Destination: Rejuvenation

So last time we posted, which was quite a while ago, we were on our way to Transylvania with our Canadian friends. We decided to take a trip away from the big cities and go camping in the countryside for a while. We took an overnight train from Budapest, Hungary to Brasov Romania. We then took two buses to get to the very small town of Bran. This is the famed city which holds Dracula's castle. Actually, this wasn't really his castle, he just visited as a prisoner in the castle's dungeon for a while. Once we got to Bran, we stayed at Vampire Camping, which was completely empty. The staff here, Tony, was so great. That's one of the best parts about Romania; the people here are probably the nicest in the world. The owners fo the campsite gave us a tent for all of us to sleep in, mattresses, tents, and even cooked us lunch one day. Derrick, Fawnda, Seth and I spent our time camping relaxing and exploring the tiny town of Bran. Since its famed attachment to Dracula, much of the town really is a tourist trap, but because of this, they do pretty well for themselves, economically speaking. During the day the people of Bran set up tents in town ans sell their goods to the tourists. So, we did that for a few days. Another day, we went to the castle, and it was really amazing! The views from the castle were really astounding.

While we were spending our days exploring the town, we spent our evenings and mornings absolutely freezing. As we spent our days here, the weather got increasingly cold, reaching minus temperatures at night. And considering, we did pretty well for ourselves. We made fires at night, cooked ourselves warm meals, and slept in most of our clothing. But still, the cold was wearing on all of us. One day, Fawnda and Derek went out to see if they could find and affordable hotel or pension in the area. They came back with the news that the largest resort in the area had rooms available for all four of us...for $25 a night! So of course we snagged that as quickly as we could, packed up our bags and trekked up the side of a very steep hill, to reach our villa overlooking the entire city and the castle. These rooms had heating, comfy beds, televisions, jacuzzis in each room, and were exceptionally clean. Also, the restaurant sold very inexpensive traditional Romanian food that was delicious.

And that leads us up to today. We woke up this morning, packed our bags, and all four of us went back to Brasov. Derek and Fawnda are off to Budapest and then Austria. We all said our goodbyes and we got on the train to Bucharest, the capital, to catch a morning train to Athens. We did find that the transportation system here is not very organized. Traffic here is crazy. Everyone was honking at each other and people were driving on the wrong side of the road! After waiting 30 min. for our bus, then walking around another 30 min. looking for our hostel in a city that doesn't believe in the effectiveness of street signs, we found our hostel (not that you'll ever read this, but if the Romanian man who gave us directions by calling his friend and asking to look up directions on the internet, we are forever indebted to you). The hostel is brand new and really nice. They even have a movie list and we just finished watching Constantine (Sorry Derek, I know life isn't always fair). Tomorrow morning we catch our train from Bucharest to Thessaloniki and then on to Athens. We should be there in two days time. Wish us luck!

Now the photos: (comming soon...I still need to upload them)

Our Camp...the tents were provided for us. They were like a little cabin. Just not as warm.



A view of our camp. We were also airing out our tent though we never used it while in Romania.



Some locals with their cool wheels...



Some more local flavor:



Our warm nights by the fire:



Can you see the ghosts? (try playing with your monitor brightness)



This poor kid got turned into a pumpkin:



Its cold outside:



Derek and Fawnda bundled up:



Amanda inside the tent bundled up:



Frosty nights:







Inside the castle inside a secret passage:



Us in the castle:



Hiding in the Traselvanian woods:



One of the locals selling hand made flutes. I am now the proud owner of these one of a kind flutes:



Some help on the cold nights...there were four of us.



Our great host at Vampire camping Tony:



Now the many shades of Derek:

The just out of bed Derek...Except this was just after we hiked up the hill and not in the morning..hmm



The Rocker Derek:



The view from our villa:



A view of the villa:





A view of our rooms:



Our goodbye shot... Derek and Fawnda we will miss you and will see you in Canada:



Thats all for now...