Julia called me not long before they boarded their plane and I have since spoken to Kristy on the internet. It seems they've arrived in one piece. :)
Having them here has been great, although exhausting. It's kind of amazing how much we saw in the ten days they were here.
When I get the chance I will sit and write a long explanation about our adventures (which included six days driving around Transylvania and the Moldova region of Romania in a little white rental car). However, given the way things are currently going I think I'd better give a little summary photo-essay style.
The "Turkish room" of a Romanian restaurant in northern Bucharest. This was taken the first full day that the girls were here.
We spent much of that day researching our travel options and trying to figure out what the best mode of transport would be for the pending little adventure. After a lot of debate (and pizza) we decided that we would rent a car. The next day, in the morning, Monica and Andrei helped us find a good rental firm that wasn't too pricey (the normal Avis and supposed BudgetRentACar charge ridiculous prices since the mostly frequented by westerners attracted by the name recognition). Monica and Andrei went with us to the rental office and also lent us a brand new GPS system that we affectionately named Noel, after a British friend of ours in Brooklyn (the GPS English setting had a British accent). I'm not sure if Julia got any actual pictures of the car - a white Renault Clio...if that matters for anyone. :)
*Addendum - Andrei got us in the car and the picture can be found here.
On the way to Brasov we, of course, stopped in Sinaia to visit Peles. Peles was probably the most 'dangerous' aspect of our trip in my opinion, as the rugs on the stairs weren't fixed properly and I actually tripped and fell on the main staircase hitting my elbows pretty hard. Had some nice bruises to show, although they are pretty much gone now.
Kristy and a puppy - given how many she wanted to adopt and take home with her I'm sort of amazed we arrived back in town puppy, or rather, doggy-free.
Then from Sinaia we went directly to Brasov, where we stayed for the next three nights in the house of my mother's friend, Mariana. So, the day after our first night we wandered around Brasov and visited the towers of the old wall (a black tower and white tower about which several Lord of the Rings references were made in one of our sillier moments) and the Black Church, and ate in the square etc. We also visited Poiana Brasov in the hopes of eating at Coliba Haiducilor, however once we got up there it was closed.
Entryway to the Black Church.
Biserica Neagra (Black Church)
The neighbors who look after the house and who also treated us with fantastic hospitality that included giving us a place to park the car, putting fresh-cut flowers in the kitchen one day while we were out, and giving us cakes (and great stories) on our way out. From them I got to learn a bit about the Sash people (German -speaking) that settled in the Transylvania area before it was Romania.
The second day we went and visited Bran and Rasnov in the morning and then headed out to Sibiu in the evening. Unfortunately, the road to Sibiu was under construction (which is another story in of itself that involves a lot of stop lights and grinning construction workers) and we didn't arrive there until late. I will include pictures of Sibiu another time.
Cross in Bran
Bran Castle (the supposed Dracula's Castle)
Picture in Rasnov - a much less commercialized medieval citadel with an amazing view.
Below is the town of Rasnov.
Then we had our last night in Brasov and proceeded on to Sighisoara. Another medieval German city that is supposedly the birth place of Vlad the Impaler (Dracula). This was also the beginning of our "peace corps" tour, where we had dinner with a really nice girl, originally from New Jersey, named Monica. She was placed in Sighisoara and works with a religious organization, the only NGO in the area, capacity building in several areas.
It really does look like something out of a fairytale there.
After the afternoon in Sighisoara we headed towards Rehgin, where my friend Alan had said that we could crash for the night. We arrived in Rehgin pretty late and left pretty early so I don't have many pictures of the places itself. But big thanks to Alan for letting us stay and showing us the local rocker hangout.
We kind of made a...game...out of trying to take pictures of horse-carts on the road. You'd be surprised how difficult it is in a moving car. This one is probably our greatest success.
In the morning, we left Rehgin and crossed the Carpathian Mountains on our way to my friend Kenny's place in Cimpulung-Moldovensc.
Pictures from the road through the mountains.
Kenny is also great for letting us stay and we even happened to show up on a night when several people were passing through on their way to a Peace Corps party in Cluj, apparently involving a production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show...yes, the Rocky Horror Picture Show was indeed put on in Transylvania. I'm a little sorry that we didn't get to witness this...historic...event.
In any event, we got the opportunity to have dinner with a large group of Peace Corps members and hang out at Kenny's place.
Before that, however, we took a drive out to a couple of the monasteries. Unfortunately, we only got to see two of them, Voronet and Arbore, but given how much we managed to do in just six days, I'm glad we managed to fit those two in.
These are pictures from Voronet, famous for the color blue used to paint the walls.
After leaving Kenny's (our earliest wake-up time of the trip), we basically drove straight back to Bucharest (via Bacau) non stop until we reached the rental office. Kristy is a real trooper for pulling that off, I have to say. So, we returned the car - a little dirty from the adventure, but still in one piece.
Friday night we were rather tired, of course. On Saturday, we met up with Monica and Andrei and went to the peasant's museum and the village museum here in Bucharest. There was a great exposition of Romanian artisans at the Village museum, in honor of the fact that this weekend was the 'white night' (a European event in which for one night the museums are open to the public late and for free). We also took advantage of the white night and went to the history museum.
Sunday night we walked all around the city - to Casa Popurlui (although we couldn't get close because of some sort of car racing event, that is actually still going on and making traffic in the city even worse...?!?), through lipscani, to the old synagogue, and finally up to Cismigiu.
So, there it is. A little more than a summary actually. Now I need to get my head around this being my last two weeks. :) I'm going to help deliver some clothes to a center outside of Bucharest now. Enjoy.
2 comments:
lookin good
Hmmm... If that is the summary, I can barely wait for your full version of events... please remember the chickens. I think they were very important. Also the construction worker in the hills with the grill. And the dancing. The dancing was funny in general. Miss you already...
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