And Now On To Transylvania...

After the wedding fun subsided, we all recovered on Sunday, including a post-wedding dinner/happy hour type event with L&V's friends from home. Transylvania was our next destination, and L&V so graciously offered to take us there on Monday and Tuesday. Don't worry...we didn't barge in on their honeymoon or anything. They go to Italy in August to celebrate.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Romanian geography (I wasn't, and am still a little foggy) Transylvania is a region of Romania, not a specific city. The region is northwest of Bucharest and boasts a lot of countryside, mountains and small villages. I believe the biggest town in Transylvania is Brasov, which is in the southern part of the region.

Before we got to the mountains we stopped at a monastery. It's famous because legend has it that when it was being built, the builder would build during the day, go home to sleep at night, then the next morning everything would be undone. One night in a dream, the builder had a vision that he needed to build his wife into the monastery and it would solve this problem. So the next day he did, and there she stays to this day. V said they learn this as a love story in school. Not sure what to make of that.

Romania has two or three highways (debated between L&V), but after you get off the highway, or if you want to take the scenic route to the top of the mountain, here's what you have to drive through:

I won't lie. I spent much of the trip to the top of the mountain laying down/sleeping in the back of the car, only to rise when something really interesting happened. We drove for quite a few hours, but the reward was awesome, and somewhat unexpected. We ate at a great diner-type restaurant and enjoyed views of the mountains, a lake and lots of sheep being herded on the mountain side.

I believe when we made it over the top of the mountain, we were officially in Transylvania. From there went through some other small villages, then made it to Bran, which is where the castle is located. We stayed a great little resort called Club Vila Bran. I'm under the impression they do a lot of business around Halloween, but there were still a fair number of people there. V made sure BK and I had the room with the view:

In the evening we relaxed, enjoyed the views and had another traditional Romanian dinner. Each time I mention dinner we were usually trying new things we had not yet experienced.

"Dracula's Castle" is actually Bran Castle and was obviously made famous by the story of Dracula. The story was inspired by Vlad the Impaler who ruled in this area long ago. We toured the castle the next morning. It was not at all scary and was really your typical European castle, furnished with period pieces throughout.

On the way back to Bucharest we briefly stopped to view the residential palace, although now that I think about it, I am not sure who lives there since Romania is not a monarchy. I was raining again, so we just viewed from afar.

The only bad thing about the trip was that BK had to change his flight to go back to Switzerland a day early, which also happened to be our 8th wedding anniversary. Unfortunate, but not the end of the world. I spent the evening with L&V hanging out in Bucharest, relaxed the next morning, then went to see the Village Museum. I would recommend this stop. It's an open air museum in which they have brought in homes from the different regions of Romania to illustrate the various cultures and architecture.

Romania was an extremely interesting trip for us. As I previously mentioned, I found the push and pull between their past and their future very evident, but that is also mixed with people who are very proud of everything their country stands for. Many thanks to our friends L&V for their hospitality throughout our entire trip!

Oh yeah, and one more thing. When you hear that Romania is full of gypsies, don't believe it. There are gypsies in Romania, but no more than any other European country. A long time ago, Romania just happened to be the only one who didn't kick them out as soon as they arrived.