So hot in July. We are now under a dome of fire. A newer and, unfortunately, very unpleasant weather phenomenon. I have not tried to understand the phenomenon but from what I have heard, it is as if there is a dome over some areas that keeps the air warm. Without it circulating, which makes the excessive heat stays in one place for a long time.
I don't know how others react to excessive heat but I can't seem to move or if I do, I do it very slowly and with effort. I'm telling this to explain why I'm writing my post so late for #MarketFriday, @dswigle's popular challenge.
For this week, I have made it my goal to visit a museum I haven't seen in years. The museum is located in the center of the city, in University Square. The square I told about in my last post: It Was The Most Famous Square In This Town.
The heat was high so the metro was the only option for travel. Here is the station at University Square, just a few steps to the museum.
Going up the escalator from the subway that leads directly to the museum. The museum building is a former palace, called Sutu Palace, built in 1835.
Visiting this museum you do two things at the same time, you visit an old building, unchanged for almost two hundred years and you can visit different exhibitions. Because there are permanent exhibits but also many exhibits that live for a limited time.
I really want to see an exhibition that should be gone but thankfully still is. It's about objects from the Gumelnite culture. On the current territory of Romania, there were two ancient cultures, very ancient, between 8000 - 6500 years old.
The Cucuteni and Gumelnite cultures.
Could the heat be to blame?
Or maybe some kind of a demon? Because access to the museum is so easy, just ten meters from the subway exit. So easy, yet it didn't happen. Because the question came up... Do we drink coffee now or after we visit the museum? A question that shouldn't have been asked, because to such questions I always answer coffee first.
We walked slowly past the museum and took the path to our favorite cafe, a few hundred meters further on, just long enough to cross University Square. Reason to take a few photos that ended up in my post from a few days ago (mentioned above), so I won't show them here. Now I want to show you how I got to the little cafe.
It is a very short street between University Square and the National Bank of Romania. It's called Academiei Street! The street with the café.
A street of contrasts, with a few new shops but also the area on the left, the columns, less attractive. It has remained so for many years, preferred by homeless people who sleep at night behind these columns.
The most obvious contrast is between the buildings, on the right side is an abandoned building, a building that would not withstand an earthquake and because of this is no longer inhabited. And at the end of the street, we can see the imposing and renovated building of the National Bank.
And across the street is the café. The one that was preferred to the museum.
And in the cafe, it was just that...
Good and great cappuccino. What we chose is the medium size, I'm still afraid to get the larger version. I promise that the day after tomorrow after we visit the museum, I'll get the larger cappuccino...
Because after coffee we decided to postpone visiting the museum until Sunday. My concern is that on Sunday I will also go to the café and I can't be sure if the museum will come in after coffee...
This walk was done with a purpose. To visit a museum and gather material for the #MarketFriday post. I missed the Museum of the Municipality of Bucharest, but luckily I found another kind of museum on my way home!
Apart from the cafe I have a favorite flower shop in Bucharest. Unfortunately, far from my home, and because of this, I can rarely get there. About once a month. It's called Tria's!
Recently I had a big surprise. a Very big surprise. This flower shop exists in my neighborhood, less than half an hour's walk away. So, on the way home I made a stop at the flower shop. Yes, it's here, next to me, I found with amazement. I was so stunned that I forgot to photograph the location from the outside. Now I can show you a little of what I can buy. Because it's #marketFriday and there's at least one transaction to be made.
Well, it really was a surprise! A large, flower-filled space with a pleasant floral scent and a perfect damp coolness in contrast to the heat outside. The young girls who look after the place are pleasant, kind, and beautiful. Truly a place you never want to leave.
Both out of a desire to freshen up and a desire to buy something for our home, we set out to look carefully for flowers. I really liked a collection of begonias with colorful leaves.
Not just flowers, but all kinds of ceramic vases. Vases where flowers can be planted. These are the best, much better than the plastic ones.
I liked the decorative leafy plants best. They are some plants that grow very well indoors. I've also seen some interesting arrangements with these plants that I want to take inspiration from and do something similar at home.
Time flies in a place like this. We had to leave, not before taking another look around.
When you walk into a flower shop, it's hard to walk out empty-handed. That's what happened to us. I want to show you what we bought, in the spirit of this challenge.
This time I bought plants just for leaves. These two...
....each cost $7.
I really like Mediterranean plants and aromatic plants.
This basil cost $1.
The main choice was this hydrangea. We bought it to plant in our small yard.
It was the most expensive, $11.
Always a flower, always a flower at the end, at least in this challenge, #alwaysaflower!
Of course, also from this flower shop I found it so close to my house.
