I step inside to the sound of a contemporary male voice singing “Take My Breath Away”.
It’s a specialty cafe, so I order something unusual. – a salted caramel latte and a cinnamon roll covered in caramel cream.
It’s a caramel kind of morning in western Romania.
Pink, brown, yellow, and white macarons bring colour to the cake display.
Chairs are green velour against plain wooden tables.
The place is full of locals and I’m lucky to get a small table near the cash register.
One young pretty woman has found a table in a niche of the room and is reading what appears to be a textbook.
She’s drinking Thai lemonade and an espresso.
A group of young people talk and laugh in the corner.
Two people sit alone at their tables behind me.
For a change, no one is playing on a phone.
One older man wearing a toque sits patiently waiting for the meals he will need to deliver.
That familiar large red delivery bag sits empty at his feet.
The pretty young woman, the one reading a textbook and who must be a student, closes her textbook, but not before carefully placing a bookmark between some pages.
She’s a conscientious student.
I see now that she is nicely dressed, black slacks and a blazer meant for chilly days, and with a designer jacket not hung, but neatly folded over a chair.
Her hair is perfectly combed and pulled back into a bun and her fingernails are natural and painted crimson red.
She walks to the counter to order a croissant and I see that she is wearing simple sneakers, the kind I wore when I was a kid.
I’ve seen so many people wearing this style of shoe lately that I conclude it must be a retro look and the new fashion.
I think maybe I’ll buy a pair myself.
The delivery man is finally rewarded for his patience.
He carefully packs five orders into his delivery bag and, with a bit of difficulty, carries it out the door.
Immediately, a couple grabs his empty table.
