Villa Select Predeal

... I w*s forced into mosquito ridden hotels.

My first impression of Rom*ni* w*s of * country which is embr*cing c*pit*lism with re*l zest; there's * construction frenzy, somewh*t c*lmed by the economic crisis but everywhere, l*nd is for s*le *nd buildings *re going up. The new gener*tion of Rom*ni*n love their c*rs, big c*rs, b*rry-boyed-up c*rs, c*rs with exh*usts so big there seems little point in h*ving one *nd windows so d*rk th*t they h*ve ...

Summer School is over and the three of us are off to travel Romania! We decided to go to Brasov again and see the Peles Castle, Rasnov fortress, and Timpa. When we woke up at4 in the morning to cook our breakfast in our microwave, we arrived at the bus station at 5:30 in the morning to wait for our 6:30 bus. We got our seats first because we were very on time.

"Ohhh he's cute. Look outside the bus Queeny, he’s cute and tall." Said my roommate breaking the early ...

... over it. People didn't seem to care that it was covered and still used it as a wishing well, throwing coins on top of the cover. Very strange. Even more strange - no one was touching any of the money just sitting there on the cover. Even though Dracula's castle was a disappointment, I really enjoyed my time in Brasov, even staying a day longer than I had originally planned. The hostel was great with great people there. One ...

... no frills, simple and sparse and pretty ugly...but the piano playing this old floating melody, allows me to imagine myself transported back in time...I let myself feel the atmosphere that might have dominated the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s...this scene is somewhat chilling...esp because it's present day...is this the heightened lifestyle Romanians have been striving for? The quality for me in this place is surely lacking... thankfully this structure ...

... in the middle and waited. About 5 minutes later a load of cops came through with their sirens on. They were all pointing at me and yelling something. Then a load of black cars with men in black suits went by. Then a few more cops and that was it. They let me finish crossing the road. I think the cop was tellign me that they were directing all the traffic through cause there was a governemnt official coming through. I guess they decided i didnt look like i was going ...

... really well. She lived with an american couple for 5 years. They moved back to the US and only adopted her sister and brother, they decided they didnt want her so left her there. Sad story really. The youngest girl is Emma, she is tiny. Adra is about 10 and Bianca is 8. A parcel had arrived at the post office from a previous volunteer so everyone was dying to walk down there to see what they got. I was playing with Emma when they were ...

I was sitting in a restaurant today, and Fergie's "London Bridge" came on the overhead speakers. I would like to formally apologize to the world right now on behalf of my country for exporting that song to the globe. There is no excuse for this, and all I can say is that I am sorry. Now that that is all out of the way, I will tell you about Brasov. Brasov is one of my favorite cities from the trip so far. Imagine a little Salzburg, a little Venice, throw in some slums and medieval ...

... itself is a nice city. Located in a narrow valley, with mountains on both sides, it sort of reminds me both Quito and Cuzco in South America (though it is not as high as these two cities, I needn't worry about altitude sickness). In the center of the town is Piata Sfatului. Maybe the finest square in Romania, it is lined with baroque facades and café, also a MacDonald's and KFC. Most of the time I passed by, there was at ...

... saw this as an ideal opportunity to stock up on Christmas presents, though Brad was a little disappointed that she couldn't make him up a man-bag to take back to Melbourne. Having learnt a valuable lesson from our last overnight train experience, Brad and I scrounged together every last Romainian Leu and some Hungarian Forint to pay for a sleeper compartment and boy was it worth it! It felt like a (small) hotel room, minus the mini-bar, and behind our triple bolted door we slept like babes.

Brasov is where all the tourists go in Romania, in the heart of Transylvania, Dracula country. So I spend a day doing that, walking through the old castle and all. But the real attraction for me was just seeing a country in the heart of Europe that is still village-based and peasant-based, with lots of arts and crafts ...