Pensiunea Dona Sinaia

This little ski village was originally a monastery settlement in the Prahova Valley. The monastery was called Sinaia Monastery which was named after biblical Mt Sinai...hence the name of the town! It is a town of about 15,000 so not too big. You can imagine that the mountains/hill provide lots of hikes and exploring...however, it was raining for most of our visit. We did get in a 2 hour walk, but ...

... although a bit dark) paintings on most of the surfaces. Snuck a pic here and there and then wandered over to the smaller church built in the 17th Century which was unfortunately closed. Shoved my camera through one of the side windows and got a bit of a record of the interior. Last night my roomie and I relaxed and watched our extensive satellite stations...Grey's Anatomy..one of the best over-the-top ...

... back to the hotel and had a quick nap before dinner. I don't know what it is about grey skies, but they always seem to bring out a need for a nap. Not much selection for places to eat within the town so we went to the Irish bar for dinner. I had grilled chicken and broccoli, prety good! Back at the hostel stayed up for a bit and then went to sleep just before midnight. Good relaxing day of not a whole lot!

... to make a buck off everything. You have to pay to take pictures. Being the cheapskates we are, we chose not to (wink wink). On our way out of the castle, guess what we found?!?! A family of puppies!!! I know everyone at home told me not to touch them, but I had to! Because one of the puppies fell in the stream and was drowning. I'm basically a hero. After the rescue, I promise I never touched another puppy *avert ...

... up there at some point this week. 15 November: Going to Castle Bran (aka Dracula's castle). We had signed up for the tour at the hostel but it was only us so it got cancelled. We did it very easily on our own. Took the 12 bus from the statue in the square down the hill from the hostel - though first it went up into the hills and back to the square before going into the city. Got off that bus at the Auto Gara and waited about 2 minutes for the bus to ...

... by which time their character would be known. One boy was trained to be a priest, one to read and write in order to keep the village records and make documents, and another was taught mathematics and calculations so he could oversee business. The different courses of study took different lengths of time, but were all completed in less than one year! The museum has an amazing collection of important old books that really astonishes me. Climbing the mountains ...

... you're staying at a hostel? What, with running water? I'm staying with a native tribe of wild field mice, we only eat things that die of natural causes... or, you know, cheese and stuff". To really be in with these people you have to roll up to places at the beginning of time and barter a good price for a mug of primordial soup that at some stage in millions of years will evolve into a small stall selling chess sets and tea towels. *******. Anyway, that's out of ...

... town. Very small but also very poor with many gypsies at the train station and along the streets. The town is beautiful and for now, remains untouristy. I got many long stares. We had a great time and lots of comedy. In Romania, there is a chain called Fornetti that makes small pastries they sell by the Kilo. The pastries have various fillings and when hot are a little taste of heaven. I think they would do quite well in Canada. Perhaps a great franchise opportunity.

... show for it. Brasov itself is nice, too, with lots of tourists and services to service them. I'm not the only one who’s noticed its Latin connections. There are even Andean musicians there, playing for tips and selling CD’s. Rooms are so scarce that one lady hangs out at the bus and train station ...

... from seeing the Black Church, which was built 600 years ago (referred to as "black" because it was burnt 300 years ago by invaders), I wandered around a lot which was great. I have spent a lot of time on a bus so it was nice to have some time to choose for myself what I wanted to do. I spent time in the park, were there were many tables set up with old men playing chess (how adorable!) I watched a few play and we had quite a reasonable interaction ...