The museum had been closed for twenty years because the building itself was in such sad shape. It officially reopened November 4th of this year.
The museum contains the works of Moldovan artists.
The building itself has been beautifully restored.
Inside the Moldova National Museum of Art.
Gloria and Ruth, looking at the art.
Looking out the window.
Huh??
As with any art museum, there is some stuff we just don't get. I guess we're not culturally refined enough!
After that, we were all a little hungry and decided to go for lunch. Gloria was born in Chisinau, and has lived here her entire life, so she knows the good places! Also, she is fluent in Romanian, Russian, and English. A good person to have as a friend around here!
La Placinte Restaurant.
There are several of these La Placinte restaurants in the city of Chisinau. Gloria says she often brings guests to them because they have a good selection, the food is consistently good, and although it's not the cheapest, it's still reasonably priced.
There are about five pages of selections like this.
Oddly, all three of us chose one of the selections on the right page. I guess we're all on the same page!
Mamaliga (polenta) with cream and cheese on the left, with veggies and turkey breast.
Delicious!
Ruth had the salmon casserole with mushrooms and cheese and potatoes.
Again, delicious!
Gloria had the minced turkey cutlets. I didn't get a photo of hers. We each had a compote fruit drink. Total bill for the three of us, including tip was 361 lei ($25.50 CAD, $18.50 USD).
From there, Gloria was off to teach an English class, so Ruth and I went for a walk. Temperature was hanging around the freezing mark, and the sun had barely came out. We're not getting the nicest weather, and it's been colder than normal for this time of year. It's not bad to put up with this for a couple of days, but it reminds us (me especially) that we don't like the cold! Yes, we're dressed for it, and it's not unexpected...but a few degrees warmer would be nice!
Out for a walk in Valea Morilor Park in Chisinau, Moldova
Typical soviet era apartment block.
There are some new buildings going up though.
And some old relics.
Typical main street in Chisinau.
I have mentioned before that Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. Most of that is evidenced in the sometimes run down condition of the infrastructure. Roads and sidewalks are not in the best of shape. But the public bus system is being improved, and they even have free wifi on some of the buses.
Typical sidewalk.
Sidewalk in Chisinau.
Safety first.
As in Mexico, only you are responsible for where you put your feet.
One of the newer buses.
This "new" building is right downtown on the main drag.
It's been sitting in this unfinished condition for about five years.
The Moldova Parliament Building.
Moldova flag.
This morning, we're off to pick up our rental car. We plan to stay here in Moldova until the evening of December 14th when we'll take the overnight train back to Bucharest. So we've decided to keep the car rental for that entire 9 day period.
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Fantastic deal on the Oral B electronic toothbrush...
Now I understand the piece of art at the museum (you know, the one that Kevin captioned it "huh?"). The piece looked like a pot hole in a poorly patched road with oily water in the pot hole. Then after you finished the museum tour, you showed me the state of disrepair of the roads and sidewalks. I think the artist was trying to express his displeasure to the public of the poor transportation infrastructure. There was no way one could find beauty in that piece of art. Maybe someone else can come up with a better interpretation. NOW, those beautiful plates of food at lunch were works of art!!
ReplyDeleteWell you are sorta close with your "interpretation" on that piece of art when you said it looked like oily water in a pot hole. The title was something about a volcano! Yes, the roads and sidewalks aren't in great shape but what Kevin neglected to say is that we are seeing lots of work going on to repair them but it will take time. We are actually quite impressed with how modern Chisinau is to what we were expecting.
DeleteWe agree, the plates of food were pieces of art and they tasted wonderful!
You paid $18.50 US for all three dinners, inc tip? Wowzers, what a bargain. I'm with you guys on the continual cold ... a few days, okay, but then I want some warmer temps. It's nice and warm in Sydney! :-)
ReplyDeleteWe really did spend only that much for our three meals, and they were delicious! Definitely a bargain for us but it would be more expensive to some of the Moldovan people as they have much lower wages here.
DeleteYep, we have almost had enough of the cold weather! We are looking forward to some warmer weather once we get to southern Spain next month. :-) Glad you are enjoying some nice sunny weather and good temperatures.
What a wonderful looking lunch you had and good prices as well.
ReplyDeleteThe new busses look like they are electric.
It was an excellent lunch and we loved the prices.
DeleteYes the buses, actually trams are electric but they also have regular gas/diesel buses too. They have a great public transportation system here and it gets well used.
