holiday home: around town

so i spent way more time that i had planned for in bistrita this year. living in a small town is strange.
it's not only me being snobbish...i know my montreal day-to-day is not exactly the peak of cosmopolitan lifestyle, but there are advantages i've gotten very used to:
- anonymity: no one knows me, except 4 or 5 friends, and it's 99% sure that i won't meet them randomly in the street, unless i've planned to meet them. lots of things come with this, but mainly, i can go to the marketplace in pyjamas, and sit on my porch at 4 am without wondering who saw me and how this would reflect on my family, blah.
- distance. in montreal, even if i take the same routes 5 days a week (work and back mostly), there is such an array of possibility. i can do it by metro, in 20 mins each way, or by bus, longer but more spectacular, or walk part of the way, or detour through parc ex, or go downtown from work, or take a walk along any of the streets i'm going to. or i can just decide to spend one whole day walking in a random direction, and when i can't take it anymore just get some means of transport back. there are always surprises, and always novelties. i can walk bistrita back and forth in all directions, within 2-3 days... but then, why?
- choice. pretty much stemnming from the above, plus another thing: the variety of groups and communities. in my short montreal life, i've been involved with TESL, spanish-speaking groups, coffee meet-ups, a writing circle, and the individual communities of me+friend. each of these is a new way of being/seeing. in bistrita "everybody knows me", but i've really only got my family.

whatever, during my time in bistrita i had some special advantages too:
1) being a visitor, i.e. not my circus, not my monkeys much, and
2) having lots of time to just sit and stare.
so i tried to take a look, because lots of things have changed after all, haven't they. all these pictures were taken in the course of about 3 days, still mid-june (before i calmed down and settled in front of the computer with coffee and tomatoes:)).

giant eggs in front of the old cathedral. these were easter decorations (i think they've removed them in the meantime) but i like them because they're painted with scenes from the life of the town itself....meta stuff, man)

so you can see on them the cathedral, the old houses, the defense towers...landscape...all that's missing are some eggs set around the cathedral

on this very empty afternoon (it was also very hot), as close to "downtown as it gets", the new generation is out having fun

new (to me) statue; later i discovered it was part of a whole cycle

the photographer's brother, the chained...worker?

and another weird statue hidden among blocks of flats

on the edge of the park, right in front of the block where my friend sorina used to live, an area that i've walked around SO MUCH, wham-bam there's this new square

...complete with miniature mock-ups of old/important buildings in the neighbourhood. this one is apparently the oldest church in town. also close by.
(need i say that actually everything in this town is pretty close to everything else? mmkay...)

sidewalks adorned with the coat of arms of the town (ostrich with a horseshoe in its beak)

also, amazing inserts with actual touristic route, taking one from the cathedral, by the towers of the various guilds of craftsmen that the old town used to have

goldsmiths' guild. 

the one tower that survived, coopers' guild

it was early noon when i took my walk, nobody was around...almost nobody.

lotuses on the lake in the park, another innovation (i mean the lake not the flowers) they've made since my last visit.

completely new to me, this is the schullerwald park right outside town, above the buildings of the former factories where my parents (and lots of people's parents) used to work. it's a forest! complete with hiking trails, barbecue spots and quaint-looking gazebos.

i love how the benches and everything share the same plant-friendly design

gazebo sample. also, i am dressed very plant-friendly-ly too. imagine my only concern of every day being what new assortment of clothes shall i put on.

same day, different location. in the central park here, on an extended walk with my mum. barefoot in the grass (too short and downtown-y for ticks, i imagine!)

and the small park next to my former school...and next to our apartment too...and next to lots of stuff, as i was saying.
all these implements are from wayy after my time; just the willow is a constant.

a citadel of cake and cream, very mittle-europe-style.

it was so good, you guys! this (cream cakes) is one thing i kind of miss in montreal. they do have cakes, but not exactly like THIS