surprise surprise

you would've thought i'd know by now that nothing comes out as planned. however! it's funny what happens when i'm not actually invested in the planning or the outcome of the planning. i feel like my not caring for whatever happens here is a certain degree of insulting for whoever i spend time with - but at the same time i can't really hide it. hiding it would be on some level a lie.
things i really care about right now:
- how i will/might start from scratch again, somewhere else, soon.
- certain people, i.e. spending time with them but also somewhat half-calculating toward keeping in touch with them later on
- game of thrones.

and i keep whining about not getting involved, while continuing to not get involved. i am a bit tired of myself in that too. but, man: i will pay for this so hard. i will have to stalk people and woo people and plan my own damn traveling for years and years to come. George RR Martin reassures me that karma is a bitch, and i do believe him.

this being said - last weekend we were trying to visit a waterfall. seriously. so, this was plan A. here's what really happened:
-we got lost on the way and had to backtrack like 40 kilometers.
-going in the right direction, we were driving right into a bunch of rain. moving forward and seeing lighting bolts ahead of us, fun.
- the rain started exactly as we'd arrived at the spot from where we were supposed to probably start walking, on a country road through some woods.
- we waited a bit, hoping the rain would stop. haha.
-tried driving there, but the road was getting muddy etc.
-waited some more for the rain to stop.
-gave up and drove back. yep.

this would have been our daytrip, if there hadn't been a plan B:

dilapidated house in beautiful setting, as we were turning back from the storm. this is (obviously) when we first considered taking pictures that day

religious art in the village

so, the plan B was visiting a Hungarian village in the area, that sonia had heard stuff about. to compensate for the rain, karma sent another visiting party ahead of us, to ensure that the local church would be open when we arrive.

inside the fortifications:), and a nice traditional house beyond the wall (yes, i do get a kick out of saying "Beyond-the-Wall")

there were roses in every rose color, of which the girls took photos for...a while. 

my favourite bunch

inside the church: nice ceiling

and the requisite organ

this gigantic thing is a wreath made out of wheat ears, to celebrate harvest. apparently it's been in the church for the past 30 years...hanging from the ceiling. it's a bit scary but definitely makes a point. 

full view, to show size and shape

the house we saw from the churchyard

apparently there was a festival of traditional dance going on in the village, and we were approached by the owner of a sort of a boarding house who mentioned that he'd made part of his house into a mini village museum. we asked to visit if possible (of course), and this is where we went overboard with taking photos:

what's not to like

old painted furniture

old weaving machine 

old lamp, with new bulb

veranda

carving tools

carved stuff

the show-off room of the house 

detail from the woodwork outside

overpainted furniture

and there's more: the kitchen 

oven with traditional implements for making jam and kurtos-kalacs

more painted cupboard

this was in front of the actual guestrooms

more oven (better angle)

so if you ever want to see these things for yourselves, just go to:

first line is the romanian name of the village; the following two lines, its Hungarian equivalent. try to say that very fast 3 times in a row. 

success of plan B made us ambitious enough to attempt one more stop, this time in the town of huedin (population 5401).

take this for urban landscape

alas, the church was closed, but we walked around it a bit

these deer are disturbed by the imminent destruction of the park they live in

and we brought the rain to cluj. when i got back home and was buying tomatoes on my block, everybody was like "omg it's been so sunny today but there's a storm coming". just great.