A few days later in Oradea, Romania

    


It's been a few days since I last wrote about life here in Oradea. I had a busy week, partly due to the fact that my laptop had died on me and I was busy getting all programs running on the new machine. Anyhow, I am good now, so I am not typing anymore on my MDA.

Last weekend I spent some time walking around in the city. I really enjoy my long walks here, partly because it gives me time to think about everything and partly because the area is always changing. I walked to a shopping center called Lotus which is about 1 1/2 hrs away from where I stay. They have been building the thing for the past few years and are finally done with it, I think. the place is super nicely done, pretty much like the malls in the US with a food court, cinemas, and lots of shops. You alomst forget that you are in Romania as outside on the street things are quite different.

I always find it amazing to see the expensive prices in the mall, and how people still buy... well it's usually at least full of people looking. On the other hand, I have seen many shops close because rent is too expensive, easily as high as in the larger cities of Germany. To my surprise though they always have new shops that immediately fill the empty lots, which tells you something about the availability of funding and the entrepreneurial spirit in this border town.

After strolling around in the mall and checking out the shops, I disappointedly went to have a coffee.... unreal, no shoes with a Euro size 46. I guess that's because all the shoes are made by Italian companies:)

Anyhow, I started walking back to my pad and decided to take a detour via the part of the city where my father's family had their house. Around the turn of the century this was a rich area in town, but later on many gypsys moved in and ran the place down pretty good. Anyhow, just a few years ago there were no real streets anymore and all houses looked like &%$&&.

Just a few years later, people are refurbishing all of the places, an the brand new streets, nice side walks and clean houses invite more people to move back into the area.

I passed the huge old family house with nostalgic emotions, thinking how nice the place must have been once, and then walked further down the road to find the church where I was baptised. I went inside and there was nobody, but I enjoyed this and spent a few moments inside having a little quiet time by myself (hard to believe that I enjoy quiet times sometimes:))

After leaving the church I was finally on my way back home following the Crisu river banks down through the city and back to my apartment. A wonderful walk, lots of diversity and plenty of interesting things to see.

One funny thing I saw on the way back was a group of adults with about 70 kids all wearing shirts with European stars on them and waving European flags, kind of reminding me of the communist times where people would go outside with flags and always trying to look happyAnother quick trip to Romania - overview

1. Apr 30, 2006 Another trip to Oradea (Oradea)  ( 3)
2. May 11, 2007 A few days later in Oradea (Oradea)  ( 3)
3. May 15, 2007 More on Oradea (Oradea)  ( 7)

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