Saturday, September 26, 2009

A surprising lack of sun

Good morning.  This is the first day since I arrived in Bucharest that it's not sunny.  It feels shocking in a strange way.  Saturday was not a very eventful day.  In the afternoon, we visited a Romanian Village museum that had many artifacts from the peasant way of life.  A whole section of the museum was dedicated to crosses and a whole room of icons in the Romanian Orthodox style.  They even had a very old wooden iconostasis (the wall of icons that separates the altar from the rest of the sanctuary).  I've always had a deep devotion to icons but in the context of the museum there was no feeling of "holiness" at all.  It was a secular space with a secular feeling in spite of the beauty of the religious art.

We then walked further downtown and met a visiting Vietnamese man and his Romanian partner for coffee.  Florin got a thirst for a local favorite, a kind of unfermented grape juice called "Must" (pronounced 'moost'), very sweet and tasty.  It has the faint taste of skin and seed in it.  We drank it in a restaurant owned by a fascinating woman who had cooked for the British Embassy for many years.  The menu is wondefully eclectic containing classic Romanian food as well as items to meet any palate - including chili con carne!

4 comments:

  1. Good morning here...evening there. I learn something from each of your entries. Today I read up on "must". Sounds like it's an autumn favorite in Romania. Frittata and coffee for breakfast, and now the day. Be safe, and enjoy every day on your journey. Love.....

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  2. Yes, Pam, Romanians are crazy about "must"; I had it again today.

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  3. I think I'd like to try must, sounds very good.

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  4. Jim, I had not seen this blog until you posted in FB today. I am so glad to read of your travels. I enjoy your observations -- can hear your voice as I read. My best to Florin, and my gratitude to you for supporting Florin and others there, and for sharing all of it with us. You are a treasure. Also I like the part about the coffee -- not a lot of it, but what there is has power and flavor. Sounds good to me.

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