Today was woman’s day in Romania! It’s a day sort of like Mother’s Day in the US, but for all women! Kayleigh and I both slept in later than we would have liked, so we ate a late breakfast and Kayleigh raced off to meet her drama group at 12. I made plans with Mikkel to hike up Mt. Timpa and got ready to meet him up at the cable car at 12:45. Aside from being a little bit windy, it was a beautiful day, and I was glad to be doing something outside. I got up there a little early, so I checked the cable car house, just to make sure he wasn’t waiting there for some reason, and then came back down to wait outside. I was waiting there for about half an hour and there was still no sign of him. I didn’t have anymore credit on my phone, so I couldn’t call him. Around 1:10, I went back down to the center, bought more credit, texted him to see where he was and what happened, and then sent a text to Sara about maybe going shopping.
Mikkel called ~ 2 minutes later and apologized that his
phone had somehow gone back to Danish time, but he was on his way and we could meet at the fountain in half an hour if I still wanted to go. When we met at the fountain, he apologized again, and then we took a rather roundabout way up to the base of the mountain. There were a lot of steps to climb to get up there, and we both joked that we were a little winded even after just that! Haha, uh oh. We found a trail that wound up the front of the mountain, and neither of us really had any trouble getting to the top. I stopped along the way to take some pictures. When we got to the top, it was really windy and cold, so after I took a few more pictures, we huddled behind a stone wall and ate our lunch of bologna and butter sandwiches (care of Elisabeta) and Thin Mints (he didn’t have any lunch, so I shared 1 of my 2 sandwiches and even my girl scout cookies!). We both agreed that when we got back down, some hot chocolate might be in order.
We started our trek down the
other side of the mountain, which we thought might eventually wind back around to the front . . . NOPE! It just led to the back side of the mountain, and from there we had to try to figure out the best way back. I pointed out a friendly looking path with lots of markings, but he seemed pretty confident about hiking into the heavily wooded area and possibly getting out that way, so I followed. We talked about possibly traveling together after we both finished our projects, because we’ll both be done around the same time and we both want to go to Croatia and other places in the Balkans. He also told me about Eurovision, which will be held in Belgrade on May 22, and is a big music festival where all the countries in Europe submit a song and then everyone votes for the one they like the best. It sounds like a lot of fun, so hopefully we’ll be able to go together. Anyway, we hiked past a little campground, something that kind of looked like a dam, over some fallen trees, and through some pretty muddy areas. We followed a marked trail for a little
while, but eventually the markings just sort of disappeared, so we continued in the direction the last one had sent us in. At one point, we tried to climb up a really steep part of the mountain which was also very muddy (thanks to all the recently melted snow), and I kept slipping. I couldn’t get any grip with my feet. Hah! I actually felt a lot like Shadow in the muddy ditch in the last part of Homeward Bound! Anyway, Mikkel came to the rescue, holding a tree for support in one hand, and pulling me up with the other. After that, we were both pretty tired, so we hiked a little farther, before resting on a tree stump. It was then that I realized that at some point during my whole muddy debacle, I had cut my hand AND managed to get dirt in the cut. Wonderful! I tried to wash it with a little water and some tissues, but no luck.
After a few minutes, we continued on to the top and realized that after all that, we may not be able to get back to the city this way after all. Not gonna lie, it
was a bit disheartening to realize that we had just struggled up all that way for nothing. Oh well. We rested on another stump and just took in all the sights and the sounds of birds chirping. Mikkel commented that he felt like an old man just sitting and enjoying nature. After about 5 minutes of sitting, we got up and started down the mountain again. Some places we slipped and slid, others we walked, but eventually we passed the camp and the dam again and eventually ended up taking the path that I had suggested in the first place. Haha! We walked past a bunch of old communist style apartment buildings and into town and quickly realized that we had NO idea where we were. We started to get worried because it was already 6:00 and we both still had to eat and be ready to meet Sara at the fountain at 7:45 for her last night out. As we walked further, Mikkel started to recognize where we were, so we took a bus back to the center. Then we realized that we probably wouldn’t have time for hot chocolate since we both still had to go home for
dinner. So he got back on the bus and I went home and ate by myself since I was late and Kayleigh had already eaten.
We met Sara at Brittania at 8, and she had a big Romanian flag that she wanted everyone to sign. Alison, Connie, Leonie, Kayleigh, Sara’s friend Lisa, and even her roommates, Sharon and Casey (who never come out with us) were all there! Mikkel texted me to say he’d be late because he was taking his roommate, Charles to the train station. Charles has been really sick for a while, and I guess wanted to go home to England for the weekend. While we were sitting at our table, she saw a guy walk by wearing red contacts, so that his eyes looked really creepy, and asked him to sign her flag too. We stayed at Brittania for a little while, and then migrated to another bar called Oldies for dancing. Leonie and I went first to check if we’d be able to get in, met up with Mikkel, and then called the others to let them know. We stayed at Oldies until around 1ish, when Kayleigh decided that she was ready to go home, and I was pretty ready to go home too, so I said my goodbyes to Sara and wished her luck on her next adventure in Australia. Then Kayleigh, Connie and I left, and we got Connie a taxi home. All in all, it was a pretty good day!
Romania's Flag
Map of Romania