Speaking Romanian with our hosts

Here are our hosts, Audrey and James, speaking Romanian. And very well, too!
Good job!

Bonjour, Normandie!

Here are just a few of the scenes that stayed in my heart after the visit to France. I will keep in mind the spring-like light and the thin veil of the mist, the rain and the sun, the sound of the sea, the taste of the delicious food, the flavours of this beautiful place.
More photos in the TS photogallery...and more to come.

Golden

For a comparison, here is how our autumn looks so far: golden, with a honey-like light, with a bitterish smell of dead leaves and smoke. Strange, how each season has its own smell. Very typical and very strong: you get out of the house and all you can say is :"It smells like winter (or autumn, or spring). " The winter has a cold, metallic smell, like snow and frost; the spring a sweeter one, full of hope, like a warm breeze and the autumn a melancholic one.

Here is a nice song called :Emotie de toamna" ("Autumn Emotion"). The lyrics belong to one of our greatest modern poets, Nichita Stanescu. It mainly says that this is the season when we most need tenderness, the shelter the others can offer, to fight our fears.

Rainy autumn

For a dry town, autumn showers are a present although streets get empty. But the air is cleaner, the smell fresher and the walk nicer. This is how my street looked on Monday morning.

I went into the Water House to see a picture exhibition and to take shelter from the heavy rain. And I saw this machine that was used to take water out of wells.

And one of the most popular streets in Ávila: The Life and Death Street2, completely empty. Just the man that is crossing.
But it was a peaceful autumn walk.