Aro Palace Hotel Brasov

... in the main square so we got a table at a restaurant and waited to see what would happen. Turned out to be a 2 hour long Opera Extraveganza! Fairly fantastic to sit down and eat your evening meal along to especially when we'd had no plans at all for the evening. Got chatting to a New Zealand couple who were travelling around Europe in a camper van. They were coming to the end of month 4...

The next day we got up and got the bus to Bran to have a ...

... telling her "10 o'clock".

Once we had the map we walked around the city centre to the sights that didn't need to be "open" to visit. We checked out some city gates and churches and at some point noticed the gondola up the mountain was running so we went up that, wedged into the car with a couple dozen children.

At the top there is a Brasov sign much like the famous Hollywood sign and from the sign there are great views of the city below. Apparently you can hike there ...

... and seen the stage play which came after, you have probably seen some of the many films based on his character. Some of the most important cinematic adaptations are F.W. Murnau's 1922 masterpiece "Nosferatu", which was loosely based on Dracula but subjected to a "makeover" for copyright reasons, Todd Browning's "Dracula", which starred Bela Lugosi, a Romanian actor who had previously incarnated the titular character on the stage, and would forever be remembered, and ...

... in the 50's, plenty of attractive areas hidden by a pall of smoke. A superb motorway runs north for most of the valley. Unfortunately they have not yet got round to building the motorway around the towns, so you would be cruising along with not too much traffic for 20 miles or so, then grind to a halt as you join a convoy of several thousand trucks crawling down some hapless town's main street, through several sets ...

... both attractions were closed, a realization that was only possible after climbing hundreds of steps to reach them. There were however some great views of the old town from the bases of the towers. From the towers we went to visit the historical first Romanian Language School. This was also closed, but next to the school was a picturesque church that provided an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The rest of the day was spent walking around the old ...

... after Emma jumped up into my arms. About half an hour later they decided to tell us that Emma has strepthroat and that its extremely contagious and we probably shouldnt be touching her. Im not totally sure what it is but it sounds bad because they said Andrada had it last year and was in hospital for a week. Then they told us that the kids had worms, particularly Bianca. So now Im going to the pharmacy to get worming tablets and hope that i dont get strepthroat. We didnt stay there ...

... onto the street. how cool, i can get beer right next door! This morning i had vegetarian pate and stale bread for breakfast. by the way..the bread isnt actually stale, they just like it dry like that. the pate was awful, bu tshe seems to get upset if i dont eat what she gives me. so i took out osme of the pate and put it in a bag and threw it away when i went outside. the equivalent of giving it to the dog i guess... except no dog would eat that. it was ...

... based the novel on it or the possibility that Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula) lived there at times although this is in question. Either way, it has been successfully sold as Dracula's castle as evidenced by the throngs of tourists. The castle was ok not great and the packed crowds made me wish I had gone to Sinaia which is another city close to Brasov instead of Bran Castle but at least now I can say I went there. Whoopie.

... that all routes to Sighet were closed on Sundays. We finally made it to Sighet which requires a trip over beautiful mountains and through these unbelievable peasant farming communities. On the bus home, two woman got car sick - one vomited and dry heaved inches away from Chris the entire ride as we stood in the aisle. In Sighet, we visited Elie Wiesel's house (which is now a museum) and the Musuem of Arrested Thought which was a prison used ...

... of 3? I am very happy about this. Of course, if I am placed in a rural area there is always the possibility that I would have to live the whole 2 years with a host family if apartments or houses to rent are not available. I will be serving a full 27 month term here in Romania, as the new volunteers here only arrived 1 week before us. Additionally, I am able to keep my current status as "volunteer" and not trainee. Which means I'm accruing all the perks of volunteer ...