Good morning Bucharest, good morning Romania! I sound like Larry King right now, with the fine exception that I live on the other side of the ocean and he has his show in the evening haha
Anyway, ladies and gents, it’s Monday, for those of you who have not noticed and despite the bad news this word entails, Mela had some decent rest this weekend and is ready to take the bull by the horns. Hopefully we’re talking about a medium size bull with smaller horns haha.
I have so much work to do and I am faced with the horrible choice of having fun with my colleagues for the following two weekends – or – stay home and work on the trailer and documentary for Light into Europe – and it’s killing me. But sacrifices must be made and, even though, I am making terrible efforts to please everyone, at the end of the day, some things have to have priority. I suck at prioritizing though! HA!
Coming back to the main subject of this blog – namely the two last days of our vacation in Germany – I have to say, I haven’t done all that bad considering we’re only a week away from the end of the actual vacation. So things are still fresh in my mind. I’m really happy and content with having detailed all these adventures, because soon enough I will forget the spicy details. Plus, when I’m 85, I will collect all this info and put it together in a book that will turn in a post-mortem bestseller haha An old granny’s erotic dreams I guess haha No, seriously, my life in about 500 pages, probably in bullet points to be able to cover everything. And it has to happen after I’m gone so I can sit back on cloud no. 9, eating popcorn and watching everyone’s faces going WHAT!?!? When they read the book. And I would die – not that I could anymore at that point haha – laughing, poke God and say “You, my good man, gave me quite a life, but this is precious!”
Well, wasn’t that a complete deviation from the subject? Haha This is what happens when I have enough sleep. My brain is too awake and starts beating around bush with extravagant ideas about itself. And myself. I think sometimes, my brain is an entity of its own and disregards my body or my heart and just comes up with plans it alone understands and when shit hits the fan, my heart and my body summon the brain to a meeting and bitch at it for working them too hard with ideas and plans that are far more advanced than my capabilities right now. Does that make any sense? Forget it! Haha Back to Germany.
DAY 7.
So: we woke up on Saturday morning, with these fine people – Anca and Bernie – and they don’t let us do anything. They arrange the table; continuously apologizing for God knows what we haven’t even took notice of. I tell you, the table looks as if we’re staying at the Ritz, perfect alignment of each item, from plates to cups to knives to napkins and I don’t even bother getting out of my PJs to welcome this amazing feast. So much food on the table, they could feed a horse as we say and with such pleasant company we indulge in a long morning, chatting away memories, new plans and happenings from the year that has just passed away. Useless to say, that the night before, mom and I read some texts in German for Anca’s total amusement. Or we want to believe it was amusing for her. It probably hurt her ears pretty badly and damaged her sense of foreign languages, but mom and I surely built a new muscle in our tongues trying to pronounce things. So Bernie and Anca spend some time with us now explaining the differences in German dialects which we can perceive but not reiterate. It’s fun.
