Monday, June 9 Timisoara

Today started well, but descended into disaster in the afternoon. We left pretty much on time at 8, but getting through the city traffic was slow going and we were about 45 minutes late arriving in Bethausen. We blitzed the cemetery, but the twins, who were really looking forward to this one, didn’t find anybody. Meanwhile, Sorin had found the man who could open the church, so we stopped in there for a while. So, even though our cemetery investigation was not very successful, they still had the experience of walking in their ancestors’ shoes.

We got back to Timisoara about 12, two hours behind the plan, and decided that the hotel was as good a place as any for a bathroom break. I suggested to Sorin that we should grab a sandwich before going out again but, being European (they eat a late lunch if they eat any at all), he thought we could do that when we got back from our next stop. It took more than an hour to get across town to the hotel, have our break, and get across town en route to our next stop. By the time we reached Blumenthal, we were 1.5 hours behind the plan. We would have to go through Timisoara again to get to our next stop and, considering the time of day, would arrive too late to do anything worthwhile, so Sorin suggested that we adjust our schedule to go further north to the Maria Radna Cathedral in Lipova, then take better roads back to Timisoara to call it a day and add the rest of today’s stops to tomorrows itinerary. Theoretically this seemed like a good plan, but we ran into road construction and were stuck for half an hour while nothing moved in either direction.

We toured the impressive cathedral and returned to Timisoara, arriving at the hotel at 7 to spend another evening in the restaurant. We were all quite famished, having not eaten since 7 am!

I was quite impressed at the improvement in the road since our last visit two years ago. The road east from Timisoara has been completely rebuilt for most of its length. However, you still have to pass through many small towns and construction zones, there are many slow vehicles on the very busy road, and the country road that comprised the last third of our trip to Bethausen was still pretty bad in spots. The road to Blumenthal had not been upgraded yet and was narrow and very rough. Roads in the city have not kept pace with the growth and modernization of the city. They just don’t have the capacity for all the traffic. Sorin said that the city is growing explosively. They have a labour shortage even more severe than Saskatchewan’s.

Today was another beautiful day with a late afternoon shower, but we spent most of it on the bus.