Weekend of Castles!

Hi!!!!

This weekend we designated for castle hunting. There are a few castles that are relatively close to Brasov and were sights that I knew I would never be able to leave Romania without doing. Most of the volunteers hadn't gone to any yet, so we organized a trip for both days and had different people come with us! It was a great way to see some beautiful things and get to know everyone better!

WARNING there are going to be pictures sporadically inserted in this post =)

Yesterday (saturday) started with an adventure on Republicii street in the pouring rain trying to find new volunteers. One girl was easy to spot do to her having a cell phone and her green coat. Alex (our manager) sent 2 new volunteers in a cab to find "three girls speaking english". It was quite a humorous morning, but we all found each other and headed to the busstop. We got tickets, found the right bus, and went to autogara 2, which is a main busstop but actually is just a parking lot where further going busses stop. We found one rather painlessly going to Rasnov, which is where we began our day.

Rasnov is a big fortress on a hill. It was used to guard the city and see attackers. To get up there now, however, you can either walk (which we didn't see as appealing because we weren't sure how long this walk up was) or take a little train. This little train was basically a tractor pulling a cart with benches on it. At the actual fortress, there were men walking around dressed as old gaurdsmen who had swords. I really wanted to hold a sword, so after a few pictures with the guys, I got my sword picture!

This is the view from atop the fortress. I really liked all the reds of the city below and the mountains. This definitely would have been the perfect spot to spy on the surroundings!

Next, we walked back down the hill to try to make our way to Bran castle. What we didn't know, however, was where the busstop was. We wandered a bit through a completely deserted few blocks until we found a bus sitting by the side of the road. I'm learning to not be afraid of the language barrier here, so I got on the bus and asked for Bran. We learned that many of the busses here are privately owned and will take you anywhere, so off to Bran we went!

When we got there, we stopped at a coffee bar for lunch and to wait for another volunteer who was meeting us there. Then we went up to the castle!

This castle is said to be the setting for Dracula, though apparently Bram Stoker knew nothing of it. It had a lot of displays inside of old armor and some of the queens things. It used to be the home of Queen Marie, so it was decorated to look as such. They didn't stress the vampire thing, though I thought that would have made a great addition.

Afterwards, there was a little village type thing that had little huts with people selling goods, so we walked around there like the tourists we were and bought some things, then booked a cab home and promply ate and curled up in bed! Long day!

Sunday began again at the busstop, but this time off to the train station. After almost listening to a little girl who said this wasn't the train we wanted, we were on the correct train off to Sinaia. This was a 45km trainride south through the moutains, and was quite pretty. Sinaia is a resort town and home to Peles Castle, the royal estate, which is where we went to tour.

The tour took us through the main rooms of the palace. All the original furniture and paintings are there, and it is beautiful. Every room looks different, many modeled after different countries. There was so much gold, doors made of mother of pearl, many secret doorways, and just room after room after room. It was gorgeous, and definitely a place I'd like to play hide and seek in. Six of us girls went today, and we all decided we could get used to such a lifestyle. Even the Queens ladies in waiting had huge rooms!

This was our favorite sign. It was made especially for us. I'm also glad that I constantly carry my CMU ID card everywhere. Tickets for the tour at Peles were a quarter for us as they were for other adults!

And this is me with the castle (to prove that I was there!). Afterwards, we went for pizza because it was 5pm and none of us had eaten lunch. Then we attempted to find the train station and got terribly lost, but between the 6 of us and a very nice cab driver who pulled over to show us the way, we made it back there and got tickets for the train back to Brasov. There were a TON of stray dogs around the station that kept wandering in and out of the lobby, but as long as I don't come home with rabies, they don't really bother me. I'm pretty sure I saw a dead some kind of animal that looked like it was at some point hit by a train. No one believed me at first, but I'm pretty sure I was right. That was a little sad.

Bedtime for now and work tomorrow!

te iubesc,
Alyssa