It was a lovely afternoon...

...so Anita and I decided to pack a picnic lunch and climb a mountain somewhere and enjoy the sunshine. First things first. It's Easter week here in Romania (yes, we just have to be different, so we celebrate it at a different time than y'all), and lots of businesses are closed. Still, all things considered, I had relatively little difficulty finding sandwich fixings and other picnicky necessities. Score one.

When Anita and I actually met, I realized I'd forgotten to pass along the mountain climbing memo, and the cute little heels were definitely not gonna make it.

Plan B: city park. About a 25 minute walk. Not too bad, not too bad.

Eventually, we arrived at the park. It's a European park, which means there are paved paths, big trees, and benches. And that's all. Apparently, there is a large gap in my Romanian education that includes appropriate city park etiquette. You don't play sports in these places, and you don't sit on the grass. Grass is for dogs only.

But I didn't know that. Yet. So Anita and I set up our nice little picnic on the grass. Just as we were getting comfy, I heard a man's voice say something in Romanian.

Aw, I thought, somebody wants to join our picnic.

But when I looked up, it was a cop, who graciously and firmly informed me that we were definitely not allowed to sit on the grass. It wasn't even particularly nice grass, so I'm not sure what they were intending to protect it from or for, but we decided to be amiable in order to avoid risking deportation, and we moved our picnic to a bench. I'm quite convinced that we ruined many a runner's day as he or she gazed wistfully at our princely spread (can you say peanut butter and apricot jam sandwiches?), but hey, that's what happens when picnickers have to picnic on benches.

Moral of the story: what are cops doing walking around in the park, anyway??