Brasov, Romania

After Fusssen, we went through Austria and Hungry to Romaina!

Nicole, this one is for you! We didn't have time to do any sound of music tours, or even stop in the city, but I thought of you as we passed through!!!

Munich train station

Upon arrival in Romania, we were greeted with a grocery cart race



The Black Church, in Brasov (Bra-shawve), Transylvania, Romania. We didn't see any actual Dracula things, as they were pretty far from where we were, and mostly either ruins or a castle that he stopped into for just one day. But we still got to learn a lot about him - he was actually Vlad Ţepeş. Ruler of Transylvania in the mid-1400's, he was known as Vlad the Impaler, because he took to sticking spikes into the base of the spines of his enemies, causing a painful and slow death lasting up to 48 hours. The term Dracula came from his father's name Dracul - Dracula meaning son of Dracul. It is probably true that he performed some absolutely horrible acts of cruelty, but these have been exaggerated over time, especially when Bram Stoker from Ireland wrote Dracula!
However, we were still feeling cool for being in Transylvania, so we let the church be creepy.




Town square, Brasov



This was either the Black tower or the White tower, but they were both pretty white!



The Black Church again - it got it's name when a fire sometime several centuries ago blackened its walls.



The view of the town center from the look out of the (either Black or White, we never were able to find out!) tower. This part of town is all from about the 1200's!

A better view of the red, old building tops, and the Black church at its center!