Salt Mine

Saturday, June 11, 2011, we slept in, ate breakfast, and hit the road with Alina’s brothers, Marius and Bebe, and Augustina, Marius’ wife.  We drove to a small town called, Slanic, and visited the Unirea Salt Mine!  It is 208 meters (682 ft.) below the Earth’s surface and it is huge!  It remains 12 degrees C (53 F) year round and was utilized for it’s salt reserves in 1943.  Now it’s used for tourism.  There are huge caverns that remind of the Lord of the Rings (Mines of Moria-- yeah, I’m a Tolkien geek) and it’s cold enough for a jacket.  We saw kids playing soccer and using the floor for a big-wheel track. 

After coming back into the light, we drove to Ploesti and cooked mici [meech] (Romanian sausage) in a beautiful park.  It rained, we saw wedding photo shoot, and I attempted to get a free accordion song from a tipsy gypsy (didn’t even mean to rhyme).  I’m pretty sure he was insulting me in his song for being cheap.  Here’s the lyrics:

“My love you are my life

give money, give money to the singer

because the tip is not big

but it’s your pride to give

my love, you are my life”

I ended up going back with 3 mici and a small tip.  I felt weird being in an outside bar surrounded by a bunch of laughing, drinking men speaking Romanian and not knowing what they were saying.  However, I feel like there is an important moral lesson to be had along side my slice of humble pie; It’s better to give than to be embarrassed.  So, for myself (and anyone who needs to), I will work on tipping the street musicians more generously before enjoying their art.