Sublime Sibiu

Greetings from Brasov!



B and I have been very busy the last two weeks with a lot of travelling around Romania. Almost two weeks ago, we left Bucharest on a beautiful Thursday morning with some Fulbrighters for a conference in the Transylvanian town of Sibiu. The conference was organized by the Fulbrighter who is stationed in Sibiu and was also the last official gathering of all the Romanian Fulbrighters for the year. The bus ride up was beautiful and very windy towards the end. On the way, we stopped at a monastery and for lunch; 5 hours later we were in Sibiu. Sibiu is a small medieval city with heavy German influences and it was the 2007 European Capital of Culture with its sister city, Luxembourg. When it was named the Culture Capital, a lot of money was pumped into the city, resulting in a major make-over. The city center especially has been upgraded and is full of beautiful buildings, shops, restaurants, museums and a great fountain. After having a chance to walk around the city on our own, we all met for a great dinner at a local German restaurant, Hermania. The dinner was nice and B and I enjoyed having a chance to reconnect with the Fulbrighters from around the country we don't see often. After dinner, we headed to a village outside of Sibiu called Rasinari, which is where our pensiune (B &Bs) were. Since our group was large, we were split up amongst 4 or 5 pensiune. Folks got settled into their rooms and since B was presenting the next day, he took the time to work on polishing his paper. I briefly joined some of the Fulbrighters at the local disco, The Boby. It was sort of a dive with few patrons that served lukewarm drinks, including the beer. I stayed only for a little while and then headed back to the pensiune for some sleep.

We were up early the next day to head back into Sibiu for the conference. B was on a morning panel and the first in his group, so while going first can be nerve-wracking, he was also able to get done first and enjoy the rest of the day. B did a great job with his paper and the other Fulbrighters seemed interested in his information. Unfortunately, though several Romanian students attended the sessions, they rarely asked questions or made comments. Hopefully they found the presentations informative and interesting, as we did. The group was taken to lunch at a local restaurant, Gothic, by the American and British Studies department of Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu. We had an amazing, but enormous 4 course lunch and then headed back for the afternoon session, which was also intersting. Next? Back to the pensiune for ... what else? More food! B and I had been asigned to stay in the "main" pensiune, which was the site of our farewell dinner. The proprietor, Mr. Badiu, cooked us what amost everyone described as THE BEST meal we have all had in Romania. Aside from the fact that everything served was either from Mr. Badiu's own garden or a local farm, including the wine and liquors, what he made was not at all the "typical" Romanian meal, which we by now have all had more times than we care to count, but rather just very good food that is true home-cooking. On a personal note, I would like to offer special praise for the delicious and creative vegetarian food, which included a wonderful vegetable soup, some soy cutlets with some of the creamiest mashed potatoes and some lingenberry sauce. Mmmm... As the night wore on, the Fulbrighters continued to enjoy what seemed to be an endless supply of Mr. Badiu's homemade wine. Some in the group also especially enjoyed the homemade tuica (plum brandy), which in this case was especially strong. We all had a great time until one of the group began to feel ill. B and I, along with some of our fellow Fulbrighters assisted the ill friend until we could get him into our room and then bunked in with another friend. Needless to say, getting to the bus for site seeing the next day was a bit of a challenge, given the lack of sleep. Nonetheless, we set off on time and were taken to a fortified village outside Sibiu called Michelsburg. We climbed to the top of the hill and had a chance to see the fortification and the town from above- it was beautiful. Our next stop was the Village Museum outside of Sibiu. Unfortunatly, we were on a tight schedule and only had about an hour to walk around. The Village Museum of Sibiu is much like the one in Bucharest in that it is an outdoor museum recreating traditional village dwellings from around the country. The museum was interesting and well done, and even had paddle boats to rent, but we did not have enough time to see it all. After the museum, we went back into Sibiu for lunch, after which we parted ways with our Fulbright friends who made their ways home all over the country. B and I were staying in Sibiu so he could do some research in their archives. So, we checked into our hotel, The Hotel Levoslav, which as it turns out was the home of the musician Levoslav and writer of the first Slovac Opera. We were lucky to have found a very nice place just steps from the main square. The hotel has been completely renovated and was very modern and the service was great. It was a great find. After getting settled into our room and catching up on some sleep, we took a walk around the main square and then went back to Hermania for dinner. It was a very pleasant evening, but we were tired soon and got a great night's sleep in a very comfortable bed.



