15 Jun 2014 Cluj-Napoca

15 Jun 2014 Cluj-Napoca
Our train is scheduled to leave at 8:17 am.  We are carrying lots of food from shopping the day before, and are well fortified.  We return the laptop to the desk, and turn in our key.
The train is on time.  We are assigned to an 8 person compartment.  There is already one other passenger inside.  She moves to one corner and we take the window seats.  Although she said she spoke English and is going all the way from Suceava to Arad, we hardly exchange a word during the 7 hour trip.
Time to soak in the country scenery.  Up to now, we have seen pyramid shaped hay bales formed around a vertical central pole.  Now we also see some hayricks, with the hay laid over a horizontal framework.  Maybe the primary grass is different here.  Who knows?  At one point we take a photo of what appears to be a tandoor-like oven in someone's back yard.  Other than polishing off some of our packed food, it is a totally uneventful train ride.  Time to read and sleep.
We arrive in Cluj at 3:18 pm, right on time.  Our former seatmate will probably not get to Arad until 9 pm.  In the station we buy our train tickets for Sighisoara for tomorrow's trip.  Then we put on our backpacks, and head toward tonight's hotel.
Our walk is approximately 1/2 km uphill.  We pass lots of impressive houses, something called the Chill Tea House, and a hostel.  Our sidewalk has wide shallow steps; we gravitate to walking in the road for convenience.
The Seven Hotel has received its name because seven streets meet at the traffic center in front.  We check in, pay 150 lei ($46.50).  We also arrange to use the computer in the hotel office.  We take our luggage up to our room, a little faded (but still nice and quiet).  We had out and walk down to the town center.  We cross a little creek to a compact center.
The city's double name, Cluj-Napoca, hints at its Greco-Roman roots: it was mentioned by Ptolemy; became a city during the reign of Emperor Hadrian; Marcus Aurelius elevated it to a colony.  Some pedigree.  Today Cluj is a city filled with universities and students.  Even the graffiti is more literate.  At its center is the large Piata Unirii.  Just northwest is a restaurant, Matei Corwin, that we read about in a blog.  We were feeling exhausted, so we stopped for a frappe and an iced coffee, which contained ice cream and chocolate.  Hit the spot.
Suitably refreshed, we walked into the small neighborhood northwest of the piata.  We stumbled onto a newly erected (May 2014) holocaust memorial in a park.  We take out some of our printouts.  They indicate a synagogue on the next street over.  We briefly walk back and forth, but are unsuccessful in finding it.
A few blocks onward to the south, we pass a student center.  There are large crowds milling about.  Apparently, many students have just received their diplomas.  These mortarboard wearing young people are surrounded by family and friends.  Boffo business for flower sellers, who have set up shop close by in abundance.  We duck into the student center for a quick WC visit, and a search for posting of current happenings.
Our guidebook indicates a large cemetery a few blocks away.  It is supposed to contain a Jewish section in the northeast corner.  We enter the cemetery which turns out to be almost completely Hungarian.  After all, you just don't bury Hungarians and Romanians together.  Off in the far corner, separated by a wall, are the graves of the Jewish cemetery.  There is no access from the rest of the cemetery, however, it appears to be accessible through a building on an adjoining street.
It is now 6:30 pm.  We are hungry.  We exit the cemetery and head back to Restaurant Matei Corwin.  On the way we pass through Piata Unirii.  We dicover that it is the site of an ice cream festival.  Romanian term for a scoop (50 g) is "glob".  Globs away!  The ice cream looked so good that we each had a 2 glob cone, and then, from a different vendor, a 1 glob cone each.  First time for cantalope ice cream, a real winner.  Life is uncertain, so eat your dessert first, before dinner.
According to the Cluj blogger (a techie who terms Cluj the techie capital of Romania and compares it to Silicon Valley) the pork knuckle, both on the bone and off, is not to be missed.
We order (we think) a 5.90 lei 100 g portion of pork knuckle on the bone, a 7.90 lei 100 g portion of pork knuckle w/o bones, a portion of potato salad, and a portion of cabbage salad.  You also have to order your condiments, so we order a single portion of horseradish and a single portion of mustard.  Of course, we also order a single beer.  The total price should have been about 30 lei.
The menu was confusing, and the waitress is a bit flustered to be dealing with Ehglish.  What we are served turns out to be 200 g of pork knuckle w/o bones and a portion of potato salad, horseradish and mustard for each of us.  Only one beer, and one cabbage salad are served.  We don't think in grams, so we gobbled it all up.  The horseradish was strong, and the mustard just right.  All in all a winner.  The food was very tasty, and we were very happy, until a bill came for 58.60 lei.  We called the manager who reduced it to 53 lei after we explained the mixup.  All during our meal, on the outside terrace, we watched happy relaxed people stream by.  Lots of ice cream eaters.  Lots of kids with balloons.  A very mellow scene.
We walked back to the Seven Hotel, where the reception was kind enough to open up the office and let us use the computer for 1:20.  Around 10:15 pm, it was time to go to bed.  We watch Mezzo TV for a while, and then lights out.