Thursday, February 11, 2010

Excursion! Oct. 11, 2009

Moldovans have a fine tradition of venturing out into the countryside for a day of leisure.  I was lucky enough to be invited along by my friend Artiom.  Yes, you may remember him from last year's post titled "The odds..." or perhaps from the post chronicling my misadventures with Marina the friendly wedding tour guide...

Well regardless, meet Artiom!
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As you can see by this picture, I was not joking when I mentioned being offered homemade wine everywhere I go.  It is 7:30 am, and although the Wine Festival is now a few hours behind me, the wine is still a few hours ahead of me.  But I'm not the only one being wrangled into a glass of grapes...
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Nor was I the only one out late; Irina decided to join us after celebrating her friends' wedding...
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So, after a quick bite to eat and glass of vin for the road, we come to our first stop.... an officially Moldovan farm!
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... with goats...
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and OSTRICHES!
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Aside from being a bit peculiar, and looking at all comers as if THEY are the peculiar ones... these guys are voracious eaters.
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Now THAT'S an egg!
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Of course, never to be outdone...
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And yes, that ostrich was coming over to see just what exactly I had in mind for her eggs...
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But, one more shot... Artiom and his mom.
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 ...and with a beautiful horse...
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On with the tour.  This farm had golden hens...
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...peacocks...
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...and birds of all feathers...
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If you were ever curious, this is what an angry pony looks like...
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As in, I'm amazed we didn't end up with one less excursionist...
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(No, really, don't let that picture fool you.  We are standing just outside of the reach of it's chain... and you can see that I am still ready to leap back should that chain fail.)
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Piglets!
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 The ever protective mother:  "What are you looking at?  Nothing to see here; move along, move along..."
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American smiles.  :^)
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 Now, a few shots of the landscape...
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And with that... it's back on the bus!  On to Part II of the excursion....
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To be continued...

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