It’s late in the morning when we move out to the S-Bahn and into Munich. It takes about 40 minutes to get there. We jump from the S-Bahn into the tram to go to Nymphenburg castle – and I only know how to spell that ‘cause I took a picture of the damn name haha. The four of us share a partner ticket which allows us to travel for an entire day with whatever means of transportation anywhere in Munich. Awesome! Plus it makes me feel like I’m back in college, all of us chipping in to get one ticket for everyone. It takes a little before we get to the castle, which is actually located in Munich, just in a different district. I wouldn’t have said Munich is so friggin’ big. The scene reminds me a bit of Versailles. Uh, my heart tickles with excitement. Just in case you didn’t know I am a sucker for Versailles – I could go to France just to visit those gardens and stay there for a whole day, experimenting every corner, nook and cranny in that wonder place. My dream is to get Emily, go to Paris, rent two of those old fashioned royal dresses and go to Versailles topretend to be Ladies of the Old together. Hell. I’ll even let people take pictures with me. Because I’m sure they’ll believe I’m part of the staff trying to add a little flavor to the place to sell it better haha. I don’t care (this goes into my granny’s erotic dreams book haha)
As we move in along the artificial channel, we notice that the lake in front of the castle has been drained, which is a pity because there are many swans and seagles, ducks and such other birds that are literally swimming in mud right now and all in all, it creates a rather depressing décor. Still, there are plenty of people going around. The castle is pretty large, beautiful on the outside and spacious on the inside. We go into the shop inside but quickly decide to visit the gardens first and then come back and enter the palace. I always like the gardens more. And as usual, they take my breath away. Plus it is fall, my favorite season and the sun mingling with the golden fiery colors of the forest is breathtaking. We walk along the large alley coming from the palace, around the round fountain in the middle, admiring the statues siding the garden. We pass that and then we end up in the small sinuous path ways hidden from sight and I love those! They are swamped in leaves and I trash my shoes through the sea of orange, yellow and rust of the autumn carpet, just as I did when I was a child. I cannot get enough of the sun so warm on my face, painting a scenery above my head that no camera could really capture. We discover a restaurant among the trees and we sit down to have a coffee and some sweets. Mom is learning how to use my camera (by the end of the week she mastered it pretty well hehe). We have a small discussion trying to figure out the difference between a cup and a mug to then realize a mug was a cup in the restaurant terms so that was fun. Bernie and Anca have a plump cake while mom and I have mango and strawberry cake with café lattes on the side. Thank you Bernie for ordering all that! Haha
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| The channel |
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| The girls |
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| See what I mean? |
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| The paparazzi following us around hehe |
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| I always make faces like that. I am blind as a bat in the sun, so taking pictures against the light it's always hard for me |
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| Love love love |
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| Mela and her day dreaming about gardens |
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| Snapping picture of Anca |
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| Yeah, that little dot right there is mom! |
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| I love this picture. It's so us. |
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| Ok, so this little man had about ten spectators watching him follow that bired until he fell stumbling. He was so adorable, that when he did fell everyone went awwwww... His parents were blushing! haha |
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| Oh wait that's again! I can never make up my mind when it comes to pictures. The colors are so awesome!!! Ah yes, and we look so good hahaha Anca is going to kill me |
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| I wasn't treying to read German just figure out what cake I want from the way it looked haha |
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| uh uh uh ... hot haha. The coffee! The waiter brought spilled all our coffees. Impecable service I'd say! |
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| Us reading German again! |
We then move out following the intricate trails of the park deeper into the woods until we decide we have gone far enough so we are on our way back, chatting and taking pictures of the Canadian geese flying above our heads. Anca is a safe and clean environment girl and she is into birds and horses, so any sight of those makes her happy. And there are plenty of these beauties around the garden. People are jogging around us and I cannot find a more beautiful way of spending a Saturday morning than running in the royal gardens like they do. I wish I had a royal garden close to my place! Oh man…
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| Me love all these pictures! |
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| This is one of my favorites of mom |
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| I could get lost with mom in a forest like this and I wouldn't get bored. She wants to climb everything. |
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| Teaching mom the technicalities hehe |
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| I was discussing with Anca my turmoil with the virus I got on the laptop a few months ago |
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| Just look at that... I could see a 1,000 stories unfolding just on this one path... My mind is messing with me. |
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| One of my other favorites... I have lots haha |
From the castle we take the tram back to downtown. Just as side note: as we were moving towards the station we spot some big ass fish – as in really fat ones! – underneath the bridge crossing the channel. And they knew people were there to feed them so they would swim in circles asking for food. And mom’s like “nu are mama ce sa va dea sa papati!” (“Momma has nothing to give you babies!”) I was like, “mom, these piglets don’t need any more feeding!” Soon they won’t be able to go underneath the bridge with the fat on their backs! Seriously! I understand fat storage for winter but this is ridiculous!
