| The Orthodox Cathedral |
There are actually two cathedrals in Alba Iulia: one Catholic, the other one Orthodox.
I asked somebody to take this picture of myself in a park with the Orthodox cathedral in the background.
This cathedral is known as the "Reunification" cathedral, because king Ferdinad was crowned here as the king of the reunited Romania in 1921. |
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| Union Hall |
This building is also inside the citadel. It is called the Union Hall because here the act uniting Transylvania with Romania was signed on December 1st, 1918. This date is now the national day of Romania.
You can now start to understand the importance of Alba Iulia in Romanian history. |
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| Visiting neighbors |
On the following week I started to visit some friends and neighbors.
Very close to my home was the Gligor family. There were two brothers, Costel and Dorin. Costel is now in Switzerland, but Dorin has started a double business: a backery and a distillery. He is making the famous Romanian "tsuica," a strong liqueur made from prunes.
I took this picture in front of his distillery. |
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In Romania a "crama" is a special restaurant with very good food and special wine. In Alba Iulia we have a "crama" built inside the wall of the citadel, where the citadel armory used to be.
I had an excellent diner here with my second cousin Mihaela (on the left) and her husband Florin (in the center). They are both doctors.
Mihaela and Florin are more then relatives. We have a very strong friendship and they visited us un US a number of times. |
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| A farm table |
I finally visited an uncle (my mother's brother) who has a farm. I liked this table so much that I took a picture of it, before having a lunch with his family.
Here I ate some "cabbage pie" prepared by my cousin Valerica, some of the best foods I had in my life. |
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| Tractor |
My uncle inherited my grandfather's farm. In fact I would have had the rights for 50% of the farm, but my mother signed off all the rights to her brother, as we do not have the time for farming.
My cousin Traian manages the farm. He purchased a tractor, and I took this picture next to it.
Perhaps you can see some chicken on the lower right corner. I called them the "killer birds," as at that time the bird flu was discovered in Romania (in fact on the Danube Delta, about 400 miles to the east).
When I returned from Romania and entered United States, I had to fill a form where I had to state that I did not visit a farm during my travel. Sorry, I had to lie, but I did not feel guilty, as in essence I only spent a few hours there and I do not believe that visit created any possibility of bringing some animal disease into United States. |
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| The man who fights the wolves |
During this visit I had the opportunity to meet for the first time a second cousin. He is a 26 years old fellow who has a mountain farm.
I asked him a few questions about his farm and I have found some fascinating facts. The most amazing one was that he is constantly fighting the wolves. Every winter the wolves are approaching his house and trying to get some of the ship. A number of times he had to fight them physically, with the assistance of his dogs. |
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| High school reunion |
One of the high points of this trip was the meeting with my high school friends.
We met at an Italian restaurant in Alba Iulia and spent almost five hours together. Of course, not all of them were there.
Meetings like this are extraordinarily interesting and joyfull. It is as one can travel in time and feel again a teenager surrounded by the best friends. |
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| At church consecration |
On Sunday I was invited by Archbishop Andrei to participate at the consecration of a church in Tarnaveni, a small town about 50 miles away from Alba Iulia. I hope to post this as a separate story.
There were 20 priests participating to this event. Here is a picture of myself in the middle of a group of priests. |
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| Back in Bucharest |
I left my mother's home at 11 pm, on October 16, to start the trip back to the US, which was to last about 32 hours. The trip had many legs:
1. From Alba Iulia to Teius by car (a small town and important railway center).
2. From Teius to Bucharest with a fast night train.
3. From Gara de Nord to the Henri Cuanda International Airport, by car.
4. From Bucharest to Munich.
5. From Munich to Washington.
6. From Washington to Charlotte, North Carolina.
7. From Charlotte to Cary, North Carolina, by car (my son David picked me up).
Here is a picture of a train in Gara de Nord. |
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