Regular Romanian life: our best adventure

On Saturday, Phillip and I joined our friend Mihaela and her daughter, Karine, at a birthday party for her nephew, Stefi, in the Romanian countryside. The day was the best day of our trip! After Karine finished a media class in town, the four of us headed on the subway to Mihaela's car. Mihaela owns a Volkswagon Golf, a nice little car. When we stopped to pick up groceries to take to the party, the locks on the back doors decided to malfunction. Mihaela was embarrassed, but Phillip and I assured her that it was OK and part of our adventure. We've certainly had cars that act up - sometimes I couldn't open the back gate of our Mitsubishi SUV! Since the VW was a 4-door, the front seats didn't fold over, so Karine and I climbed thru to get to the back. We drove for about an hour to a village south of Bucharest, to Mihaela's family home where her mother, Vasilica, waited for us.

Vasilica, Pat and Mihaela (and Rex in the garden)

Vasilica doesn't speak a word of English, but she has a garden and she makes jam and wine. Phillip and I had to try her wine, which she brought out in a large plastic Coke bottle. To be hospitable, I tried it... and ended up drinking my glass and Phillip's glass (he's not a wine drinker). Whatever the process was before the wine ended up in the soda bottle, it was the right process as it was real wine, better than most I've bought in stores. I strolled thru Vasilica's garden and was so excited to see that she grows the same vegetables that I do! I walked past okra, tomatoes, lots of pepper varieties, beans (she grows pole beans, I grow bush beans), cabbage, parsley and more. My excitement was easily communicated to Vasilica. She told me the Romanian names (okra is "okra,") of the vegetables.

Vasilica's wine back at the hotel (I convinced
her I couldn't take a 2 liter bottle with me)

When it was time to leave for the birthday party, Mihaela said that her mother would stay home. We realized that her decision to stay home was made because of the broken doors, so Phillip climbed over the seat with Karine and me. Vasilica was just beaming when she saw him manuevering into the back so she could ride in the car. When we arrived at the party location, Mihaela's brother just about fell over laughing as we climbed out.

Phillip climbing out (Karine and I managed more easily)

Miheala's family was so hospitable and generous to us. Her brother, Vali, builds houses. Not as a contractor, he physically builds houses. Concrete block is the construction material of choice in the Romanian countryside. Vali built the house we visited, a house where he lives with his pregnant wife, also named Mihaela, and son Stefi, the birthday boy. Vali and his family live next to his wife's grandparents and the two Mihaela's showed me their vineyard and picked grapes.

grapes from the orchard 

Phillip and I have never eaten wine grapes right off the plant. Since the harvest will be soon, the grapes were fully ripe, sweet, and juicy. Both purple and white grapes, although my favorite were the purple grapes. After I ate a bunch and stood there looking at my sticky, stained fingers, Vali's wife took my arm and led me to the faucet on the other side of the house. No words needed, just smiles!

my grapes

Vali grilled out chicken and two kinds of sausages and his wife prepared a cabbage salad, all delicious and exactly like the family gatherings we have, just a different country! After dinner, time for birthday cake. Stefi turned 13, the same age as his cousin Karine who was 13 in August (although Karine is much taller than Stefi!)

Stefi cut and served his cake to the guests

Vali spoke a few, heavily accented words in English, but he and Phillip communucated well over beer. Phillip said the beer wasn't strong and Vali dropped ice cubes in it to cool it. I wasn't watching the time, but I know we left Bucharest shortly after 1 pm and it was dark when Mihaela drove us back to town.

Phillip, Vali, Mihaela, and our Mihaela

Museum time on Sunday. Mihaela and Karine had never visited the Ceausescu House in Bucharest. That's just like us, we haven't visited some of the museums in Fort Worth. The Ceausescu House is a museum and was on my list to see. Nicolae Ceausescu was the communist dictator who ruled Romania from 1965 to 1989. He had a ruthless secret police and tolerated no dissent. Just like today's North Korean leader, Ceausescu created a personality cult and placed his relatives, including his wife, into power positions. By the 1980s, the country experienced food shortages as Ceausescu began exporting agricultural products to fuel his lifestyle and bad development choices. Mihaela said she remembers as a child standing in food lines for bread with her mother. They lived in the country and had a vegetable garden and pigs and chickens, so they didn't go hungry, but in town, people did.

Ceausescu's wife was as bad or worse than he was. According to our guide at the museum, she was the one who ordered their house to be furnished so extravagantly.

example of some of the floor tile
(visitors wear shoe coverings on the tour)

From the outside, it just looks like a big stone house, but inside, where no one saw, it was outfitted with gold leaf all over, imported marble, and indoor gardens.

one of several really fancy bathrooms

The guide said she copied some of the decor of the Peles Castle in some of the rooms. The house also had an indoor swimming pool.

mosaic tiles formed scenes encircling the pool

In 1989, some protests happened in a town and Ceausescu ordered his secret police to fire on the protestors. The protests, however, spread to Bucharest and went nationwide. Shortly after his army joined the protestors, Ceausecu and his wife were arrested, convicted of mass murder and shot by a firing squad. I remember reading about that, as a current event, not as history!

Pat, Phillip, Karine, and Mihaela

After the museum, the four of us went to the mall. I had bought some leggings in Budapest to wear on the cruise, but I needed a shirt to wear with them. We also wanted to take Karine shopping (she just started 8th grade last week). The mall was just like ours, only more vibrant. It was 100% full of shops, some, like H&M, we have, others, just in Romania or Europe. Lots of shoppers on a Sunday afternoon, live music in the atrium area.

Romanian mall, just like USA mall

After Karine and I spent two hours shopping and Phillip and Mihaela spent two hours talking, we left the mall and walked to Mihaela's apartment. We stopped enroute and bought pastries at a bakery (Phillip and I love all the bakeries!). While Karine went to her room to do homework, we played with Mihaela's little dog (while her two cats ignored us), ate pastries, and talked with Mihaela. It was a wonderful evening, but we did leave before dark to get back to our hotel room to pack to travel to Munich. We invited Mihaela to visit us and she and Karine are going to try to make the trip in 2021.
This morning, we flew from Bucharest to Munich and checked into another hotel. This one, near the train station, is nice with a patio away from the street. So, we are back in Germany, or as I've been calling it, the land of bread. Sausage on bread rolls, bread dumplings, every meal with bread. Two nights here then back to see our neice, Becky, and her family before we begin our cruise back to the USA.