Romania

For my final weekend trip of the semester, I met one of my friends from Princeton who lives in Romania.

I took the train out to Bucharest on Thursday. It was very long - about 15 hours - but I enjoyed watching the mountains in the Romanian countryside. I toured Bucharest by myself on Friday. I saw a couple art museums, the palace of the parliament (Europe's largest building), and a couple extensive parks. At night my friend flew in, and we walked around Bucharest some more.

The Palace of the Parliament

On Sunday, we took the train to tour a castle in Transylvania. Unfortunately, pictures were forbidden inside without paying an exorbitant fee, but suffice to say the interior was gorgeously decorated, with lots of marble, gold, and an extensive weaponry collection, including jewel-studded blades. After the castle, we took the train to Brasov. It's an old town with lots of churches, a charming bell tower, a giant Christmas tree, and plenty of shops.

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The Black Church in Brasov, so called because of a fire long ago

The Bell Tower in Brasov

My friend's parents also drove up to Brasov, so on Monday we traveled by car instead of the train. First we went to Bran Castle, better known as Dracula's Castle because of its connection to Vlad the Impaler, the Romanian ruler Dracula is said to be loosely based on. This castle was over seven centuries old, so it had lots of fascinating history, even if it wasn't as extravagant as the first castle I saw. The castle sits atop a rocky cliff, and together with the wintery forest and mountains in the background, it lacked only lightning to look exactly how you'd imagine Dracula's Castle.

Bran Castle

The secret passage

Castle courtyard

It's Count Dracula!!!

We drove through the beautiful Romanian countryside to Sighisoara, a very well-preserved medieval city. In the old part of the town, practically all the buildings are several centuries old. An old church and nearby cemetery add to the medieval atmosphere. The city is fortified with several historic towers, each dedicated to different guilds such as butchers, iron workers, or carpenters.

A Guild Tower

Cemetery

Not surprisingly, I enjoyed eating some Romanian food. The most unusual thing I ate was brain, a delicacy in Romania. I also was fortunate enough to get a homemade breakfast from my friend's family. Romanians prefer salty things for breakfast, so in addition to putting jams on toast special vegetable preserves are popular on toast.

It was a wonderful weekend trip, and having native Romanians to show me around made it all the better. I'm very thankful for their kindness - it was a perfect end to the semester.