01 October 2007

I Splurged...

...since I was on vacation. I've toured Peles Castle several times and never been remotely tempted to spend the extra $14 or so to take pictures. That's how they get the tourists here in Romania - charge one price for a ticket and another price (often much higher) to take pictures. At Peles, the normal tour costs 12 lei, but the "picture permit" costs another 30 lei - and even with the permit, you aren't allowed to use a flash.


I was at Peles with a group 2 weeks ago, and our guide mentioned that on the last Tuesday of the month, the tour also includes the 2nd floor (the normal tour is only a part of the ground floor, about 10% of the castle). Since I was already planning to be in Sinaia the next Tuesday, I decided to take advantage of the somewhat rare opportunity. And I decided to splurge and pay to take pictures.

I can't say that anything turned out fantastic. It was an incredibly beautiful fall day, which meant lots of light coming in through the huge windows, light that couldn't be evened out with a flash. Add to that LOTS of dark wood & hundreds of ugly, modern fluorescent light bulbs (the kind that you can put in any light fixture) and you definitely don't have ideal picture taking conditions. Nonetheless...thanks to a good camera & a computer program that helped lighten things up a bit...you can at least get the idea, if not the full effect!

Without further ado...Castelul Peles.

















































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