20 Jun 2014 Sibiu to Timisoara

20 Jun 2014 Sibiu to Timisoara
We are up early and head over to Casa Romana I for breakfast.  As we walk, we realize how close both pensiune (hotels) are to the gara (station) when you are walking, not driving.  Breakfast is an made-to-order omelet, some salad, bread, and coffee.
Back to our pensiune to complete check out and leave our bags at the office.  First stop is the synagogue, which opens for tours at 9 am.  We are there promptly at 9:15 and spend a half hour touring this beautiful property.
We walk back in, past Casa Romana.  Across the street from the St. Ursuline Church is Placintaria Deo Gratias.  This a real downhome eatery, the way great-grandma cooked in her kitchen. We order two placintas, a potato and a spinach.  Superb.  Too bad we already had a full breakfast.  We spend some time chatting with the locals and promise to encourage Lonely Planet to list this place. The proprietress taken time to write down all the restaurant details.
By now the Ursuline Church is open, so we go in and look around.  It was founded by the Dominican monks in the 15th century.  It is more plain, and has a more Catholic feel than the Orthodox churches we have seen.
We head back uphill into Piata Mare. Since it is before 10:30 am, when the behemoth buses disgorge passengers, it has less of a tourist feel.  We pass a place that serves gulas (goulash) for 15 lei and promise ourselves gulas for lunch later, when we are again hungry.
We walk to Piata Huet.  While we are standing there, a gentleman comes up and asks if we speak German.  He explains that he is Sachsen (Saxon), and that there is a substantial Sachsen presence is this part of Romania.  He gives the German/Sachsen names for all of these towns: Cluj = Klaussenburg, Klossenbrigge; Brasov = Kronstadt; Sibiu = Hermannstadt; Sighisoara = Scheszburg; Sebes = Muhlbach.  Of note: Sibiu was the Roman Cibinium. While Mike is chatting, Carol buys a book at kiosk and picks up some volumes being offered gratis (more weight in our backpack? bring it on!).
It is getting on toward 11 am. We leave Piata Huet for a view of Biserica Evanghelica, which  isunder renovation and therefore closed.  However, there is a small food and craft market. Carol buys some knitted items from a booth run by a co-op supporting battered women of Sibiu.  Across, a vendor is selling preserves and "sirop de soc."  Another vendor explains that "soc" means "flowers of the elder tree."  The Latin name for Lobeda is atriplex (Latin).  Now all we need to do is look up atriplex.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atriplex is not helpful)
It is close to 11:30 am and we wish to go to the Cibin market to the west of the center.  We walk down a street to the WSW. Mirabile Dictu: we are free of tourists.  It is almost as if the tourists are confined in an invisible fence.  You walk 50 m away from the fence, and there are no more tourists.  "Sibiu, so nice you need to walk away from it." We walk down Str. Mitropoliei and pass a lavishly decorated car.  The owner said she bought it that way, nothing she did herself. 
A few more feet and we are at the Cathedral.  It was built between 1902 and 1906.  Not as richly painted as some we have seen, but full  of beauty notwithstanding.
We turn west down hill, pass by Beijing Restaurant.  It is closed.  Rats. Mike is once again foiled in his quest for Romanian Chinese food. Carol is not-so-secretly relieved.
Noon. We are at the busy busy open air market.  We buy some cheese, salami, and two small pieces of smoked fish.  (Oh, how Mike has missed his smoked fish.)  Also: carrots, radishes, cherries, and peaches.  After all, we have a long train ride ahead of us this afternoon.  The tomatoes here, as in most of Romania, have pointed ends.  There are a number of flowers and herbs for sale that we can't identify.
There is a vendor here on the side selling vegetable soup to market vendors and customers, so we order a bowl.  Also some cooked mushrooms, some pickled tomatoes, and some bread.  For less than 10 lei, we have a great lunch.  So much for the 15 lei per serving gulas.
It is after 1 pm, and time to start heading back.  We pass a map showing Hermannstadt (Sibiu-Cibinium) in 1650, when it was a walled city.
As we climb back to the Piatas we see our first tourists in the last 2+ hours.
We get in about 45 minutes of internet.  This internet café is across from a tattoo parlor that is part of the International Tattoo Festival starting later this week (there is a Fashion Festival this week; we have seen a few models here and there, but no models with tattoos).
We have missed seeing what remains of the walls and turrets of Sibiu, the Ethnographic Museum, the open-air folk village museum (with the Romanian blouse exhibition) - but we have broken free of Tourist-stan.
Finished with our posts, we grab an ice cream and hustle back to the pension.  We leave about 3:20 but, now that we know what we are doing, it takes less than 8 minutes to walk to the train station. We arrive with plenty of time for our 1545 train.
This train will get into Timisoara just before 2300.
We have a 5 seat compartment all to ourselves, but there is a family of 3 with a rambunctious 9-11 yr old boy behind us -- the whole trip.
The trip takes 7 hours, so we attack our food with pretty good success.  About 7 pm, we pass through Deva, with its striking citadel.  Too bad that we didn't have time to stop.  A little later, we pass by a large power plant with three large smokestacks, and some towers that look nuclear.
Night falls, and finally we are in Timisoara.
In Timisoara, we board the 8 tram, as we have been instructed by the guidebook.  Two locals tell us where to get off.  From there, a 5 lei taxi ride gets us to Pensiune Casa Leone a little after 11 pm.  The hosts are waiting up for us, and we settle in.  And to bed.