Casa Viorel Brasov

... around the castle there. This is the castle that most shamelessly cashes in on being in Transylvania. There was a fairly large market set up selling Dracula t shirts and masks and other such things but it was quite interesting wondering around the caslte and reading about some of the legends of Vlad the Impaler who isthe "real" Dracula.

On the way back we stopped in Rasnov where there was supposed to be another castle. We were unable to find it and ...

... us in the right direction. However the last one we saw pointed us in a direction that didn't make any sense to either of us so I kept on driving along the winding road that went up a mountain. We were pretty confident we were going the right way until the road started winding downhill several minutes later.

After 8 kilometres or so I decided to turn around and try that last sign we had seen. It turns out it was about 2 minutes from the fortress.

Finally there, we got out ...

... is interesting to note, is that Stoker's vampire, while being loosely based on Vlad the Impaler, is nowhere near as threatening, nor as sadistic. Stoker's Dracula is a mysterious, somewhat sensual character who kills and feeds to survive, much like any being in nature. In fact, as much as there is reference to the evil of Dracula, it can be reasoned that all of his actions were motivated by survival. Vlad the Impaler, on the other hand, killed not to feed, but to revel in ...

... 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 ...

... one. George and Roxana, Florin's parents, were extremely nice people and took us to the new location in their car. The apartment was very comfortable and even had a common kitchen. It was also completely decorated in IKEA furniture and kitchen items! That night we ended up dining at a Croatian restaurant after we had intended to visit a Romanian one. My guide recommended a restaurant that was right next to the Croatian one and they both had similar names, but ...

... pins so they just fold them around and sometimes wrap a plastic bag around it to keep them a little dryer. We have a special cupboard with some plastic nappies, toys, baby wipes and powder. We have to lock that though otherwise the nurses and parents steal them. There is a drawer with some clothes in it however most of them are for a 4-6 year old child. People bring more clothes in for the babies but they mysteriously go missing as well. We think that the babies are just sent home ...

... this keyboard SUX bigtme) I swear that vegetarian just does not compute with my host family. The last few days ive had vegetarian sausage, vegetarian pate and vegetarian schnitzel. I just dont think they understand that some people just dont particularyl like meat so she cooks me fake meat all teh time. I took a couple of pix to show you Brasov. IT is really a very pretty city. Well have to run.. will write more later.

... checks, a very sleep-deprived pair of travellers arrived in Bucharest. Having heard that there wasn't a heck of a lot to see in Romania's capital, we decided to spend a few hours there and then move on to Brasov later in the day. Good decision. Now I'm sure many Bucharestians would argue, but I wasn't a super-huge fan of Bucharest itself. Now, I do admit I was crazy tired so that may have influenced my opinion of the city. The pouring rain probably didn't help much either ...

... helping us earthly people. The pastor seemed only concerned with taking the groceries out of his nice car and going into his nice house beside his big empty church and having dinner with his wife. He handed me ten lei (three Euro's), which wasn't what I wanted, nor was it sufficient money for the worst hotel in town. It was just the easiest way he could wash his hands of me. -- Interjection: Two nights later, I'd be in a city in Ukraine. A fence surrounded an enormous ...

... means it's not Cyrillic, so YIPEE! Okay, so I arrived here on June 1 and spent the night in Bucharest with the other 3 Uz 18 volunteers who joined the Romania program. On June 2nd, PC bused us to Brasov...a large town in the Transylvania region where our training headquarters is located, then off to our sites. Mine (Zarnesti) is 25 Kilometers away. I am hauntingly close to the mythic dracula's castle in Bran. Actually, this country is full of castles, mountains ...