Craiova - days 3 and 4

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The cool spring weather lingers on as I lament a slightly imperfect choice of clothing for my trip. My time in Craiova is of course lots of walking around and hanging out al fresco. G. had to return to her home town and passed me over to Otylia and her friend Mircea.

The Easter docorations remain, as I am assuming they are honoring the "40 day" thing and not just being lazy. They do have some strange customs here in Craiova. The mayor (recently jailed on some corruption charges) has many civil buildings lit up with color-shifting lights. It's not all that attractive, but it certainly is distinctive.

And the frogs!! There are frogs everywhere in the parks and not a duck in sight. And they speak Romanian Frog language. "Oac" (which sounds a bit like the cooking pan "wok") is what they say. They are in mating season now and the air is filled with their sounds.

I finally had to break down and buy some local over-size shoes to deal with my slow-healing blister. The band-aids here suck doo-doo big time. Once applied they will NOT come off and they stick to the wound, too. It is HIGHLY recommended to bring a small supply, just in case...

I also learned a few more cultural titbits. You toast using ONLY alcoholic beverages. Anything else seems to be a slight. The kids roam pretty freely in public with mom or dad quite removed. And they are allowed to approach and interact with strangers in the plazas and parks. If you say "unde barbati?" you are NOT asking for the men's room, you are asking for a man. YIKES! (side note: A cab driver told me if I needed a girl - or a guy - to simply give him a call.) Oh, and I had my first Romanian hamburger and it was more like a french fry sandwich. And an unbelievable number of urinals are placed for guys about 7 feet tall.

Mircea - Otylia's friend - force-marched me to the edge of town to lunch at the Art Cafe. On the way I almost bought a tri-color football jersey, but they didn't have 2X in stock. Lunch was a chicken sandwich and what I called pan-fried potatoes. I have no idea what they call them.

That evening we attended a nice, but not quite dynamic concert by a jazz orchestra. I may post a video of a song. One of the surprising let-downs of the show was a version of Tequila during which not a single band member and only a couple audience members shouted "tequila." I remedied that as they reprised it in an encore.

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Photos

central Craiova
Your scribe with the bunnies in Craiova.