And coffee is paid for, isn't it? (in a city choked with cars)

The last day of this year has arrived, the day I want to drink the last coffee of the year and I don't want to drink it at home. The best coffee shops are... many, I don't know for sure the best ones, usually, they are well hidden from the neophytes, only the connoisseurs know them. For the coming year, I plan to try to visit as many cafes in my city, Bucharest, and maybe find the best one. Until then, I'll settle for less special places but that deliver the best taste, according to my wishes, at a very good price/quality/quantity ratio.

I love the little cafes in old neighborhoods, housed in old houses that have withstood the tumultuous years that have passed over our city. One such place is called Amzei square, located in the city center, near the former Royal Palace.

Always when I go there for coffee, I first walk along a few nearby streets, streets on which buildings built at the beginning of the last century still survive. This way I feel that I am somehow transported to the period between the two world wars, the most interesting period in Romanian history. The walk starts from the Athenaeum...

The Athenaeum, one of the most beautiful and famous buildings in Bucharest, was built by public subscription.

"Give a leu for the Athenaeum"

That's what the money-raising campaign sounded like. The Leu is Romania's national currency. I don't know how it was done, I think much harder than now when you can raise money with a simple SMS by phone.

From the Athenaeum it's a short walk to the Amzei square, where the café is waiting for us.

Street on the left. I like to go that way, where there are some houses I like but which are in a very advanced state of decay. I like to look at them and guess their beauty from the last century. They were important houses, belonging to important and rich people.

These imposing houses are the victims of real estate sharks who bought the inheritance rights from the heirs of the former owners and now want to demolish them to build something else in their place, but the law does not allow them. In this situation, they let the houses decay and collapse so that they can then build something else.

Some have already succeeded, the left side has already been replaced with new buildings. Others have built hotels in place of old houses. I'm not saying they are ugly, on the contrary, but this way the image of the old town is lost.

Others chose the best and correct method, they repaired the old houses and left their architecture unchanged, bringing more beauty to the area.

All the while walking up, looking at the houses, I didn't even realize I had reached the café, a small café. "The Coffee Shop"

We are in Romania but we have a lot of English names. As soon as communism ended, it was free for people to start businesses, to set up companies, to open shops. Most of them chose English names for their businesses, they thought it would make them more successful, or they thought their business would become international. The result was quite funny, because most of the population, especially the mature ones, did not know English. They didn't even know how to read names and they didn't understand what was being sold in those places...

The café is very small, with only four tables. I like that it's never fully booked, I always find a seat at my favorite table.

We choose coffee from the many varieties available and wait patiently for it to be brewed. Until then we watch the street from our window table.

What intrigues me and I don't like at all are the cars. They take up all the space, parked or moving. There are so many of them that it's impossible not to touch a little, just as we were having our coffee there was a mild, board-bending accident between a car coming out of the parking lot and another one just passing on the narrow street.

All these thoughts disappear instantly when coffee comes. Finally, mask off! We can take the masks off so we can enjoy the coffee. The long-awaited moment.

After we finish drinking we used to help the barista, we clean the tables ourselves and take the empty cups to the bar. I think that's why they're happy to see us.

We set off for home and try to weave our way through the moving cars everywhere. These are downtown drivers, used to these narrow, crowded spaces. I never drive there, because I would get lost.

Not far from the café we reached the biggest boulevard that crosses the city, Magheru Boulevard. Strangely, it is not very crowded and I wonder why all the cars are crowded on the narrow streets near the cafe.

Walking to the bus stop I had the surprise of my life. I saw a crypto exchange and a Bitcoin ATM! I didn't know they existed in Bucharest. Anyway, the place was pretty dodgy, I wouldn't dare go there to exchange anything, there are definitely fees that rob you.

A Bitcoin ATM is installed inside a pawn shop. It doesn't look good at all!

This is all I could write on this last day of the year. I really wanted to celebrate this year spent in Hive with a post on the last day as well, as I want to post on the first day of the new year. I didn't have much inspiration and I hope @dswigle won't mind that this post was more of a travel post than #marketfriday post, but.... and the coffee is paid for, right? I think coffee will save me.

Well, this fall or winter, I'm not even sure what it is anymore, it has too much gray. Just a flower could brighten the atmosphere.

Even though the flower, this rose, is also surprised to be alive.

Goodbye, 2021!

For #marketfriday and #alwaysaflower by @dswigle