Adventures in Cluj-Napoca
This morning I was feeling a bit down. I miss everyone back home (although after talking to my favorite World Cup-obsessed brother, I think I might be cured!), and I was disappointed because one of the students here said that he would arrange for us to visit a few caves in the Apuseni Mountains nearby, and he didn't follow through on it. So in order to cheer myself up, I decided to go adventuring. I packed up all of the things that you need for a good adventure (water, some snacks, a map, a bit of money, and of course my camera), I put on some comfortable shoes, and I set out. I had a tentative plan in mind, but when adventuring one ought to be flexible and take things as they come, so naturally I didn't stick to it.
The first place that I visited was the 'Village Museum' which is an outdoor ethnographic museum (kind of like a Romanian Greenfield Village). It had houses, barns, churches, and other buildings from all around Romania. The earliest ones were from the 17th or 18th century. The entry fee for the museum was only 2 Lei, but they charged 25 Lei (about 8 or 9 dollars) to use a camera in the village. So I took $8 worth of pictures for you. But of course I can't post them all, so if you want to see all 60 of them, you'll have to wait until I get home. Here are some of the best:
The Village Museum was pretty far from the center of town, but I ended up walking back because after paying 25 Lei to use my camera, I didn't have enough money to take a cab. It was a long but enjoyable walk, because it was a beautiful day (warm and sunny) and because I had a few interesting encounters along the way. That is one of the things that I love about traveling: the chance encounters that you have with people. As I walked along, I noticed a lot of people in church attire carrying handfuls of wheat as they walked along. I was intrigued by this, so after a while I tried to ask someone what it was all about. I said, "Scuzati, vorbiti englezeste?" (Excuse me do you speak English?) And the woman I was addressing answered in Romanian, so I gestured to the wheat in her hand and asked, "Pentru ce?" (Literally translated this means "For what?" but it was the best I could come up with at the time.) She pointed down the street and said something about a church. I thanked her and went on my way. After a while I came to a Greek Catholic Church, and outside of it a man handed me some wheat and a priest made a cross on my forehead with some holy water. So I have no idea what the wheat is all about, but I carried it around with me all day, probably marking me as a Greek Catholic to any Romanians I met.
After lunch I visited the Transylvanian History Museum, which was a bit of a let down (although the admission was 1 Leu, so I shouldn't complain), and the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral, which was beautiful inside and out.
The first place that I visited was the 'Village Museum' which is an outdoor ethnographic museum (kind of like a Romanian Greenfield Village). It had houses, barns, churches, and other buildings from all around Romania. The earliest ones were from the 17th or 18th century. The entry fee for the museum was only 2 Lei, but they charged 25 Lei (about 8 or 9 dollars) to use a camera in the village. So I took $8 worth of pictures for you. But of course I can't post them all, so if you want to see all 60 of them, you'll have to wait until I get home. Here are some of the best:
The Village Museum was pretty far from the center of town, but I ended up walking back because after paying 25 Lei to use my camera, I didn't have enough money to take a cab. It was a long but enjoyable walk, because it was a beautiful day (warm and sunny) and because I had a few interesting encounters along the way. That is one of the things that I love about traveling: the chance encounters that you have with people. As I walked along, I noticed a lot of people in church attire carrying handfuls of wheat as they walked along. I was intrigued by this, so after a while I tried to ask someone what it was all about. I said, "Scuzati, vorbiti englezeste?" (Excuse me do you speak English?) And the woman I was addressing answered in Romanian, so I gestured to the wheat in her hand and asked, "Pentru ce?" (Literally translated this means "For what?" but it was the best I could come up with at the time.) She pointed down the street and said something about a church. I thanked her and went on my way. After a while I came to a Greek Catholic Church, and outside of it a man handed me some wheat and a priest made a cross on my forehead with some holy water. So I have no idea what the wheat is all about, but I carried it around with me all day, probably marking me as a Greek Catholic to any Romanians I met.
After lunch I visited the Transylvanian History Museum, which was a bit of a let down (although the admission was 1 Leu, so I shouldn't complain), and the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral, which was beautiful inside and out.
posted by Erin Kay at 12:25 AM
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