Chisinau and its’ wonders
Monday, 3. August 2009:
We all had the dumbs that day, with reasons not hard to imagine. So we strolled down to Andy’s which is a local restaurant chain and one of the enterprenurial success stories of post communist Moldova. They serve a mixture of pizzas, lasganas, steaks and similar plates and while the food is way to fastfoodish for everyday consumption they make up for some of that with a surprisingly good and consistent design of the whole franchise, a real ice tea and minty lemonade.
Again, we could not really concentrate on any discussion we were starting, partly because we were having the dumbs and mostly because my eyes and attention would wander away every time a gorgeous girl would walk by or sit down nearby. Which happened every 20 seconds or so. Many discussions pertaining to the source of such overwhelming beauty were undertaken, resulting in the most possible explanation that the constant mixing of nations and their genes, which was indeed prevalent in these parts, were to be credted. Neither in Romania, nor in the more Slavic Transdnistria was the concentration of beuaties on the streets so high. To add to the experience, most of women dress elegantly, revealing and with great attention to detail for the most part. I could go on about Moldovan women for ages but let’s leave it at that for the time being and let me just say that they leave the best of impression, out of line of any of the stereotypes you might have in mind. No wonder most flower shops here are open 24/7.
Back to the story, we then went to the National history museum. Fascinatingly, a furniture shop was housed in the same historic building as the museum. We learnt a lot about everything from the national insignia, examples of communist propaganda and the general history of Moldova. We then drove to the other side of the city with a minibus costing only 3 Lei (1€ = app. 16 Lei) while Elena was our patient guide explaning everything we drove past. There we got to see a memorial for Moldovan-Soviet soldiers who died in the war in Afganistan. The previous one. We could also see some of examples of “Gobnik” behaviour, the Moldovan brand of “Čefur”, proving once again that it’s a state of mind, having nothing to do with nationality.
After returning to the center we were simply strolling the streets, when we were stopped by a bypasser. He recognised Ivor’s football jersey. His name was Branko, and he lives in Chisinau working as a represantative of a Croatian company. We got along quickly and after exchanging the basic pleasentries went for a beer or two in a local bar. The conversation was enlightning and fun, but there was a full winery-visiting day ahead of us.
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