May 19, 2025 · 5:35 am

Bucharest Romania in the Dead of Winter


Bucharest, Romania — Dining outdoors in the dead of winter

Last week I showed you our visit to Coral Castle near Homestead, Florida, just before we boarded the Norwegian Breakaway for a transatlantic voyage to Southhampton, U.K. I won’t bore you with yet another set of articles on our visit to the Azores, as I’ve already done a series (beginning with” this article” São Miguel Island, Azores — Lagoa do Fogo (Fire Lake)). Instead, I’m going to jump to our next destination, Bucharest, Romania, into which we arrived in the dead of winter, the third week in February.

Parcul Izvor (Ivor Park) across from the Palace of Parliament

The temperatures were on the cold side, as you would expect from today’s photos, and the streets and sidewalks treacherous.

Not something we often see in El Paso

We did much in and around Bucharest, so I’ll be dedicating five weeks to what we saw. Along the way I’ll show you an incredible dining experience dating back to 1899, take you to Peleș Castle, get caught up in the middle of a protest march just outside the Palace of Parliament, and head off to a chilling visit to “Bran Castle (ak.a., “Dracula’s” Castle).

Pancakes

But today I’m just going to whet your appetite on what to expect in the weeks ahead with an emphasis on the snow that greeted our arrival. Wednesday we’ll get earnest with a stroll around the streets of Bucharest. Until then:

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

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May 16, 2025 · 5:35 am

Miami Restaurant Review — Suvi Thai & Sushi


Suvi Thai & Sushi; Miami Springs

Ursula and I both adore good Thai food. The problem is that “good” is sometimes hard to find. But if you’re ever staying near Miami International Airport, I have just the place for you. It’s so good we ate there two days in a row, the second time with daughter Tracy after our visit to Coral Castle. Behold Suvi Thai & Sushi:

  • 5683 NW 36th Street
  • Miami Springs, FL 33166
  • (305) 887-2212
Ursula and Tracy

The food here is simply scrumptious, with a menu that is extensive enough to please pretty much anyone. Even the salads are great, with an intensely flavored ginger-based dressing:

Suvi Thai salad
Me photobombing the good looking, smart one

Having lived in Japan for several years in my youth, I’m a bit of a tempura snob. Suvi Thai’s definitely passed muster. The batter was delicate and crunchy, not oily, and certainly did not overpower either the vegetables nor the shrimp:

Vegetable and shrimp tempura

For my main I went with the Bangkok Surprise, a delightful combination of chicken and shrimp topped with a classic Thai peanut sauce.

Bangkok Surprise

Add the house fried rice to your combined order and you’ll get a nice serving of rice that’s not over salty from too much soy sauce. It worked out well for all of us.

Nicely balanced Thai-style fried rice

Ursula goes crazy for a good Thai curry, and her Gang Gai (Red chicken curry) did not disappoint. She let me try it, and it ws delicious:

Gang Gai  (Red chicken curry)

Tracy is a Pad Thai kind of girl, and hers was one of the better ones either of us have tried:

Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp

I highly recommend Suvi Thai & Sushi, as it’s affordable, the food is well prepared and nicely presented, and the staff are simply wonderful. I’ll just leave you with this final image of my selection:

The “surprise” in Suvi’s Bangkok Surprise is that it’s so surprisingly good

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

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May 14, 2025 · 5:35 am

Visiting Coral Castle, Part 2


Red-headed rock agama

This week I’ll be presenting a Fun Food Friday of an excellent Thai restaurant Ursula discovered on this trip, so many of today’s images will be a bit more Fun Photo Friday artsy. I hope you don’t mind. And since I gave you a description of this place in Monday’s article, today I’m going to be a little less talkative. Nevertheless, I will give some commmentary, such as on this next image. You may recall that one of the names given Coral Castle is Rock Gate, which is the original name given it by its creator, Edward “Ed” Leedskalnin. Why Rock Gate? Because of the engineering marvel below. That massive rock “gate” no longer works, but when it did it was cleverly crafted and balanced that you could move it with just one finger and very little effort. Impressive!

The “Rock Gate” of Rock Gate

While the Rock Gate once served as the main entrance, that is no longer the case. You now enter the castle from the west. The entrance is directly across from the curved structure to the left:

Coral Castle entrance (right)

What’s a castle without a moat? Or, in this case, a pool:

Coral Castle pool and fountain

On this visit the Moon put on a show as well:

A Crescent Moon Photobombed by a Gibbous Moon

Same subject, different composition:

Mooned by the Moon

On Monday I showed you Ed’s workshop. That workshop is housed inside the castle’s tower:

Coral Castle “tower” containing Ed’s workshop

A brief history of the place:

  • Made 1928
  • Moved 1939
  • Born 1887
  • Latvia
  • E L
Made 1928; Moved 1939; Born 1887; Latvia; E L

Time to say goodbye to the local residents:

Watching From the High Ground

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

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