Construction time again

Mihai and his maternal grandmother, Eufrosina, circa 1978.

From September to June, Mihai and his brother lived in Craiova with Pia and Silviu but from June to September, the boys stayed with their maternal grandmother in her house in Viștea. (I'm including a map for some reference since I understand that it's hard enough to find Romania on a globe, much less figure out the location of Oltenia in relation to Transylvania.)

For reference, we are currently in Obedin which is just outside of Craiova. Viștea is between Sibiu and Brașov.

Contrary to the impression he might give, Mihai has a very sentimental nature and the memories of both his grandmother, and the years spent in her house, hold a special place in his heart. 

After his grandmother died, the property was not maintained with the same care and attention she had given it. Over the years, we would stop by and check on things and invariably, Mihai would leave in a depressed funk over the state of disrepair.

During the last years of her life, Dița moved in but sadly, she was suffering from alcoholic encephalopathy and if anything, the condition of the house and property became worse. 

A couple of years ago, Dița died and Mihai inherited the property but then it sat, once more an abandoned blight on the neighborhood. This seemed doubly unfair since the properties in the community are nicely maintained.  

We couldn't just continue status quo, something had to be done. Enter plans A, B, and C.

Plan A was to sell it, but sentimentality overrode plan A. 

In sentimentality's favor, however, is the fact that the location of Viștea is ideal. 

For one thing, it's at the base of the Carpathian mountains which means the summers are cooler―a lovely break from the sweltering humidity of the southern plain. 

Another plus is that they have municipal water, sewage, and gas, none of which exist in the house in Obedin. 

In addition, it's close to Sibiu which is not only one of our favorite cities in Romania, but also the stopping point for every trip we make to Budapest (and you know we make a lot of trips to Budapest). Instead of staying in Hotel Ibis, we reasoned, we could stay in Viștea when we travel. 

Plan B thus involved converting a closet into a shower, repairing ceilings and walls, and performing an intense deep clean to make it functional and livable. However, once the contractors started working, plan B fell apart. Quite literally. The house fell down. (Did I mention it had not been maintained?)

On to plan C.

Everything was torn down and we built something new from the ground up. 

Let me be clear: we do not need a second house and had plan B not failed, I would be thoroughly delighted with what was going to essentially be a barn with a toilet and a stove. 

But plan B did fail, and plan A is not something Mihai could handle emotionally.

So here we are.

On a clearer day, you can see the snow on the Carpathian Mountains from our house. Alas, it was not a clear day.

Sentimentality aside, the second best thing I can say about this new house is that some of you are reluctant (you might not say it with words but I can read your non-verbal cues) to visit us in Obedin given the lack of municipal water, bad roads, and general chaos there. I understand.

The last time I checked, neither Obedin (nor Oltenia for that matter), showed up on any "Top 100 Places to Travel" lists. 

However, most people hold at least a vague romantic notion of Transylvania and it's my hope that the exotic local, running water, and good climate will be sufficient motivation for anyone hesitating to make the trip. My hope is that, at last, people might actually come and visit us. (A quick shout out to Griffin and Logan who were brave enough to make the trip in 2018.)

This is the last I will say on the subject of the Vistea house construction, unless everyone is clamoring for photos of concrete and stories of abandoned property? 

I thought not.

Likely no one is really clamoring for photos and stories of Sibiu, either. We've been there too many times for long-time readers to be interested in that city. 

However, we're still dealing with the pandemic and in the interests of safety and responsibility, we're just not going to do that much traveling. So you'll get repeats of Sibiu and Obedin, and maybe Horezu and Vaideeni. 

Just be glad it's not Budapest.