Monochrome Walk

I remember the long walks with pleasure. When we had nothing better to do because we were away from home, where most of our worries and duties remained.

The happy chance to move to another city, sudden and impetuous but, above all, totally unexpected. I received a job offer in a city more than 400 km from my home.

The great joy was that I lived for a year in a city where I had never been before, a city smaller than Bucharest but I can say that it was nicer and much more pleasant to live with a semi-tourist status.

The city is called Iasi and it is an important city of Romania, historically, culturally, and touristically. It resembles Rome in one respect, namely that it is surrounded by seven hills. The similarity stops here.

The advantage of being an unfamiliar city is that it pushed us to take long walks, in all directions, to see all it has to offer. Most of the walks were in the Copou district, which is on a hill, where there are many parks and the famous botanical garden.

Everyone goes to Copou, by different means of transport, we, on foot, some with bicycles...

Before reaching the parks we made a stop for our peace and quiet through the hall of lost steps, i.e. the hall of the University, the first university in Romania, built in the 19th century.

Not knowing what awaited us in the park and with the thought of having enough energy to spend as much time as possible outside, on the streets, and in the parks, we fell prey to the various culinary offerings strategically placed in the path of our walks.

But what awaits us in the park? A real culinary festival in the alleys. It was probably a tradition for such events but we didn't know and regretted eating before we got there. I took the opportunity to observe the people, most of them thinking about food and thus more oblivious to what was going on around them. So many didn't notice me when I photographed.

Heavy food, cooked in a pot. Lots and lots of meat and lots and lots of beer. Less recommended for children, but they have something to buy. Especially ice cream. Ice cream is also a favourite of those who are no longer children in appearance but are still children at heart.

For the weary, we have already seen a very interesting bench.

Young people walk, play sports and tell stories from school...

... and for the mature, who tire faster, there are plenty of places to rest.

It was a nice surprise this walk in Copou park. Our intention was to visit the Botanical Garden but we gave up when we saw what the park had to offer. The Botanical Garden will follow in the next few days and it will happen many, many times!