Under that red dome was a beautiful old telescope—a Zeiss as a matter of fact. We had entered the Admiral Vasile Urseanu Astronomical Observatory. I wasn't expecting to find an observatory in the heart of Bucharest. It was built early in the 20th century for the admiral who had a passion for astronomy. A little tip from the Transylvanian astronomer I. Corbu found in Romanian Astrohumanism:

            So when you pass through moments of depression,
            when all your efforts for the good and truth seem to be useless,
            when the evil and sin seem to triumph everywhere,
            when you don’t find any caress,
            then climb your soul into the universe,
            to refresh your forces.

If you live in a house like this, you not only could climb your soul, you could climb your staircase for a much closer look.