On Sunday, we decided to take the opportunity to do more sight seeing and walked around the square and city some more. We found a quaint children's park with lots of families enjoying a warm Sunday afternoon, and we visited the Natural History Museum, which was free that weekend in honor of International Museum day. We visited an ethnographic museum whose main exhibit is usually about the Saxon population that used to dominate the area, but the day we attended they had two visiting exhibits- one about traditional religious art and the other about the Roma population in Romania. We also noticed an Ethnographic library and another larger ethnographic museum. We learned the museum would be free the next day because of the museum day celebration, so decided to visit it then. We visited the inside of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, a survivor since the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When the heat of the day was upon us, we went back to our room to rest and then headed back out. Before sundown, we decided to climb one of the two towers in town, which was 111 steps. The climb was nice with several rooms along the way in which to stop and watch the gradual change of the view. The view from the top of the tower was very beautiful and gives a 360 degree birds-eye-view of the city and surrounding county. We ate dinner at a new Mediterranean restaurant and then walked around another area of the city, where we saw the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral, modelled on the Haghia Sophia in Istanbul. Unfortunately, at this point, B's dinner began disagreeing with him and we headed back to the room to turn in for the night.



On Monday, B headed to the archives and I relaxed in our room and took the opportunity to have a bath in the soaking tub- what a luxury! After B got set up at the archives and was able to request some documents, we met up for a late lunch and continued our tour of Sibiu. We visited the Franz Binder Ethnographic Museum and were given a guided tour as we were the only visitors at the time. Franz Binder's collection was based on the 30 years he spent as a merchant and plant collector in Africa and well as items from parts of Asia. By the time we finished at the museum, we stopped for a quick coke and bathroom break at Cafe Wien, which is just behind the Evangelical Lutheran Church and has a terrace that overlooks to city. Cafe Wien became somewhat of a favorite of mine for the remainder of our time there and I visited every day until we left. Not only is the atmosphere nice, but the staff are great, the coffee and pastries great and the prices reasonable. Its also not very popular with the local students, so it is quiet and uncrowded. After Cafe Wien, we visited the Catholic Church in the square and then relaxed on the bench in front of the fountain. This became one of our favorite things to do in Sibiu. It was a very relaxing place and it was fun to watch all the families with young children enjoying the fountain. The kids seem to genuinely love the fountain and B and I noticed almost immediately upon arriving in Sibui just how much more relaxed the atmosphere and people seemed compared to Bucharest. That evening, we tried a restaurant in a large hotel in town called The Balkan Bistro, which B was especially excited about because the menu boasted dishes from Yugoslavia, Turkey, Albania and Greece. Unfortunately, the meal and the restaurant were extremely disappointing. The decor was very late 1980s and 1990s with very mediocre food. I guess you win some and lose some. On Tuesday, B returned to the archives and after reviewing his documents and taking his photos, he was informed by an archivist that he could not pay the photo tax at the archive, but rather at another location across town. So, he made a trek across town to find the payment office, but the only thing at the corresponding address was block apartments. Frustrated and angry at the wild goose chase, the two of us met for lunch and then visited the largest of Sibiu's museums, the Brukenthal Art Museum. The museum was quite large and boasted quite a collection of Medieval and Renaissance art. Afterword, B and I met the Fulbrighter based in Sibiu for ice cream and a nice chat. Since we weren't quite hungry for dinner, we decided to talk a walk and I offered to help B find the office where he is supposed to pay the photo tax, so we set out. A long walk later, no office was located. Frustrated and hungry, we went to a steakhouse recommended by our guide book. The restaurant was fine, but not what we thought it would be, but as we took are nightly stroll in the main square, we bumped into our Fulbright friend again, who was having a drink with a buddy, so we chatted some more.



Wednesday was our last full day in Sibiu and B went to the ethnographic library we had seen that weekend. He introduced himself and his project, not expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised to be handed an entire card catalog relating to the Roma. He reviewed the options and requested some documents for the next day. Then he went to the archives for the last time. He explained his attempts to pay the tax at which point, the archivist closed the door to the reading room and told B it was not necessary for him to try more and made it clear she had been asking B to do her job. Shameless! That afternoon we climbed the tower of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has 192 steps and the view was well worth it. We had gotten a recommendation the night before for a Swiss restaurant called Max, which was located in Orasul pe jos or The Lower City. By the looks we got, it was clear that few tourists go to this area of town, which is a shame because there are some beautiful and interesting, if rundown old buildings in there. The Swiss restaurant was great and a wonderful change from the ubiquitous Romanian and Italian food we couldn't seem to escape. On Thursday Morning, we woke up early so B could get back to the Ethnographic Library and I stayed in the hotel to get us packed up. B was happy to have found great stuff at the library, making the visit worth it. After he finished his work at the library, we ate a quick lunch and headed to the train station for our trip to Brasov. What a wonderful and pleasant week in Sibiu! -S