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| The water pigletts! haha |
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| Bernie did a great job with this picture! |
Eventually we arrive in the center of Munich and the crowd is unbelievable. The modern hits us in the face. Yet as we walk the large main street noticing the variety of the folks, we run into many chapels, churches and cathedrals, all so different, yet all so amazing in their own way. We light candles in two of them and take a little tome to grasp on that feeling of peace and fulfillment only the sacred house of God can give you. Quiet, when outside the world is blooming with chit chat, shopping, pictures, laughter and baby cries. We’re back out, we pass the Dome where there is a whole legend going on, of the Devil leaving its foot prints on one of the floor tiles. If I got it correctly from Anca, it seems that if you stand on that tile you can’t see any windows in the cathedral. If you change the angle slightly you see them all. It is is said that devil was trapped there and he burnt his footprints in the stone. I am sure Anca will correct me here if I got something wrong, but it was quiet a story. Good fiction material anyway.
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| One of the best pics of Mom and Anca on the tram back downtown |
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| To the subway! |
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| The Dome and the devil story inside |
We were supposed to meet Eric and Andreea also. I haven’t seen Eric since last summer when we accidentally met in Lipscani. He’s an old and dear friend whom I’ve known since 2008. Now he’s back in Germany and we haven’t seen each other all that often so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had settled in Munich and we could meet on this occasion. I couldn’t have possibly been there and not get to see him. We stop before a make-up store (of course!) and when we get out: surprise! Eric and Andreea are there and we break into an avalanche of Romanian-English-German words and hugs. I love it when he speaks to mom: “Ce faci mama!?” And mom, so tiny next to Eric gives him the best bear hug she has in store and says “Bine! Ce faci tu? Cand mai veniti la Govora?” Ah, that in turn gets us talking about their weekend over at my grandparents a few years ago where we had so much fun and so everyone plans on a comeback for the sole purpose of checking grandpa’s tuica again haha. They almost camped in my basement to be close to the barrels! Haha
As we walk towards the main square, we keep taking pictures and hugging each other, in such a darling and dorkish fashion that I can’t stop smiling thinking about it. We get in front of thise huge old looking building and Bernie amusingly announces that is the new city hall. A building across from it, which looks much newer is supposed to be the old city hall. I cannot come to understand how the hell this goes because the old city hall looks newer than this beautiful antique, statue covered and intricate sculpture, immense building called the new city hall. We laugh about it for a few minutes. As we take the corner, Eric insists that we go into this famous chocolate/coffee store and we spend another 20 minutes in there, mesmerizing at the delicatessen in there. I work my magic on mom, trying to convince her to get some of that exotic coffee for her. She complains she doesn’t drink much anyway, that’s too big to carry around, that’s too much anyway and so on and so forth. Jesus Christ woman! Can we just get the damn coffee?!?! NO! Argh!!!! So we go out later than everyone else and as we step out, it’s dark so we don’t see the group until I hear a shout from across the street “Hai Romania!” haha It’s Eric! Wop Wop!!! A few pictures later we decide to find some place and have dinner. During our quest, mom and I get lucky and find a place to get our Munich magnets so we’re happy now.
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| The new city hall |
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| And the little white one with red towers in the back, is the old city hall... what the hell! haha |
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| LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture! |
All restaurants are filled and we haunt the place for at least an hour before we find a restaurant that at least offers us a table for drinks at the bar, hoping that one will be available soon so we can have dinner. Eventually, the bartender realizes we mean business and he finds us a spot in the crowd. We sit down and open the menus and it reads Chinese in German to me. I ask Bernie, “So what is this?” “Pork.” “What about this?” “Pork. Ok. “And this?” “Pork.” What am I missing? How many kinds of pork do they have and what’s the difference. He tries to explain and mom is laughing all the way through his documented explanations. Ok, fine. Pork it will be. And then the waiter passes us by with a plate that has salad in it and what appears to be stew and I’m like THERE! I want that! I signal mom towards the guy receiving the plate and I say it in Romanian, as loud as I can to cover the noise around, “Vreau ce mananca nenea ala!” (I want what that guys is having!) and I shamelessly point my finger at the man’s back, unaware of what was coming. He turns towards me, smiles sexily and says (in plain friggin’ Romanian!): “Nenea manaca tocanita de ciuperci!” (The guy is having mushroom stew!) MWUAHAHA! The tables explodes into laughing and I dig a hole underneath it to hide my head like an ostrich. Mother of God! We always met Romanians like this, when we least expected it.
