Vila Zorile Brasov

... Dracula. Count Dracula was actually based
on the all to real person of Vlad Tepeş III who was crown prince of
Wallachian, which is part of central Romania. His other nick name is
Vlad the Impaler because he would impale his enemies, and often as not
Romanians, on sharp wooden poles. None the less Vald is a hero in
Romania because he fought off the expansion of the Ottoman empire. In
1462 when Mehmed II, the ruler who captured ...

... out another castle but this time we were drinking in the car (legal) and then checked out Brasov, a city rich in history and the outdoor cafes that lined the streets with the snow capped mountains in the background...... priceless.... plus the wine was really cheap. \ When I thougt we were finally going home at 9 or 10 pm we head to the lookout point of the city. F#$% they just keep outdoing themselves. Drove 3 to 4 hours back home and I ...

... about stupid stuff like the suicide rate in Bristol, Hooliganism in England and why Welshmen shag sheeps on the cliff top.James kept on talking,i was only nodding uninterestedly and  Jason was walking around in his navy pants,tennis shoes,baseball cap and brown velvet jacket, Needless to say, we looked like a band of freaks. Some guy who is supposed to be one of the birthday gang picked us up on a street corner to take us to the party house, then he decided to go to the ...

... enough... or was it? I have yet to figure out why almost all Romanian churches charge visitors. They really are not that interesting or impressive, with the exception of St. Nikolai. We hitchiked back to the city center, saving all of 4.5 lei and 25 minutes! We roll in style. GT finally left to Bucharest, and Natasha and I celeberated our verry productive day by watching Aladdin. Romain had joined us at this point ...

... sts ab*ut 20 bucks t* get us decked *ut with the *nly sn*wb*ards in R*mania, and Jared takes skis. We wand** ab*ut l**king f*r a lift. Apparently th**e is n*ne, s* we hike f*r a while. We find a g**d little run and d* it. I am knack**ed. Mic and Jared c*ntinue hiking, and have grand adventures as I sit in the bar and eat spaghetti and drink be**. I get sick *f waiting and decide t* g* h*me. At this stage the b*ys are r*ughly half way up the m*untain, an aging hippy and a y ...

... making more of them today. Yesterday (Monday) the kids went back to school. Apparently last year the younger kids went in the morning and the older ones in the afternoon. I was expecting just to have the 5 younger kids there in the afternoon. Somehow that changed, and now they all go in the morning. I took in a whole stack of coloring books and sticker books which i'd brought with me from Australia. I just ended up sitting with the younger kids and coloring for a while ...

... European city now. It never was that cheap, I thought, the first time I visited there five years ago when I was living in Prague. spent the day there, got to sit in a nice coffee house and sample some great Hungarian wine in what used to be the Jewish ghetto during World War II, now a major tourist destination. Then I hopped the overnight train to sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad "the impaler" Dracul, the original Dracula, in Transylvania. Apparently he really never did drink ...

... a pleasant nearby hill overlooking the castle that we climbed to enjoy a picnic lunch away from the hoards. But just to add insult to injury, on the bus ride back to Brasov we enjoyed the company of half a dozen fat, shirtless, hairy, and obnoxious Russian guys sitting right behind us drinking huge gulps of beer from the 3 liter bottles they sell here. Hmmm, maybe we should have just stayed in Brasov... Tomorrow morning we'll ride a local train to Bucharest again. Then that ...

... Brašov to Bucuresti which would then delay our travel into Bulgaria. But once again Christi came to our aid and we made it to Bucuresti. The little we saw of Bucuresti was that it appeared to be a large city with LARGE estates that have been abandoned or really let run down. Lots of evidence of prior communist regime. Arrived at the train station and had an instant mistrust of the officials - asking for money just to get through to the platform ...

... very liberating about being so anonymous in a crowd this large, while everyone around us was singing in a language we didn't understand. We have since bought the cd and are proceeding to drive our flatmates mad since we play one particular song on repeat that they sang at the concert! I must share a funny story which happened a couple of nights ago. Heather, Lianne and I spent the evening in the village square. On our way home, we encountered a little old lady, hunched over, probably ...