Serenaded in Bucharest – Romania Tour Day 1

The orientation meeting went extremely well, dinner was positively delicious, and my introductory walk around Bucharest was going splendidly. The after-heat evening air was hot with both the indolence of summer and the eagerness of travelers, and even the cats seemed to wink at us in cooperation. I had just finished talking about the National Bank robbery (which wasn’t a bank robbery) when the sound of a violin eased around the corner ahead.

I love street musicians. With a little instrument and a mountain of generosity, they spend their hours transforming our normal passerby moments into something more majestic. That didn’t stop my first instinct being one of “no thank you” when he asked me closer with an outstretched hand and questions I could only lightly understand.

But I was traveling. And even more than that, I was guiding. I know my tour members look to me for queues on how to behave and, in a world that feels so uncertain, to see if they’re safe.

They are always safe. The normal world is not nearly as dangerous as it looks on TV, but especially in Romania. So I overrode my shy flinch and welcomed his handshake, met his conversation with my beginner’s vocabulary, and endorsed his offer to play something else for us.

Then he noticed my beautiful Romanian partner and invited her to sit beside him, a spark in his eye. She overrode her hesitance too and we were no longer just walking to the next spot, we were part of a grand sepia scene on one of those elegantly European streets where a collection of centuries tower in architecture around you, reminding us that we too are part of the living human story. We had a beautiful road ahead, contented bellies within, friendship all around, and now everything was wrapped in Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy Overture from Romeo & Juliet.

Travel reminds me that there are more things to be grateful for than there are seconds in the year, but thinking how easily we could have passed right by his bench if that “leave me alone” flinch had prevailed, I was extra grateful to my work as a guide for helping me inhabit the more open attitude I want to have in life.

I had done my job for the day, Bucharest had done it’s part with elan, and the Romanian people had shown up in fine form to add that magic extra level. Also, the musician had been Roma, one of Europe’s compelling questions that Romania answers best. I made a note to come back to him later in the tour. And I fell asleep with a big smile on my face that night, feeling like the world itself was my Juliet.