Happy Birthday Moldova

August 27, 2016 11:59 PM | Anonymous member

Our day started with a great breakfast of granola with lots of dried fruit and warm milk and coffee and bread then a small piece of chocolate. Yum!

  Today is Independence Day and the city will be celebrating. We took a taxi to the city center to meet the group. We had a little extra time and were able to visit  an Orthodox Church. It was beautiful inside and we enjoyed the choir for a few minutes.

  Next was the parade. We joined the crowds to watch military troops from neighboring countries and all different sections of the Moldovan army, Special Forces, and presidential security. Just as much fun was interacting with the policemen. They had brought in 6000 officers from all over the country and they were shoulder to shoulder

to shoulder lining the parade . We had fun talking to the officers in front of us in our only common language- Spanish.

  Next we walked to the History Museum. It had artifacts going back to prehistoric times and followed the history of Moldova through ages including Roman civilization and the Middle Ages, Soviet occupation and to the present.

  It was time for lunch so we walked to a restaurant named 'Draft' and had a delicious meal of chicken soup, chicken stuffed with bacon, mashed potatoes, salad, and specially made lemonades. And dessert was cheesecake, brownies and ice cream.

  Now it was time for "City Quest" , a game to help us learn about Chisinau. We divided into 4 teams of 4  Americans and 2 Moldovans. We were each given 10 photos of well known places in Chisinau and we were to find them by asking the locals to give us directions. We had fun interacting with the people on the street and most were very helpful and some even offered to take us to our destination. We learned a lot about the city and I think we walked about 10K! We had a few extra minutes before we had to meet the other teams and were able to watch some of the folk dancing in the main square.

  Dinner was next on the schedule and we went to "La Placinta" for a wonderful Moldovan meal. Mariana was our host and toasted each of us individually. Food was plentiful and delicious. Cheese Placinta, salad, cabbage rolls, grilled veggies, polenta, chicken, and much more. Of course wine was poured liberally and the food just kept coming! We were treated to a wonderful performance by 4 young women singing tradition songs. They had such lovely voices.

  It was time to head home to finish the celebration. Our apartment is on the 15th floor of a building on a hill overlooking the city and we could watch the fireworks from the balcony and enjoy a bit of cognac.

  Happy Birthday Moldova! 

© Friendship Force of Sacramento
Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software