Quick Note

Hi All,

B and I are not trying to ignore the blog, but unfortunately our computer time is somewhat limited while we are travelling. We have been in Sibui, a beautiful town in Transylvania since Thursday and will be here one more day. We have had a Fulbright outing and B has been doing some research. We are off to Brasov next so B can visit another archive. We have been in Brasov briefly before and thought it was lovely. We have really enjoyed our time here in Sibui and are looking forward to the next leg of the trip. We don't know how long we'll be in Brasov, but will post more details of our travels and photos soon.

-B and S

Plumber's Exam, Here We Come!

This past week has had its fair share of excitement and events. Last weekend, we met with previous Fulbright director, Barbara, for a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in town. It was a long overdue get-together, which we had all been trying to plan for some time, and we had a lot of fun. Saturday morning was not unlike many other weekend mornings; we had brunch at our neighborhood cafe and headed home before the rain started. Since it was too yucky outside to go for a long walk, as we usually do, we stayed in and had a board game marathon of sorts. After I beat B at several rounds of Uno, we moved on to a long game of Monopoly, which carried into the next day. We also made popcorn on the stove for the first time, which turned out pretty good and tasted better even than any microwave popcorn we've had. Sunday started out bright and sunny and we made plans to go for a walk and maybe see a movie. That is until I got in the shower and our pump backed up again! 5 hours later- everything was cleaned and "fixed". After so many hours of horrible, difficult and stinky work, with no food since pancakes at breakfast, we were both ready for a good and relaxing dinner. So, we decided to try out the Hard Rock Cafe here in Bucharest, which had opened since B's last visit here. The restaurant is located inside one of the largest parks in the city and has a terrace overlooking a lake. It was a great experience with not only American style food and drink, but also service! Is it a bad sign that when our waitress asked us if everything is OK, we both initially thought she was scolding us? B had some great barbecue after months and months and I had some fantastic nachos! Needless to say, we will be returning there again.

After such an eventful weekend, we got started on our regular weekly routine. On Monday, after B finished at the archives, he accompanied me to the grocery store (the 5th store I had been to that day) to help me carry things back. The person in front of us in the checkout lane was buying a loaf of bread and toothbrush. He chose to pay using a credit card and since the card reader in our lane was not working, the cashier had to use the reader in the next one over. While the cashier was waiting for the transaction to go through, which it did not, the customer left the store! So, his tab was not paid and much nuttiness ensued. After 3 people came to investigate the unpayed tab, we were finally able to pay for our items and get home! Luckily, I had bought all the things needed for a wonderful eggplant parmesan and we were able to have a really nice dinner, finished off with some fantastic eclairs from our favorite bakery.

On Tuesday, we joined several folks for drinks to celebrate a grant that one of our friends had been awarded for next year. As we shared some wine, B told us all about his very frustrating experience at the archives that day. Apparently, the previous day B had requested 7 folders from 3 different collections to review. When he began looking through them, he was able to find some relevant stuff in the first 2 folders and the next several contained NOTHING at all remotely related to his topic. Upon further investigation, he realized that the archivist had simply pulled 7 folders all from the same collection. When he approached the archivist about the error, she (in true Romanian archivist style) began blaming him by insisting he must have completed the request form incorrectly. Of course, once they review the form what they find is a clearly written request showing that in fact, everything was as B had intended and the mistake was not his. Instead of apologizing at this point, the archivist blamed B's handwriting, which was not the problem. At this point, B finally got really angry and gave the archivist a peace of his mind and brought to her attention the fact that HER mistake had in fact wasted his time and that he expected all of the correct documents to be waiting by the next day. Wow, how I would have payed to see this! Needless to say, when the next day they were not able to locate the requested folders, the same archivist was very apologetic about the mix-up and the correct folders did finally become available.

