True Holidays

In Europe the word for a vacation is "holiday."  These past three days we have truly been on holiday.  I have had lunches with Melinda and Mircea, and met briefly with Alexandra, Dora F. and Ralu T., but have truly not done anything that could be termed work.  Meanwhile, Shirl, who caught some minor bug in our travels, has spent the days getting well and decompressing from our rapid journey.  She has yet to walk down to Strada Andrei Suganu since first climbing the two flights of stairs to our apartment on Sunday night.  My shopping has scored us enough fruit, meat, bread, cereal, milk, yogurt and ice cream that we have not had to go out to eat, and though I have invited Shirl out, and Moni Z. has invited her out, Shirl has preferred to stay here and rest.

Today is sunny and warm in Cluj.  I went out this morning to move Klaus, a daily necessity to avoid his collecting tickets or being towed, and after moving him I strolled around the piata for an hour and a half.  I bought paper towels at the Magazin Alimentar, had coffee and a pastry at a small "Cofeteria," went to the foyer of Nr. 1, which is unchanged, but for the mailboxes, which have been removed for some reason.  I considered calling Lauren H., the Fulbrighter now living in Ap. 16, but realized that I had failed to get her phone number.  Now, I remember that I have her land line, which I assume is unchanged, since it came with the apartment.  I will call her one day soon, and introduce her to Shirl.  I went around the corner and walked past Rolland Garros, the Spalatorie Ecologic, and the travel agency where my Internet friend Kriztina works, and found the office closed.  So, I turned back to P-ta Mihai Viteazul, crossed to Strada A. Suganu, and stopped at "my Hungarian barber" to get my beard trimmed.  I made it home by 9:30, caught up on e-mails, then went to bed for a nap with my still-sleeping life-partner. 

It was a good way to start a vacation day.  I expect that Shirl will be willing to go out for a ride this afternoon, or for dinner tonight.  But if not, who cares?  We are on holiday.