It's funny, during my trips in Romania, it was amazing how much church construction was going on. Everybody was unanimous that rehabbing the local church was the first thing that every village did after Ceausescu was gone. I guess that's the difference between 40 years of brutal communism and 70.

TM,

I should be a bit more turthful about the churches. Some of the towns have indeed made some moves toward rebuilding their churches and many were under restoration. Interestingly, many of the chuches are in an utter state of disrepair except for the onion dome, which the towns had found the money to put back on so that they glinted in the sun. You are right, though. I think 70 years rather than 40 years made a big difference.