After breakfast Claudiu and George picked us up again around 9 (Claudiu slept in and was a little late) and we set off for the days adventures. It wasn't long before George started yelling at Bertha again. There was a rally going on in the afternoon so the police had all the roads closed, making it difficult for us to get where we wanted to. It delayed us a little, but it was all good. George was stressing.
Our first stop was the Peles Castle. We did a guided tour through all of the rooms. It was a very large and grand place. Behind it was a gondola going up to the mountain top. The area was a very cute mountain village with lots of little lodges. When we were done touring we sat at the coffee shop and I had a really good cappuccino and apple strudel. Some of us were planning on doing a hike up to the Brasov sign on the mountain later on and so Karen and I did a few warm up step-ups as a joke.
Our next stop was at the Bran Castle, the castle associated with Dracula. At the bottom of the castle was a ton of souveniour shops. We did a walk through the castle on our own. There were exhibits about the author of the book and vampires, as well as information about those that used to live there. I was feeling a bit faint after and so I grabbed an ice cream for a sugar kick but only could eat half.
It was about a 10 minute drive back into Brasov. I was in desperate need of some food at this point and we had all decided on going to Claudiu's house for a BBQ later on so a trip to the grocery store was in order before the hike. Andy, Claudiu and I drove to the store and I got my stash of fruit and nuts and sat and ate while I waited for them to finish. We were running a little late. After that Andy had to quickly stop at the train station to get our tickets for the next morning.
We got back to the hotel around 6:20 and I quickly grabbed some water and Claudiu drove us to the bottom of the mountain. Considering we were planning on eating dinner at some point we set off at quite a fast pace. The trail zig zagged underneath the cable car that goes to the top so every now and then at a clearance we would get a nice view of the city below. It took us about 50 minutes to get to the top of the hill where we were rewarded with awesome views and the Brasov sign. I had to beat Andy to the top so a few feet away I started running up just to get there before him. At the sign we managed to climb into the letter 'B' and sit there with the city below us just like the Hollywood sign. It was really cool. Right when we were leaving a police man came up and told another guy to get down, but I don't think the officer cared too much. On the way down we ran parts of the way just to speed things up. We got to the bottom around 8ish and then did a few more competitions before heading home. Andy and I raced up a hill, and he beat me by a long shot. Then we ran up one more time together, and again, he was going to beat me, but was being nice and ran alongside me instead.
We walked back at a fast pace through the centre square and dropped Greg off to meet Moya. We had speedy showers and then we were off in a cab to Claudiu's house. It was around 9:30 when we got to his house. It was about a 10 minute drive away. His two children were there, Stefan (8) and Alex (3). They were adorable. Stefan never stopped talking once he got going, and unfortunately it wasn't in English. He gave me a tour of the entire house aka casa, including all of the kitchen drawers. It was hilarious. We sat outside and ate and snacked on chips, peanuts and beer while waiting for the meet to cook. Claudiu's wife and mom were there as well. He has a really sweet family and it was really cool to be welcomed into their home. We didn't eat until around 10:30, but it was delicious. We had two different kinds of meat and a cucumber/tomato salad as well as some bread. Around 11:30 we passed around some of our final beers while waiting for the cabs.
Back at the hotel I sat in the lobby again with April and did some internet stuff until 1am. Another long day!
Peles Castle:
View from Bran Castle aka Dracula's Castle:
Bran Castle, Transylvania:
Bran Castle:
Hiking:
Sitting in the letter 'B' of the Brasov sign:
View from top:
The sign that we were sitting in:
Running descent:
Stair/hill race with Andy:
BBQ dinner at Claudiu's house - Me with Stefan and Alex:
Claudiu's wife doing all the work:
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