Those wine keepers or people who store their wine probably should donate some money to fix roads, sidewalks. The Soviet apartment blocks actually look sturdy from the outside but what do they look like inside I wonder? I agree lunch was very reasonable for the food bought...food looks good. I live in Phoenix, AZ & it doesn't get very cold in winter. To experience 'cold' weather, we vacationed in Alaska in winter one year. It was great! We even took a tour flight over the majestic mountains all covered in snow and saw mountain sheep/goats, moose, antelope from the plane...awesome!
ReplyDeleteWho knows maybe they are! :-) We have noticed a lot of roadwork going on both here in the city and on the bus coming from the Romanian border to Chisinau, so it looks like they are improving it, it will just take time.
DeleteThe apartment blocks do look sturdy but in some places the concrete is crumbling away. If you look back to when we got to Bucharest at the beginning of November we took some pictures of the first place we stayed, that was in a Soviet style apartment. They are all different because they are all individually owned and you can fix it up how you like including the outside of your section of apartment. The one we are staying in right now, doesn't look like it has changed a lot over the years. So you could have your apartment all nice and modern inside and new windows and plastering on the outside and freshly painted but your next door neighbor's place could be falling apart. It is all very interesting!
It is a little colder here than we were expecting but we haven't let that stop us from having a good time and seeing all the places that we would like to see. Thank goodness we are Canadian and can deal with this cold and are dressed warmly. It is suppose to clear up and get a little warmer for the next few days. Late spring, summer and early fall would be the best time to visit though.
P.S. the 'huh?' photo in art museum look like a volcano or a crater but could be pot holes in roads as Dee suggested.
ReplyDeleteExactly what i was thinking. I was going with Crater Lake, OR. USA
DeleteVery well interpreted! The title did say something about a volcano.
DeleteWeather in Ottawa also around O-C. but we had 5 cm. of snow last night!
ReplyDeleteWell it was close to that yesterday when we first went out but it did warm up a little and it was a much clearer sky, no snow!
DeleteVery interesting day. Do not complain of your weather as cold we are here in Alberta sitting at -20c with drifting snow. Enjoy your adventure! Food looks incredible.
ReplyDeleteWe weren't complaining about the weather only stating that it is colder than what we were expecting for this time of year but we are dressed for it and we aren't letting it stop us from having a good time. Sure glad it isn't as cold as what you are getting otherwise we would be complaining about it. Hope things warm up for you, if not you better head south some where. ;-)
DeleteMmmmmm, those lunches looked fantastic. Nice to see something green on a plate there! :)
ReplyDeleteThey were delicious Emily! Yes, it's nice to see some veggies on the plate but no worries we are making sure that we are getting our share of veggies, especially when I am cooking back at the apartment. Also if the meal doesn't come with veggies then we order a vegetable soup and a salad which we will share.
DeleteKevin And Ruth , As we are planning our route through Mexico in 3 weeks time, I wish to thank you both for your effort into this blog. This year we plan to visit Valle de Bravo and then make our way down to the coast.
ReplyDeleteAll the best.
David and Marina
Thank you so much of the compliment David! We are so happy to see that you are headed for Valle de Bravo, we really do love it there and there is so much to do in the area. Say hi to "Chago" for us if you are staying at his marina. Also if you do you will probably meet Paco and Oty as well, they are a lot of fun. Safe travels to you both.
DeleteThe prices for transport, food and lodging are incredible. Really looks like our kind of place to visit. I am loving the food. How are they with gluten-free and vegetarian?
ReplyDeleteChris we would be inclined to think that the prices are even better here than in Mexico for us.
DeleteIn Romania we didn't have too much trouble finding gluten free food at the big grocery stores and some of the bigger restaurants had food marked with different allergies including wheat/gluten. It is a little harder here in Moldova finding gluten free food in the grocery store so we just buy lots of fresh food. Not really sure about vegetarian, I guess it depends on if cheese is included in that category or not because they do have lots of pastry foods that include cheese.
The museum is gorgeous. Quite the contrast to some of the other buildings and sidewalks/streets. I find it so interesting that they have polenta at so many meals. I could eat it every day, but never see it on the menu's where we live in the U.S. (other than Mexican restaurants).
ReplyDeleteThey did a great job on the renovations of the museum and they are slowly working on other historical buildings. Lots of work involved to bring them back to the beautiful stage that they once were. We have also notice many new and very modern buildings in the city. We don't think it will be long before Chisinau comes to the forefront as a very progressive city here in Europe.
DeleteThat's weird, I don't think I have ever seen polenta in Canada, USA or Mexico before.
Such a contrasts between old and new. So glad that you are enjoying your time there despite the weather.
ReplyDeleteYes, lots of contrast for sure! We are really noticing a lot of new buildings going up and very modern too, they could rival some of the new ones in Canada and the USA with no problem.
Delete