Central Cemetery Cluj

On Wednesday morning it was rainy, but I decided I would see the cemetery that I had been too tired to visit on Monday. I headed off past the St. Michael's plaza, but wanted to a take some pictures of people I noticed on the way.


On my way I saw a group of school children going on an outing.



The cemetery was very wet and muddy. I was immediately accosted by young people who wanted to bum cigarettes off of me, but after I asked them to leave me alone, they did so and I had some peace and quiet to look at the graves of famous Romanians of the area.


The autumn colors were beautiful.


Some graves were old, but most weren't too old. The oldest ones were often so weather beaten that it was hard to tell how old they were. There were quite a few birds: groups of crows and then also some magpies and jays.




I managed to get my pants pretty muddy while wandering around - but it was well worth having to come back and change.


There is quite a profusion of graves and different kinds of markers and headstones.



The ones below were older and were set out in a small yard around a little chapel.


In front of the chapel there were also these sarcophagi.




After wandering around I began to notice the fashions of particular periods. The taller pointy markers were often from the middle of the 19th century.




Of course the most intersting monuments were the sculptures.


The white marble with gilt letters were often people who had died during the second world war. Unfortunately this jay is blurry, but he was sitting far away on a stone.


As I got deeper and deeper into the cemetery the rain got heavier until I had to turn around.




I hurriedly snapped a few more pictures on my way out and thennoticed that I had mud on my brand new black jeans.


Since I had planned to wear them to the opera that night I had to go back to the hotel and change. On the way, I passed these gorgeous mausoleums.




I also passed this lovely wrought iron work, that contrasted in a very pleasing fashion to the succulents in the the planter nearby.


I went back to the hotel and then prepared my self for the opera. I decided to walk over that direction to see what it was like and also check out the shopping mall Central. Central was just a big old shopping mall and I surely don't need any more stuff to try and bring home, so I headed on to the other main square. (There are two one for the Romanians and one for the Hungarians.) It has been interesting to hear from people hear about the other ethnic areas. The comments usually are something along the lines of - those areas are nice if you like that kind of thing. I like them both for different reasons. Anway, My next post will show some pictures from the Romanian square in Cluj.