Wrapping Things Up

It's hard to believe that after more than a year and a half of planning and talking about this trip, it has come to a close.
Originally we toyed with the idea to go from Hungary to Austria for skiing and more sight-seeing but after we looked closely at that itinerary, we realized that trying to fit one more country into the schedule would mean that we would spend a month racing from place to place, with very little time spent at home. Two years ago we went to three countries and it left us no time to be with friends and family in Craiova which was a bummer. (I know visiting multiple countries sounds glamorous but for anyone who has undertaken an overly ambitious trip, it's actually exhausting and somewhere around week three, no one knows or cares where they are, they just want to lay in a hotel room until the world stops spinning.)
This time around we made the decision to spend the last week in luxury and by that I mean we hung around Obedin. It turned out to be the place we all preferred so it made a perfect end to things.
In addition to lounging around the house in our pajamas, we socialized and worked, proof of which is in the photos and descriptions below:

Tibb was so excited to see us when we got back that it broke all of our hearts to think about how she's going to miss us once we're gone. Here she was lying, one ear up and waiting for the slightest sound of the boys getting up in the morning.

Cards with Alex (who is also going to really miss the boys)

One of our dearest friends from Craiova Gara is Dan who has since moved to Romanian Sign Language. They meet at the same time as Gara so at our final meeting we went upstairs and hung out with Dan and discovered, much to my amazement, that I could have a pretty decent conversation in Romanian Sign Language.

Over the years I have met a few Deaf people in Romania and I swear in times past I was unable to effectively communicate. Somehow, mysteriously, between then and now it's all changed, a fact that really excites me because I think when we go back I'm going to go to a few meetings in sign language since I really fell in love with some of the friends there.

After the meeting we walked downtown and tried a Spanish restaurant which had the best hot chocolate that Logan and I have ever had 

When we came out of the restaurant it was snowing and it continued to snow for the next two days.

Game party with Andra, Radu and Andrei. Radu and Andrei's parents came  over later but unfortunately I forgot to get a group photo.

The boys hauling wood for Silviu. Proof that it's not all fun and games around here.

Not post of Obedin is complete without a photo of Nuța

Tuesday night volleyball! (we didn't get a photo of everyone playing since Mihai and I had to leave and have dinner with Gabi and Carmen)

Then it was off to Bucharest for the last day and half. We got upgraded at the hotel and had access to the "executive suite" which we discovered just meant a lot of free snacks, drinks and tv.

Although I did a fair job getting photos of people, I'm still missing quite a few folks: Simona, Gabi, Carmen, Silvia, Cornel, Svetlana and no decent ones of Lenuța, the list goes on....
At the last minute I remembered to get Vali, our faithful transporter friend and my brother from another mother.

A random selection of photos that Lucian took and would like to share which includes the frozen pond and some pictures of Budapest and the road between Romania and Serbia

I can't wrap this up with words in any meaningful way, this is the best you'll get. Leaving is always emotionally draining for me and this time around was particularly tough. Until next time, dear readers.
Distanța este foarte mare.

Budapest (Through New Eyes)

Griffin:

I fell in love with Budapest. It's a nice city. I think it's cleaner than all the cities in the United States. It's flat and easy to walk unlike San Francisco, it feels safe unlike Boston and even some part of New York, and the best part is the public transportation. The metro is clean and has fresh air in it. If you have ever been into the New York subway system you know what I'm talking about. The buses have short routes so you never have to wait that long for a bus, and the railcars also run on time. The public transportation is one of the many reasons we fell in love with Budapest. It is just so easy to use. Another nice thing about Budapest is that a lot of people speak english. If they don't there is a mutual agreement to work through the language barrier and get what both people want. It is a great city.

The first night we were there was interesting. We had no money, so we had to walk around the city trying to find a place that would talk a card. We eventually found one of the Ionescu's favorite restaurants in Budapest. They called it the fish place and I have no idea if that is it's actual name or not, but it was great. All the places we ate at ending up being great as well. The second day also involved quite a lot of walking as well. Me and Logan were so ready to take pictures of the new place we had never been before, but as it would turn out the city was covered in a thick fog so the new places we could take pictures of were barely visible or just a solid wall of gray. This wall of gray that prevented us from taking nice pictures of the city meant it was a perfect time to take a bath. There are many bathhouses in Budapest. The first one we went to was in the Gellert building. The baths outside were quite nice and now I wish America had more bathhouses. Taking a bath seemed to do the trick because the next day it was clear and we were able to go up Gellert hill. Which as the name implies is the large hill right behind the Gellert building.

One of the days Logan, Mircea, Lucian, and I were allowed to travel Budapest by ourselves. As always with things like this, we were very confused at first but were able to make it to all the places we wanted to go. The only thing we really were able to do was some shopping and we made it to a pretty nice Ramen shop. Towards the end of our solo adventure we had to meet up with the parents to eat dinner. A lot of restaurants in Budapest only have one location. So when we needed to meet up we headed to the restaurant only to discover that there were two locations and Mihai and Leigha were nowhere to be found. After an already confusing day this incident made us even more confused. After a quick search on Google maps, our lifeline in Budapest, we made it to the finish line.

Hey, Logan here. Before Mircea, Lucian, Griffin and I went on our own, we went to go see some museums in the Castle districts. Since we wanted to see different museums, we split up so we could see the museums that we wanted to see; with Mihai, Lucian and I going into the National History Museum and Leigha, Mircea and Griffin went into the National Gallery. The Budapest museums was really interesting and pretty big, seeing as how it was split into 3 different floors. The basement level was the most interesting because we went down into the cellar of the old castle, the other two floors were just like a normal history museum, not boring but not as interesting as the cellar. Once we all met back up we then finished up with our shopping. After we finished eating at the restaurant, we went off to find the Kingdom Hall, where there was a English meeting being held that day. After a bit of confusion we finally made it to the Kingdom Hall. After going to a two meetings in Romanian, I cannot stress how great it was to be able to finally understand what was being said at the meeting and how great it was to be able to talk with all the brothers and sisters there. At the Romanian meetings, I felt so bad that I wasn't able to talk with all the people that came up to talk to me.

The day after the meeting we went back to the Market to finish up all the shopping we wanted to do. After that, we went off to the Yellow baths. In order to get there, we had to ride the oldest train line in  Budapest. The trains weren't so bad that they made you scared for your life, but the alarm that warned you the doors were about to close made one of the most annoying sounds I've ever heard. It was cold and raining when we got to the Yellow baths, but that meant the baths would feel SO much better. Most of the bath houses were built above springs of natural mineral water, and the Yellow baths were built over springs that had a high sulfur content, which made some of the pools have a more yellowish color. You could smell the sulfur but it wasn't bad in anyway. We spend a large portion of our day just relaxing in the pools. At dinner that day, Mircea decided it would be a good idea to drink a liter of beer, which was fun to watch. Sadly, the next day we had had to leave Budapest, but I will never forget it.

Logan's photos: