RE: [registrars] ICANN web site.

["Rob Hall" <rob@momentous.ca>]

Bob,

Try http://www.icann.ro/ which is the local meeting site.

The hotel is the Bucharest Marriott Grand Hotel
http://www.marriotthotels.com/dpp/PropertyPage.asp?MarshaCode=BUHRO&checked=
True&Marriott_BD=%7B57553541-4ABD-45E7-9663-E8B3DC483F25%7D

The venue page of the local host site reads:





ICANN Meetings in Bucharest, Romania

June 24-28, 2002



Venue: Bucharest MARRIOTT Grand Hotel



Calea 13 Septembrie, 90, Sector 5, Bucharest 76122
Romania
Phone: +40-1-4030000
Fax: +40-1-4030001

web site: www.marriott.com




The main place for accommodation will be Bucharest MARRIOTT Grand Hotel
where the conference is also planned to be held. This hotel has all the
facilities and will cover all the requirements re-garding group meetings and
plenary session.

The Bucharest Marriott is a Grand New Hotel, located close to the major
businesses and main government offices. Huge parking space. The most
spacious rooms in town, providing comfortable living and working
environment. Largest hotel conference facilities, featuring meeting rooms
with daylight.
Most popular World Class Health Academy with in-door pool, sauna, jaccuzzi.
Five attractive Food & Beverage outlets with tempting menus and options.
Excqusite shopping arcade. Professional Business Centre. Hospitable
multi-lingual staff. Smoking and non smoking rooms. Executive rooms with
access to Executive Lounge. Different types of Suites, including the most
elegant two presidential suites. All rooms and facilities have sprinklers
and smoke detectors.



Location of Bucharest MARRIOTT Grand Hotel: Conveniently located in the
center of Bucharest, just next to the Parliament Palace, 20 km from Otopeni
International Airport, about 30 minutes by taxi ride. The business district
is within easy reach. The City Center, The Opera House and The Botanical
Gardens are only 5 minutes away by taxi.

Bucharest MARRIOTT Grand Hotel is a five stars hotel, ready for business
meetingsor big conferences up to 1500 participants. Accommodation in
Marriott is available in 200 rooms (single or double) which represent 60%
from total capacity.

Hotel Information

- 8 Floors, 402 Rooms, 23 Suites
- The Room that Works: 402 guest rooms specifically designed for the
business traveler.
- Executive Floor
- 9 meeting rooms; 2000 sq. mt. total meeting space
- Mobil Travel Guide Stars: 5
- AAA Diamonds: 5
- Michelin Stars: 5
- Check-in: 3:00 PM; Check-out: 12:00 PM
- Express Check-in, Express Check-out
- Pet policy: service animals for people with disabilities only
- Parking available for a fee



Facilities & Services

On-site Restaurant
24-hour room service
Coffee Shop
Cocktail Lounge
Complimentary coffee in lobby
Laundry valet
Shoe shine
Child care services available
Hair salon/barber
Concierge services
Gift shop/newsstand
Full business center
Secretarial services available
Safe deposit box at front desk
Rental car desk: Hertz
Airline desk: Not at this time
 Guest Room Amenities

Work desk with lamp
2-line phone
Speaker phone
Voice mail
Data ports on phone
TV with remote control
Cable/satellite TV
All-news channel
In-room movies
Newspaper delivered (Mon-Fri)
Minibar
Wet bar in some rooms
Air conditioned guest rooms
Iron and ironing board
Hairdryer
In-room safe
Cribs available






Accessibility
Travelers can arrive to Bucharest either by airplane at the Otopeni Airport
(20km from center of Bucharest) or by railway Central Railway Station (Gara
de Nord, 3km from center of Bucharest).

Area Airports

Otopeni International Airport - OTP (20 km N) Follow direction City Centre,
pass the Arch de Triumph. Stay on Soseaua Kiseleff to Piata Victoriei, take
Calea Victoriei, cross River Dambovita and turn right. Follow Strada Izvor,
hotel will be on your right side at Calea 13 Septembrie.


The public transportation in Bucharest is safe and provides buses, tramways,
trolleys and metro (subways) services, operating from 5 a.m. to mid-night.
Taxis are also available everywhere.


Money can be exchanged at banks, hotels and private offices (exchange
houses).



Bucharest Overview

Bucharest (Bucuresti), located midway between the Carpathian Mountains and
the Black Sea in southeastern Romania, has been the epicentre of the
country's upheavals. The stages of Romania's history are like vivid tattoos
painstakingly etched across the city's surface, each telling a different
chapter of the story, and visitors will be slowly hypnotised by the
unfolding events as they discover Bucharest. Summer visits, however, should
be avoided as temperatures soar, air conditioning is rare, and much of the
city shuts down as students return home and locals head for the coast.

The first mention of Bucharest is in a document from 1459 signed by Vlad
Tepes, then ruler of the first Romanian state of Wallachia. Known as 'Vlad
the Impaler' - for impaling his enemies on huge stakes - he became the
inspiration for the vampire Count Dracula in the West. Yet among his
countrymen he is something of a folk hero, renowned for standing up to the
Turks and Wallachia's noble families. The ruins of his palace can still be
seen in central Bucharest.

For the next 300 years, the city served as a mere stopping point on the
trade route between central Europe and the Balkans, its character defined by
its Turkish overlords - an influence that can be seen today in the
architecture, for example Melic House on Strada Spatarului and the Mosque on
Strada Constantin Manescu. But, in 1862, as the capital of a unified
Romania, Bucharest began to forge a different identity. French architects
were called in to remake it in the image of Paris. Long, tree-lined
boulevards were built, with impressive neo-classical architecture, and
Bucharest gained the title 'Paris of the East'. This golden era lasted until
World War II and produced some of Europe's most beautiful residences for the
elite, although the majority of Bucharest's inhabitants languished in
back-street slums off the grand boulevards.



However, this 'romantic' chapter came to a close when Communism took root in
1946. Areas bombed by the Allies during World War II were replaced by stolid
apartment blocks, inaugurating a Socialist Realism style of architecture
that climaxed after Nicolae Ceausescu became President of Romania's
Communist Party in 1965. Destroying many historic buildings, including 26
churches, Ceausescu replaced them with massive concrete apartment and office
blocks he called the Centru Civic. Yet due to the next turning of the
political tide - Ceausescu's fall in the 1989 revolution - they were never
completed. The effect is as if some megalomaniacal child had got hold of a
bulldozer and razed huge swathes of history to erect a crude vision of a
Communist city, only to abandon it when he got tired of the game. Much of it
remains eerily unfinished.

Yet this architectural debacle gives an added dimension to the city - its
sheer size and scale never ceasing to impress. Bucharest is now undergoing
another transformation with a more liberal government. Historic buildings
and parks are being restored, fashionable shops are opening and new
restaurants, trendy bars and internet cafes are popping up all over. As
chapters end and new ones begin at an increasing pace, Bucharest keeps the
visitor in a constant state of suspense, wondering what will happen next.