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| Look at this! I can relive that feeling just by looking at this picture! |
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| Awwww!!! Miss you guys already! |
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| The restaurants looked more like wedding halls and they were all reserved and full |
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| The thing that guy was eating hahaha |
When we finally settle down, mom and I have the stew. Bernie as usual, very kind, orders everything for us in a perfect German out of which I only understand “water” haha Eric orders a special entrée so we dig in while waiting for the main course and we’re happy to explore the taste of Bavarian pretzels with salty cheese, red union, fresh cucumbers and lettuce. Everyone’s having beer of course, except for mom and I, who are having wassa or wasse – water! Haha Hours and many pictures later we finally leave the restaurant to go our separate ways. Lots of hugs and promises for future visits, and again many hugs and we finally say good bye to Eric and Andreea.
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| Za ladies making comments on the Gemini... |
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| The gemini ignoring them with a grin haha |
We arrive home very late, take a quick shower and then hit the sack.
DAY 8.
We wake up to the same aroma of Anca’s coffee, the boiled eggs and the wonderful salmon and blue cheese. Bernie and Anca have negotiated with us to also have lunch with them before we leave for the airport. Plus, Anca and I have planned to see the cartoon “Nils Holgersson and the Wild Geese”. If you did not see that, you should!!! Such a wonderful story. I saw it so long ago when I was a child, but unfortunately we did not have the time, eventually, to see it all properly, so I’ll have watxh it again one of these weekends.
Soon after breakfast, we took off to visit the neighborhood. I loved the houses, their unique style, the paintings and garden decorations. I shouldn’t even say more, the pictures can speak for themselves. I am only attaching a few from the many we took.
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| This is soo cool! It gives an aura to these houses that anywhere else would not mean much, but here, it's just perfect |
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| A Mela kind of picture hehe |
We return in time for lunch and we have a Bavarian specialty of sausages, pretzels and mustard. Oh yes, and a cheese that’s more of combination between sour cream, blue cheese and “cascaval”, one of those parmesan kind of cheeses. Hmm, delicious! We have some apples and watch Nils Holgersson, but alas, we must go. The time has changed the night before so I check the hour a hundred times to make sure we’re not getting to the airport an hour earlier or God forbidden, an hour later!
It starts to rain; to pour actually and we all nestle inside Bernie’s car as he drives us to the S-Bahn. They decided to travel with us all the way to the airport – completely unnecessary, considering the long way and wasted time – but they are so nice and so concerned with us, they just want to do it and we can’t convince them otherwise. We find our way from the S-Bahn to the Central Station and from there to the airport. We arrive on time, actually a little earlier and we stop in a shop to grab some sweets for my grandparents and that special cheese. We find it and the sweets as well so our shopping in Germany is now officially concluded.
We take one last picture before they leave us at check in and I must admit, I got emotional. They turn around to wave at us one more time and I see mom in tears. Anca and Bernie are really good friends; those kind of people you meet in circumstances where other people would just make formal connections and nothing beyond that. But Bernie is a Gemini like me (we’re actually born on the same day! Haha) so we understand that need for socialization, therefore our friendship built fast throughout the years. As for Anca, she was the fine addition to our friendship and the more I get to know her better, the more I like what I discover. I hope to see them for at least dinner in December if they come around. Or perhaps go to Delta together to see, as Bernie said: “stufaris la stanga, stufaris la dreapta!” haha
Eh, I got emotional all together now. I feel like I’m ending my vacation a second time with this last blog about it. So… this is it. Hope you enjoyed Germany through my eyes and we’ll see you next time, with some other crap that occurs to me haha.
Fortunately, the world is a big mug of inspiration and I sip from it every single day.
Today I had to much sugar in it that’s why I messed up the beginning of this blog so badly haha
MUAH
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