Visiting Romania

We obtained permission from our mission president, President Baughman, to visit Romania while Laura and Derek were visiting.  After waiting at the border for a half hour while they checked our passports, we were able to proceed.

Our goal for the day was to go to Dracula’s castle in Transylvania.  The home of ‘Vlad the Impaler’ (aka Dracula), and other interesting people.  

We drove through many quaint and picturesque villages.

We saw mostly people walking, driving cars and riding bicycles, but there were many old carts being drawn by horses.  When we were in Romania, some of the carts were being used to bring in the hay.  We watched some of the hay fields actually being cut with a scythe.

The traditional Romanian haystack is built firmly around a pole that is placed solidly in the ground. 

To see how a Romanian haystack is made go here:

leafpile.com/TravelLog/Romania/Farming/MakingaHaystack/MakingHaystack.htm

We purchased an original watercolor picture of the Romanian haystacks in winter.
Dracula’s castle is in a village called Bran.  The village was shrouded in a heavy mist.

The 15th century castle, itself, was located high on a hillside.  This is the view from our hotel room.

We purchased an original watercolor picture of the castle.

We had breakfast at our cozy hotel, and then went out to explore the village and the castle.

We entered the castle using a long staircase.  The mysterious woman on the steps had a long knife, and seemed to be ready to use it.  The man was surprised. Sister Bailey stayed at the bottom of the stairs and smiled …

There was a secret door that took us into the main living area.  It looked safe enough …

There were many rooms.  This was the bedroom.