Ludmilla Visits

Ludmilla and Sally were traveling around Europe and decided to add us to their itinerary. After touring up in Brasov, they spent a night in downtown Bucharest and we got to enjoy an afternoon with them. They took us to Caru' cu bere for a delicious lunch. What an incredible location!

We enjoyed a delicious lunch and then ate papanasi for dessert. This is traditional donuts with fruit compote and cream.

We shared one each and thought they were exquisite.

I loved seeing Ludmilla. She was the secretary for the DTA in Hong Kong while we served there. Then Paul Hansen moved to Frankfurt where he is our DTA now. She moved to be the secretary for Mickey Lui, who was running Humanitarian Aid. Now he is replacing Chad Furness as the new DTA.

We stopped by the new Orthodox Church that is being built near the JW Marriott Hotel. It's due to be finished in October and has required quite a bit of money from the Orthodox Church and the Romanian government.

Here is the church from our apartment. It needs to be a clear day to see the golden top.

We walked by the Parliament building, but Ludmilla and Sally had visited the inside the day before. We had to get home to fill out some legal paperwork by the end of the day. But we really enjoyed a beautiful day with friends!

Walking around the Lake

Down the street from us is Lacul Herăstrău. The lake was created by draining a marshy area on the outskirts of the city between 1930 and 1935. The architect of this change was Nicolae Caranfil, who electrified Bucharest and developed its water and sewage network, and who designed the ponds around the capital into a wonderful chain of lakes. 

Our apartment is in the upper left at the Escape Residence. So we crossed the railroad tracks and followed the nicely manicured paths around the whole lake. Here is my Garmin record:

On a warm spring day, there are no better views.

Ducks and turtles are sharing this sunning log.

When we returned home we found a swarm of bugs of epic proportions.

Can you see them?

I was kind of exhausted after this walk. We need to get out more and hit 15K steps regularly.

Easter Conference

 President and Sister Fowler arranged a conference so that all the missionaries could celebrate Easter. We had two hours of reading the scriptures of Holy Week and activities to accompany each one. 

The missionaries enjoyed cracking each other's eggs.

Sister Schneiter died dozens of eggs for us to use.

Branch Conference in Bacau

 We were invited to join Bacau for Branch Conference in Sunday so we traveled on Saturday to enjoy the city for a while. There are a few thrift shops which are fantastic and a pizza place with real Italians.

Our hotel had the most amazing olive tree. I wonder how old it is.

After conference, the wonderful sisters brought food for a luncheon. We enjoyed chicken and sarmale, potatoes and rolls, and delicious cake.

Romanian tradition at Easter is to use hard boiled eggs to play a game. Each takes an egg and hits it against the one of the opponent. If your's cracks, you lose.

Elder Magarrell conducted the meeting and translated for me as I taught Sunday School. He was so impressive. I even loved his thrifted tie.

Garden Touring

 We spent a few hours touring a garden downtown by the Panduri chapel. It was just $3 to enter, and though it was a cold day, we still enjoyed walking the acres of garden.

All of these items are great for orchard mason bees. They were very busy while we watched.

The greenhouse was amazing. I really would love to have something like it where I can sit and enjoy hot chocolate.

I have never seen crown imperials in person, only in catalogs.

Grape hyacinths make me smile because they are so small and intricate.

This corylus contorta reminds me of my own curly willow. Try not to look at the seed pods; you'll see the curly wood.

I remember these tulips from years of visiting La Conner.

I asked Paul to take my picture in front of this incredible magnolia.

At the bus stop, this little guy was waiting for a ride.

Weeding for Fun

 We were invited to a weeding service project on Friday at a sister's home just outside the city. We picked up a companionship of sisters at the Mihai Bravu building and headed there with gloves and packed lunches.

Nothing tastes as good as a fresh apple after a few hours of hard work.

Sister Nye and Sister Pack are great to work with!