Ultima Zi

The last day that Sarah was here we tried to fit in all of the things we hadn't been able to do before - all on our way back to Bucharest for Sarah's flight out early Wednesday morning.

The first stop was the ancient Saxon city of Sighisoara, about 50 km. from Targu Mures.


In a quiet room somewhere in this house, Vlad Tepes (later known as Vlad the Impaler, the "real" Dracula) was born. Do you see the "Dracula" in front of the door? There is now a restaurant in the ground floor, complete with Dracula-costumed waiters if you arrive at just the right time.











So while we were up in the walled part of the Old City, Sarah decided to take a look over the side of the wall. Nice...we felt so safe.

From Sighisoara, we went on to Brasov for lunch (the oh-so-Romanian KFC) and a quick tour of the Black Church and the downtown area.





Next stop, Castle Bran, traditionally known as Dracula's castle - even though the only real historical connection between Vlad and this castle was the time he laid siege to it. It was however a home to Romanian royalty, specifically Queen Marie, the last queen of Romania. And now a nice tourist trap, complete with bottles of "Dracula's Blood" wine.







After a kind-of-scary drive through the mountains with a misbehaving van, we made finally made it to Bucharest, and Sarah enjoyed her first visit to Ikea (seriously...we don't have such things in Grand Rapids!).



Late night dinner at "La Mama" ("at mom's" - Romanian homestyle food), and then we crashed at the guest apt. in Bucharest for a few hours. Most flights to the US with connections anywhere in Europe leave here between 6 and 6:30 am. Factor in two-hour-early arrival time and a 45 minute drive to the airport and...well, it was an early morning. But the misbehaving van and I made a bit of peace (at least enough to get to the airport and back). Then a quick trip to the doctor's office in the nether regions of Bucharest and then a long train ride home. Sleep for a week? Wouldn't that be nice!

Adevarat C-a Inviat!

Beginning on Easter morning, people greet each other - at church, on the street or even on the telephone - with "HRISTOS A INVIAT!" ("Christ arose!") and respond with "ADEVARAT C-A INVIAT!" ("It's true that He arose" or, as we say in English, "He is risen indeed!") On Easter and the days immediately following, even newscasts open with that greeting. That will probably continue for another week or so. Oh, that more people here would truly understand what Christ's resurrection could mean for their lives!


The teens and the children all had parts in the "2nd Day of Easter" service Monday morning. I wish I knew how to edit and post video - little kids with microphones are always good for a little entertainment :)

Easter Sunday I invited the staff from the English school here in town over for dinner. I have a hard time finding good ham here, so we had a good turkey instead (makes up for the ultra pathetic turkey I had at Thanksgiving!). More importantly, we had a great time just hanging out together and celebrating Christ's resurrection.



Coming soon to a blog near you: Ultima Zi - the Last Day

Trip to the Countryside

Some of our teammates from Hungary decided to come to Romania for Easter weekend and take a quick tour of some of the Transylvanian sights (Transylvania has changed hands between Hungary and Romania several times and there are still areas - including Targu Mures - that are predominantly Hungarian). They came into town Thursday evening, and on Friday we drove out toward some of the Hungarian villages with them. After about an hour on the road, they went off in one direction and we headed toward the village of Korund, where a lot of the traditional Romanian pottery is made. More souvenir shopping! And, of course, more picture taking, too!

Storks' nests are pretty common here, and now's the time of year when they are finally occupied again. Sarah jumped out of the car (after I stopped...) and ran back a bit to catch this picture.







Next Up: Easter

Holy Week in Targu Mures

We spent the second week of Sarah's visit at home in Targu Mures. After being on the road for almost two weeks (one for ministry, one with Sarah), I was glad to finally get home, sleep in my own bed, do laundry, and cook my own food.

