four, then stopped at the fortress of Stefan the Great (ruled late 1400s) before heading back to Iasi. This must have been a truly incredible fortress in its day, with a deep, fortified moat and tremendous rock walls and towers. Will didn't want to leave, obviously.

Upon returning, I had a nice meeting with a group of judges and intern judges. I explained our process of judicial selection to them, and they explained theirs to me. We all decided no system is perfect and that we all need more resources!