My Romanian Trip

 This was my very first time flying.  The rush of take-off draws a smile on my face every single time.  

This is a remote view of north Mobile from the air.  Not a care in the world up here.  The world's problems suddenly look so small and insignificant.  

 We landed in Chicago at the O'Hare international Airport.  A nice black man who worked for the airport directed us to the walking tunnel of lights because he wanted us to enjoy it. I am glad we did.
I really like the fast walk lanes.  I did a silly circle jig dance while moving backwards on the fast lanes.  Unfortunately, I did not get footage of this rare moment.  :P

Then we ate in a cafeteria and waited for our next flight.

I got another wing seat.  Honestly, my favorite seats because I like to see the plane's wings.

 We flew even higher in this Boeing 767. An approximate altitude of 39,000 feet.  That is about 7 miles....almost.

We flew higher than any storms and I realized that above the storms, the sun is ALWAYS shining.

 We flew up over Quebec and somewhere up there as night fell, I saw a lightning storm in the North.  It lit up the clouds magnificently.  I enjoyed it for a while before trying to sleep.

You cannot sleep while sitting up.....

 When morning finally came we were somewhere over England.  It was cloudy when we flew over Ireland unfortunately.  I watched as we crossed the English channel and saw Holland.

This was either over England or Holland.

 When we landed at airport in Munich, Germany, it was very cold and wet.  The German airport is as quiet as a library, but Germany was a very orderly country.

The flight to Timisoara was short.  The airfield was rundown and looked as though WWII had just happened.  The airport stunk of cigarette smoke.  The passport police never smiled and stared at everyone suspiciously.  I was not comfortable about being in Timisoara.

At last, Brother Alin Muntean and his father, Brother Petru, and his wife Sister Mimi and their daughter Mierella and her husband Marco, and their children Jeremiah and Maria all met us in the airport.

They gave us mineral water and took us to our hotel.  Carbonated mineral water is only good cold.  Romanians do not understand A/C like American's understand A/C.

The above photo and the side photo --
were the view from the window of our hotel.

The Pensiunea Normandia was not a Patel operation.  Southern Hospitality has nothing on European hospitality... but Southern Hospitality is still the closest thing to it.

Every restaurant in Romania serves on Porcelain plates and in Porcelain cups and gives you a real metal plate.
They serve Non-GMO food and unpasteurized cheese and milk.  Pictures to come..... :D

The brothers took us out to eat.  This was my first taste of Romania.

raţă

Romanian word for Duck

Piept de raţă

Meaning Breast of Duck

It was good, of course, smothered in pears, honey, and cream...but I was already so full from the appetizer courses...

 The normal ones of us were jet-lagging and thinking of nothing but soft fluffy pillows and the supine position....
A few others of us were just too excited and stayed up fellow-shipping until midnight.  So I was denied sleep for approximately 28 hours.

Anyway, here is the historic square of Timisoara.  The opera house...

 

 is where the dictator of the communist party would stand and give his speeches.  It is now just an opera house, still in use.  But with bullet holes from the rebellion on its facing, and pigeons living in its crevices.

 People walk the square in the evenings and at night.  No one worries about their children getting kidnapped and everyone is calm and peaceful.

Everyone feels relaxed.  Romania has a much different spirit than the United states.

 The town is very very old, dating around the 1700's.  It looked very much the same when my dad lived there and my grandparents grew up there.

This orthodox church was built in the 1960's on 16,000 wood pilings so that it could be moved.  Why you would move a church, I am not sure.

What this church is best known for is closing its doors upon the people rebelling against the communist government.  The steps were bathed in blood.

 Mint Lemonade is some pretty rad stuff.

We were way too tired to be up till midnight our first day in Romania...especially after not having been able to lay down and sleep for 24 hours prior....
Needless to say I was not a happy camper.  Blessed to have such caring hosts but...really?

They tried to fatten me up the very first day.
And they continued to fatten us each and every other day.

This is a very good donut smothered in real berries and cream.

 We posed in-front of the fountain.

I really like this fountain.  It changes colors.

My dad played in this fountain and my grandfather did also.

I particularly like the fish.














This footage concludes my first day in Romania.
The first thing we learned to say on this day was "apa plata." or "flat water" (water flat is the exact translation).  It took us a while to appreciate the carbonated mineral water, which is only good when it is icy cold.