La Multi Ani Romania! and Gollum

La Multi Ani Romania! On December 1st we celebrated the unification of Romania. It was very different from Independence Day in the USA, but I liked it still. Here is a little history of THE GREAT UNION DAY. Romania celebrates the unification of 1918 during the reign of King Ferdinand I. Romania - made of Moldova and Wallachia at the time- was united with Transylvania, Crisana, Banat and the Maramures (Romania almost doubled its territory with this unification.) In 1940, after the war and the Molotov-Ribentrop pact, Moldova (Basarabi) and Bucovina went to the Soviet Union, Calrilaterarea went to Bulgaria, and the North of Transylvania went to Hungary.  In 1947, the Paris Peace Treaty re-established Romania's sovereign rights over Transylvania. This morning, we went to a military parade, which is usual for this holiday. It was so serious and quiet and all the military stuff in the parade was cool.

I especially liked visiting the City Center, Piata Libertatii. There are a whole bunch of small cabins set up which are selling food, trinkets, Romania stuff, and decorations for Christmas. There are lights everywhere, and they had an all-day concert. It was pretty awesome. They also had a firework show, which was really good, except they didn't have music, like we have when we watch them on July 4th on the Palouse. But it was fun to watch. All and all, it was great day. I am not sure though if they were celebrating just the Romanian unification, or the start of Christmas season. Maybe it was both.  Might as well just combine everything, right? In other words, economize.

We also learned how to use these crazy stilts. In Romania, they are called piciorange, stemmed from the word for leg. It was brilliant! They were really hard for me to get use to. Each one weighed 16 lbs (I think that's right.) I couldn't keep them straight very well. (Apparently, I walk funny, so now I have something I need to fix.) They were really fun. I felt like a dinosaur, but who wouldn't? Well, maybe most people wouldn't feel like that, but I definitely did. We also had to take this picture next to 'Gollum'. That was a must!! Whoah I just realized the Hobbit comes out this next coming week. That is going to be so cool. Everyone better go see it for me!