Wednesday was more or less uneventful, but that was easily made up for on Thursday. All week, we had been waking up early so B could get more time in the archives, so after he left around 8:45, I was checking some emails, etc when the power went out. The internet also went out and so I decided it would be a good day to head to Starbucks to read and relax. I headed to the shower to get ready to head out. Before I got in the shower, I used the toilet and as a I flushed, I remembered that our water pump is plugged into the wall and uses electricity!!!! Aaaahhhh ... you guessed it- another HUGE mess. 3 hours later, dirty, exhausted, overwhelmed, and VERY hungry, I finished cleaning up the mess and took a few minutes to relax and read my book. During the clean up time, I had opened all of our windows to let in some light and since bugs were starting to get in, I went up to close the windows and on my way back into the apartment, I noticed that somehow, the floor was soaked again! I had been sending B text messages throughout the events of the day and at this new development, he decided to cut his day short and came home early to help me. At this point our landlady was finally up and as I was finishing cleaning up for the second time that day, she came and worked for about an hour trying to figure out how anything could flood, given that the pump was unplugged and no water source had been used in hours. The power did finally come back on, just in time as it was starting to get dark and chilly down here. At this point, we began contemplating going to a hotel for the night, but as we researched our options, we realized all the Western style options were far too expensive, especially since we would barely be there for 16 hours. Instead, we decided to have dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. After a nice shower, I took the opportunity to put on some nice clothes and even some heels and jewelery and we set off to the Corsi Cafe at the InterContinental Hotel. The menu had a slightly asian fusion aspect and given that Ben had only had breakfast and half a PBJ and I had only had the other half of the PBJ, we were both famished. We had a wonderful dinner in a pretty setting. B got some beef soup to start and a Nasi Goreng, a traditional Indonesian dish of curried beef rice topped with a fried egg and accompanied by chicken satay. I had a great green salad to start and a vegetable curry. All of our food was fantastic and the service was impeccable. Before we headed home, we walked through the hotel lobby and looked at the menu of their other restaurant, The Madrigal Cafe, which is described as a steak house on their website, but seems like it is much more, including such dishes as Coconut Curry Soup and some lamb dishes. They even have a few vegetarian options, so we may try it at some time. As soon as we got back home, we were both so tired, that we just veged for a while. Around 12:15 AM, the cable and internet froze and we took this as a sign that it was time for bed.

The next morning the cable and internet were still out and since I did not want to take any chances with loss of power, I quickly got ready after B left and headed for the Starbucks morning I had planned the day before. This was followed by a quick trip to the store and then I finally had a chance to wash the yucky towels we had used the previous day to clean up the mess, as well as the new towels we had bought. Time for us to have some new shower towels that had never been used for cleaning bathroom floors! Soon after the towels were drying around the apartment, it was time to meet some friends for dinner. Our friend Alyssa, who has been coming to Romania for more than ten years and is very familiar with Bucharest, suggested a great Lebanese place she knows. She couldn't remember the name, but knew where it was and hoped it was still there. Since we were all up for the adventure, we started walking and found ourselves in an area with some nice old houses, smaller boutique hotels with some very nice terrace restaurants on tree-lined streets; after a bit we came upon the place she had suggested, Beirut Cafe. Unfortunately, the interior was rather stuffy and several in our party had become attracted to the terrace restaurants we had passed, so we took a vote and decided to try terrace dining at a place called Piccolo Mondo. Piccolo Mondo also happens to be a Lebanese restaurant, located within a boutique hotel. We were lucky to be seated on the upstairs terrace and ordered several items to be shared across the table. One of the specialities of the house were these huge, freshly made Lebanese-style breads, which were wonderful. The boys in the group each ordered a different kind of kebab and then shared them--a true kebab feast! In fact, everything we ordered was great and the conversation even better. We had a great time and were happy and well fed and ready for bed when we returned.

Today, we got a slow start and had a leisurely breakfast and took our time getting ready. Eventually, we were ready for the day and decided to take a walk down a street we had only seen part of. A friend mentioned that a speciality Portuguese grocery had recently opened there and was worth checking out. The street was certainly not the most interesting in Bucharest, but worth exploring nonetheless. The Portuguese store was small, but nice with specialty cheeses, meats, wines, teas, and other gourmet items. B bought some loose leaf tea and we continued walking down the street. At this point, we were pretty hungry and decided to try a place called Torego, which we thought was a Mexican place. We were incorrect and it was simply an average Romanian restaurant. We chose to sit inside and got to see a wedding reception in progress and hear some live Romanian folk music. The food was pretty good and the quantity was large. So, we left feeling very full and continued our walk. We eventually headed home and have had a nice time relaxing.

We want to wish all the moms out there a Happy Mother's Day and hope its a great time. -S