ETERNAL FLAME
Moldovan weddings photos has a very different tradition than us. Whereas we find one place for our photos to be taken, they drive around to all the nice places and monuments, their cars are decorated and horns are honking. Sometimes at each stop the entire party is out playing music and dancing. This is pretty fun to watch. Here, if you look close on the left (yes that is me on the right, don't look there) you will see a bride and groom.
Two guards are posted and like all good guards at these kinds of places they didn’t blink, lose their posture, turn their head, sneeze, cough, nothing…. However, they DID periodically march around the structure. The “Russian” march – the “goosestep” - I think it’s called? something like that? it was GREAT watching, a march I’ve only seen in movies, though this is serious stuff to them, for me, it was pretty hard not to laugh (respectfully of course). You can see here the two of them, the high step, the arm swing. When they returned to their post another soldier approached them looking them up and down, straightened their jackets, hats, etc. making sure none of their uniform had been wrinkled or had shifted during this ceremony.
The question is - do these guards talk when people are not around? I'm pretty sure I saw them hanging out chatting before we approached. We'll never know....
Here are some of the monuments.
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walk through the cemetery was amazing, the entire time I kept thinking woooowww!!! Now I don't know who these people were but one can smell MONEY MONEY MONEY
everywhere. It seems to be the resting place for the rich and perhaps the famous (such as writers and musicians?) Sometimes it's very odd to remember that you are in the "poorest country in Europe" when you see these things, especially the cars they drive. But.... this is the city, completely different than the rest of the country.
Sydney! She wasn't planning on visiting but she went, she was thrilled she had.
Poor little Moldova, like all the countries over here, they've seen way too many wars. They spent many years in a tug-of-war between Romania and Russia. Which is why we have pockets of Russian towns (me) when the rest of the country, though "Moldovan", is much more tied to Romania. In the 90's an internal war broke out because the Transanistria area (Russian settlement next to Ukraine) refused to accept that "Romanian" language would be the official "Moldovan" language - well that and much more of course, but that was part of it that added to the tension that already existed. It was settled that Romanian (called Moldovan, but the same) is the first language, Russian the second. I have never heard Romanian in my town, I wouldn't be too "keen" on trying it either. There is an odd bit of tension sometimes between the languages, I speak some Russian in the city, I know they can understand me, but often they pretend they don't. Transanistria is now considered an independent part of Moldova with their own government. Visitors to Moldova like to take a trip here because it's a bit of a flashback to the days of communism, so I hear, PC members are not allowed to visit.
It's always a good thing to be reminded that no matter the country, the war, or who is right and who is wrong, no matter who has been labeled the "bad guys" or "enemies", they are just men and woman who's lives have been cut short because they fought for their country. Memorials and monuments are erected so that they are not forgotten. They were loved by family and friends, who surely grieved their loss. No matter where, or who, they were they should be honored in such places as WWII memorial park in Chisinau Moldova. Should you ever visit little Moldova, be sure to visit.
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