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| Plum Thief |
Oh, we are
good in diddling in the morning. We had a leisurely breakfast, sat on ‘our’
veranda, read some world news and I ate some self-picked, ripe plums from the
tree in the garden. The owner even helped me pick them, they had too many plums.
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| Orthodox Church And Grave Yard |
When we
could sit no longer we sauntered over to the cemetery near the hotel and paid our
respects to the dead. Inside the cemetery was a small Orthodox Church where a
lonely cleaning lady spends her morning tiding up after the church service. She
was very intent on her polishing, sweeping and must do it often. It looked odd
to me, thinking of her life compared to my life. I would never even think of
doing what she does and I am sure she does not get paid for it either. People
are very different. I wonder many times if it is fear that makes them behave
like this, meaning do they do things to earn a good performance star in their
catalog of life? They were told to be
good in this life so they have a better next life; but the ones telling them
that story don’t know what the next life will be, no matter how much they read
or learn, etc. Nobody knows the future, especially after we join all the folks
in the ground, in this cemetery or another piece of land, just like it. I had
a philosophical moment.
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| WW 1 Graves Of Siebenburger |
Across the
street was a small park, covered with old grave stones too. Most of the dead there
are from 1915 and 1916, so WW 1 casualties. We looked for the old cemetery of
the middle ages, but did not find that one. I wanted to read the German names,
wanted to know from what part of Germany those Siebenbürger came from. In
German, the family name gives sometimes a clue as to the region where they
originated.
But, like I said, those old graves no longer existed; at least we
could not find them.
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| Tampa Promenade |
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| Brasov, Romania |
Since our
hotel was a bit outside the old city walls we had to walk through the gates to
get into town. On this day, we did not go immediately into town, but walked the
outside perimeter of one long wall, the Tampa Promenade of Brasov. The layout
of Brasov was a bit strange. This wall was adjacent to a mountain. And the
Linen Weavers of Brasov were in charge of this section of the town’s defense
and also the maintenance of this section of the wall. The corner tower, the bastion,
is still called the Weavers Bastion. The mountain loomed over the town and if
you climbed the mountain you had a great view of Brasov, but in times of war,
you could also shoot from the high position right into town. Why the town folks
chose this location for a town and why they built a wall against the mountain
seemed very strange; and then to put weavers in charge of the defense? Sure the
wall was large, impressive even, yet it was not impenetrable. The small moat they
dug sure would not have made much of a difference in the defense of the city.
Who designed this defense in 1421? Or was it more of a show of power, rather
than a war installation? Sometimes I wish I could talk to the people who were
around when things were decided upon, sometimes I wonder if the people in
charge have any real practical ideas as to why they do things the way they do. So
much money and energy was and is spent on foolish things that it boggles my
mind. This wall, this town might be one of those towns I do not understand.
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| Narrowest European Street |
We walked a
lot today. Carol read about a street, an official street named Strada Sforii which
is supposedly the narrowest street in Europe. Aptly called the Rope Street, it is a scant
3 feet wide. I felt a bit strange walking this lane, it was long and narrow, and
it just connected 2 major roads. It was good for foot traffic, but not even
good to carry things in your hands or for the use of a horse or a wheel barrow.
When you met someone going the other way you had to stand sideways to let them
pass. I could not see much practicality in having a path like that. Sure, if it
would be a bit wider, then it made sense, but this was not a walk way in the
middle ages. Maybe it was, like the name indicated a strip of land where rope
was made. Nobody walked there in the Middle Ages; it was just a narrow and long
section to make ropes. Now that would make sense. Just because I see things in
today’s terms, does not mean it was that way when it was installed. Today however,
this lane is an official ‘street’ and used as an oddity. Photographers love it;
it is in many wedding pictures, too.
Since this Church is so old and since it was a part of the culture for centuries, it has an
impressive collection of old carpets. Some examples hung on the church balcony
railings and the details, the colors, the motifs showed clearly the artistry it
takes to make them. Those carpets must be the envy of serious collectors. I met
a few of those collectors the last time I was in Istanbul; they would give a
fortune to call those carpets their own.
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| Just Love To See Other People Work |
The day was
interesting, informative and well spent. Not so much in volume but in value. We
did walk quite a bit, but also took our breaks, had a coffee in an outside café,
watched roofers install a new roof, watched small children play in the market
square and just experienced Brasov the way it is today.
The next
time we would take a hotel inside the old city, though. Our hotel, as nice as
it was, was too far from town.
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