If I Had a Time Machine

Ever since my late childhood, I had this desire to have a time machine. At first inspired by stories, reading, and then movies. Time travel, in the past but also in the future! God, the things I could have done with a time machine. I don't think there's a human being who hasn't wanted to travel through time.

If in my childhood, teenage years, and youth I had used such a machine very intensively and asked for a lot, now I would settle for much less. For example, to turn my memories of a seaside holiday a few months ago into reality...

As I know very well that this is impossible, I have to be content with the memories and nostalgia in my head, but also with the images in my camera.

I feel like my head is swelling from so many images and the only solution I can see to ease the pressure is to extract some of these images and put them here. I'll do that and then see if this treatment helps.

Now that I think about it, I believe that the camera, that is what it produces, is a kind of time machine! A time machine that makes use of our memories, desires, and imagination.

Today is Friday, the day dedicated to those who buy and sell, those who sell and buy. It is the day that reminds us that "everything is for sale", even if we don't like that saying. Today is #MarketFriday, the day when @dswigle puts us to work..., but we also put her to work!

The sea is also for sale! When I say sea I mean a holiday or trip to the sea. Everything costs money, even before leaving home I put my hand in my wallet and once in the resort, I always keep my wallet in my hand... Metaphorically speaking, the wallet is now just a card.

Two months have already passed since my short holiday at the seaside and, on the one hand, it feels like a year has gone by and, on the other hand, not a day goes by without me remembering the pleasant days I spent there, spent in the most ordinary way possible, without anything eccentric or extravagant and yet so beautiful!

Especially in my situation, where I was accompanied by two ladies with a passion for shopping! Let's see what a small seaside resort has to offer for shopping enthusiasts...

This is a kind of street market. Mostly souvenirs, for everyone's wallet and for those who want to take home a souvenir of having been there. Many items look hand-made but are industrially made and brought from China. Probably a profitable business when there are lots of tourists, especially as these stalls are located on an alley leading to the entrance of the botanical garden and Queen Mary's castle. I'm bored of these items, although I do buy a few more sometimes.

Since I mentioned the Botanical Garden, I always prefer a walk through this garden in Balchik, especially the cactus garden, the largest in this part of Europe.

Every time I buy a plant, this is the material memory I take from these places.

The ladies who accompany me are art lovers and, apart from clothes, they like to buy paintings and objects made by local artists. For this, there are various small shops in the castle garden, each belonging to an artist.

I was drawn to a wooden bench, I mean I liked the design and wanted to make one just like it. I took several photos to try at home to build one just like it...

DIY desires I have very often when I see an object that I think I will be able to make myself... but very rarely do I manage to bring this desire to a happy end. Asta din cauza ca obosesc foarte usor, am aobosit doar gandindu-ma la munca ceruta pentru a realiza o astfel de banca.

Real or just imagined tiredness always takes me to one of my favorite places, the café! A place where I don't mind spending money.

Beyond rest, relaxation, conversation, and coffee, I also enjoy watching the barista at work. When he makes cappuccinos...

....or a cocktail.

This is the bar, terrace, or café I look forward to visiting again next summer. It's always just as pleasant and unchanging, except for the barista, who is different every year.

These were part of my memories, part of the little time machine made up of what is in my head and what is in my photographic archive.

The quiet, beautiful, and bright resort on the Black Sea is called Balchik, a city with impressive antiquity because it was founded by Greek colonists. Now it is famous for the white hills that surround it and has given it the name of White City and the whole area is still called the Silver Coast!

The special light due to these white hills has made Balchik sought by painters and crowned heads. The main attraction of the place is the Castle and gardens of Queen Maria of Romania as well as the Botanical Garden.

I used to be a cinephile, a film lover, in my youth, in the last century. For me films were the gateway and window to the world and travel, I was then living in a communist country with a totalitarian regime that did not allow us to travel abroad. My country, Romania, broke away from communism towards the end of the last century and we, its inhabitants, regained the natural rights that people should have...

A strange thing happened. I thought that if I would gain access to all the culture of the world, that is to say to movies first of all, as those interested me more, and to the possibility of traveling, that's what I would do for the rest of my life.
It didn't happen that way, on the contrary, the interest in film, music, and literature... decreased. The desire to travel remained, but the power decreased because I could go anywhere in the world but I didn't have enough money for it!

All this rambling I did only because I wanted to show that I was a great consumer of movies. Many of these films have stuck in my head and I often remember titles, images, and sequences that I now associate with some of the events I am involved in. Mostly I remember movie titles when I hear certain words or sentences...

An old film is called "If it's Tuesday, it's Belgium!", a travel film, a group of young people traveling through Europe and probably met on a Tuesday in Belgium, I don't remember the story of the film. I remembered this title when I said that today is Friday. A paraphrase immediately rang in my head...

"If it's Friday, it's MarketFriday!"

... and then, another one, related to this post:

"If it's Summer, it's Balchik!"

I hope it gets my point across and makes sense.

Everything in life has an end. This post also has an ending, but unlike most endings in life, this is a beautiful ending. Because it's a flower, always a flower! From the botanical garden in Balchik.

To exemplify the love of film, the ending will be given by... the ending of my favorite movie of all time: Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up.
The main hero was a fashion photographer in 1960s London who haunted me all my youth.