Natavid Conquers the Balkans!!: Timišvarci!

We went to Timișoara, Timiș, Romania, which Serbs call Temišvar ("Tim-eee-shvar") on a day trip yesterday. This trip has been in the works since the day after we arrived in Beograd in late June. Getting a group this big organized and motivated for a sight-seeing tour in a Romanian border town is nothing short of a small miracle, and we pulled it off! The cast of characters: Ana and Vlada; Nikola and a different Vlada; Mirko, Iva and their friend, Duda; and of course, Natavid. We had an incredible time, laughed until it hurt, and ultimately made it home completely exhausted. Border crossings, beautiful Secessionist Architecture, sunflowers, cows, and an intense summer shower.. Aventura!

One thing I have come to admire about people in this part of the world is the priority they give to sitting down for coffee time. As an impatient Amerikanac, it was at first frustrating years ago, but now... Stopping halfway through the trip, just to sit at a cafe and drink an espresso? Of course we would do that, who wouldn't do that? (Notice in my eyes just how badly I needed that espresso, too).

And since we are here in Vršac drinking a coffee, we might as well walk to the end of the square and go check out that Neogothic cathedral from the late 19th century, right? Right.

Detail from above the main entrance.

I am not sure that the happiness on my face can be adequately explained... Shortly after crossing the Serbian/Romanian border, we saw some Romanian cows, and I waved, and they waved backed. I got excited because I have never seen a Romanian cow in person. Then, after parking at the local mall in Temišvar, there was another Romanian cow, ready to take a picture with me! Some boys just have all the luck.

Obligatory kitschy tourist trap market on the way over to the center of town.

Piaţa Victoriei, or Victory Square, an ode to the Romanian revolution against... someone, very likely the Hapsburgs, or the Ottoman Turks, or some other empire. Nevertheless, the Square was just incredibly beautiful.

So beautiful, in fact, that Vlada (left) and Nikola (right) felt compelled to jump, and I just managed to catch it spontaneously in what is definitely not a carefully orchestrated photo. Actually, this is the third jumping photo and Nikola pretty much broke his toe on the landing, which made using the clutch on the drive home painful for him. But look at that perfect jump!

The square, unadulterated with jumpers, in all its beauty.

A pretty fountain. Probably has a name, but we called it "The pretty fountain in the square."

The giant Orthodox Cathedral with a very interesting roof, located at the far end of Victory Square.

The dudes, Mirko (above) and Vlada (below), were fond of pointing and using very commanding gestures about which way we should go next, which direction was south, and where the rain was going to come from, etc.

Certain aspects of masculinity are definitely trans-cultural and I am confident that orienteering is one of those tendencies, which means that Mirko has the photo of me pointing off into the distance on his camera...

Piaţa Unirii, or Union Square, was very large and seemed to be much more informal than Victory Square. The alternative crowd preferred this more relaxed environment. A young, local couple took a group photo for us here while speaking very comprehensible English, just before the teenage girl with green hair and roller blades sat and observed us with a bemused look on her face.

And then, the rain came! Oh boy, did the rain come! We found ourselves trapped in a residential area, running for cover with no public spaces around. Finally, we found a little hotel whose staff was gracious enough to let us mill around the lobby with the German tourists until the downpour let up a bit. Those not pictured hid out under somebody's balcony.

The rain, though predicted ahead of time, certainly put a bit of a damper on some of the beauty of the city, but only until I discovered that I could take Puddle Pictures!:

It was a bit treacherous because cars would rudely drive by and disrupt my compositions, getting the camera wet if I wasn't careful.

We had such a fun adventure that we felt like we should share our story with the world. Thus, began the development of the pilot Serbian television series, Temišvarci! which is an amusing and probably mildly offensive collective noun that we made up for people who dwell in Temišvar. Here are some scenes from the opening credits:

Each character's stance and expression clues you in to their personality on the show... For example, Nikola is the thoughtful straight-man to Mirko's comedic mishaps, while Vlada in the striped shirt is the tough guy, and Vlada to the right is timid and has some lessons to learn about self determination. Natalija is always lost in her own side story, and Ana and Iva are the practical and good-natured co-matriarchs of the gang... Unfortunately, Duda didn't test well with focus groups which is why she is mostly obscured by the other characters.