This week was Holy Week, and in Romania that means church...and lots of it! The church program is designed to help believers remember and really think about the events leading up to Christ's arrest and crucifixion - all in preparation to celebrate His resurrection, victory over death and sin. In total, 6 services in 5 days (some village churches have more!), starting with the Lord's Supper on Thursday and continuing through the "second day of Easter" which is apparently celebrated in many places around the world. I'm still not used to Romanian Easter music, much of which sounds more like a funeral dirge to me than a resurrection celebration (cultural adaptation never ends...my ears aren't there yet).

After church one evening, we did make time to go take pictures of the city. I'm still playing with my little camera, trying to find out just what it is capable of (or what my brain is capable of telling it to do). I'm still trying to figure out night shots - but here are a couple of tries!





Bet your city doesn't have random "Happy Easter" lights...

Going Home

As promised, here is the next installment of the "trip across Romania" travelogue. Sunday, April 1, we went to church at Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Bucharest in the morning and then immediately hit the road so that I could make it back to Targu Mures in time for choir rehearsal that evening (I had already missed the week before and we were preparing several songs for Easter). Sarah wasn't a big fan of the road from Bucharest to Targu Mures, especially the sections going through the mountains (it's hard to sleep in the car when the car keeps throwing you from one side to the other through those hairpin turns!).

I manned the steering wheel, so Sarah manned the camera. Actually, the video camera...which doesn't really take great pictures, especially when moving at 60 kph! But here are a few shots, anyway.






Up next: Holy Week in Targu Mures

A Day on the Town

By Saturday, I think Sarah & I were both a little tired of traveling, so we stayed in the city and did the tourist thing. We visited "old town" Bucharest (or what's left of it...Ceaucescu had much of it destroyed to make way for new "modern" construction), Piata Unirii (the "Times Square" of Bucharest), and Piata Revolutiei, where there is now a large monument to the 1989 Revolution. I didn't take any pictures, since I already have lots from all of these places. But, never fear, there was still a lot of day left and a lot of space on my camera card :)
From Piata Revolutiei, we walked to the Romanian Athenaeum, a beautiful concert hall in the heart of the city. The interior is even more impressive than the exterior; I went to a symphony concert there not long I arrived in Romania.

Mihai Eminescu, one of Romania's most famous writers, stands guard at the entrance to the Athenaeum.

And the pigeons stand guard over the entrance.

From the Athenaeum in the center of the city, we drove to the Village Museum at the edges of the city. The village museum was constructed to exhibit the different styles of village houses, churches, etc. from all around the country and from different time periods. Actual buildings were "deconstructed" in their original locations, transported to Bucharest, and then reconstructed in their new setting on the edge of a huge city park. Some are furnished and decorated as they would be in the traditional village setting.

This was my first visit to Muzeul Satului, and it was the absolute best time of the year to visit. Each year during the week preceding Palm Sunday the Village Museum hosts an exhibition of traditional village crafts and music. So, craftsmen from all over the country were exhibiting and selling their wares - all in one place. Sarah had the best souvenir shopping opportunities of anyone I've taken shopping in Romania! We also saw traditional singers and dancers in Romanian national costume. The men's chorus from Bucovina had amazing harmonies and the dancers, well, they were Romanian dancers. They basically shuffle 6 inches in either direction and then back the other way. Sarah says they dance like Baptists :)

I'm not sure that the copper still really qualifies as a "traditional craft", but I guess...

The next shot is my favorite from the whole day (although some of the pottery shots come close). It might even make it into a frame and onto the wall in my black-and-white hallway.


Coming up tomorrow: Going home

Going on a Train Trip

One of the experiences I wanted Sarah to have here in Romania was riding the train. So, we rode the train...but not like the average Romanian. By some strike of luck (?) the train that we caught north to the mountain town of Sinaia was the "Sageata Albastra" or "Blue Arrow" train - the most modern and clean train on the rails here. Coming back, the train wasn't quite as nice, but it was still clean and relatively comfy. Oh well...she still got to ride the train, even if it wasn't quite the same as the "normal" Romanian train ride.


After an hour and a half on the train, we arrived in Sinaia. Sarah enjoyed the train, and I enjoyed missing the 2 1/2 hour drive and crazy Bucharest traffic!


I hadn't visited the monastery in Sinaia before, so I enjoyed seeing something new along with the "standard" Sinaia sights. These paintings are characteristic of all of the monasteries that I have seen thus far. Here, they comprise the domed entrance to the original church in the monastery.


"God bless our comings and our goings."


The "new" church built outside the original monastery walls.


Peles Castle, once the summer home of Romanian royalty.


Grave of "an unknown Romanian soldier" at the World War I cemetary and memorial. I was surprised to see graves of men killed in battles in nearby towns - I guess I need to brush up on my WWI history, because I had no idea there were battles fought in that area. There was also an interesting monument to American aviators killed over Romanian territory, but we couldn't read most of it because it was so weathered that the text was too light to read; I might go back and make a rubbing of it some day just to figure out what it says.



Next up: A Day on the Town

Back to Bucharest

On Thursday morning, we loaded up the car again and headed back to Bucharest. I'm trying to learn to enjoy the journey a little bit more and not be as "single-focused" on the destination. So, we stopped to take pictures of this church that I spotted in a little village on the way out to the sea. If this one piques your interest, check out Todd's site of church pictures from around the country.

After Sarah slept for, ummm...a few more hours...we went out around midnight to take the mandatory pictures in front of the Parliamentary Palace. Nice hair...

Tomorrow: Going on a train trip

Home Alone

For the first time in over a month, I'm home alone, and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. Sleep would probably be a good place to start since I only slept about 2 hours last night (in 15 minute segments) before taking Sarah to the airport for her 6:20 flight home. But I think I have hit that point of exhaustion where I just can't fall asleep. So, I'll catch up a little bit here first.


Since my brain isn't functioning well (me without sleep is NOT a pretty picture!), this will pretty much be a travelogue. Enjoy your trip across Romania...


Our journey around Romania began with a quick trip to the Black Sea (just so that Sarah could say she had seen it...not recommending the Black Sea in March, in case you were wondering). It was beautiful but oh-so-cold!
The view from our room at the bed & breakfast on the beach (approx. $32/night!).
While in Constanta we also visited some of the ancient Roman ruins common in that part of the country. The wall Sarah is sitting on is part of the original city wall.

The cutest of the random gnomes outside our bed & breakfast; random statue in downtown Constanta (maybe not random...I just have no idea what it represents, and Romanians aren't always very good at labelling their statues).

Mamaia, the resort area where we stayed, is actually a strip of land between the Black Sea and a large lake. On Wednesday night, we watched the sunset over the lake. And then on Thursday morning, we woke up to this beautiful sunrise over the Black Sea.

Next stop: back to Bucharest.

Jet Lag by Proxy?

Is is possible to "catch" jet lag? I'm sitting here at 6:45 in the morning - on vacation! - and wondering what in the world I am doing awake. My sister Sarah is here visiting (arrived on Tuesday) and sleeping on some weird schedule, and that's messing me up. Of course, she's falling asleep at like 7 in the evening and getting up in the middle of the night. I'm staying up until at least midnight and then being woken up early. I think today might be the day to force her out of jetlag mode...

I haven't uploaded pictures from my camera yet, but we went out to the Black Sea (at the port city of Constanta) Wednesday & Thursday. There's nothing quite like a dead resort town! The city itself was still bustling with activity, but the resort area of Mamaia was like a ghost town. Many of the hotels didn't even have curtains hanging in the windows. Such a contrast to the summer months when the place is choked with so many people everywhere! But Sarah got to see the Black Sea, and that's what she wanted.

Today we head to Sinaia, home of Peles castle & a monastery. We are going by train (another cultural experience she must have) and I am very thankful since I've driven about 25 hours in the last week. My car and I will be enjoying a day apart from each other =)

For your viewing pleasure, a few images from the last week...

Teacher training in Tulcea on Saturday; leading a devotional at the beginning (all in Romanian...yay!).
Teacher training in Bucuresti on Saturday

Piata Traian, one of the markets here in the city.