Think it's a little cheesy?
The city of Rasov from the top
At the fortress
The fortress was built in the thirteenth century at a strategic point (duh) and succeeding peoples built upon it. The ruins that remain are undistinguished but the views are spectacular. We climbed around and worked our way down to the souvenir shops before heading through Rasov and back through Brasov to the Brico store, the big DIY store of Romania and other European countries. (Think Home Depot.)
We Let the three men loose for an hour and a half while the rest of us went to the Super Carrefours, a mega grocery store something like a cross between Costco and WalMart. Wandered the aisles and was humbled. Always thought American markets offered an overwhelming number of choices, but this place had a whole aisle of just soft cheeses and two more of other cheeses. Everything from baby furniture to appliances to linens and clothes in addition to this immense grocery. One clever thing they do is have customer service people on rollerblades so when you get to the checkout and find you have the wrong thing they send one of these young people to make the switch and they're back in no time.
It's a blur because they move so fast I couldn't focus
The guys were late returning after a frustrating (at least for Charlie) time. In spite of having an English speaking employee accompany them through the store they couldn't find everything they wanted, or it was too expensive. In order to save a few leu they will end up doing things the hard way and maybe not have time to finish. Committee shopping is never easy.
By 3:30 we hadn't had lunch so we stopped en route home. Called ahead to let our cook know not to prepare a dinner. Very slow service again (the Romanian way) Charlie and I shared a vegetarian pizza but in case we were low on carbs, potatoes and corn were among the vegetables in the topping! It was just turning dark when we got back to find the table set with a light supper. We all went upstairs to settle in when a messenger came room to room to tell us the cook's feelings were hurt we weren't eating. So having finished lunch after 5, we were back at the table by 7:30. They are going to have to bump me up to first class for the flight home because I won't fit in an economy seat!
Have I mentioned how smokey it is here, not just here in Valea Screzii but everywhere. Don't know where the wood comes from because Transylvania is still beautifully forested, but virtually everyone has wood burning furnaces to heat their homes, water tanks, and many to cook on. Here in the volunteer house there is a small gas range and oven but in the big kitchen they have only wood burning stoves. At the hotel in Bran there was tobacco smoking only in the bar but it permeated the lobby and restaurant as well. If you went out for fresh air, as we did this morning for a walk before breakfast, the outside air is just as bad from all the chimneys. At Pro Vita you can hear the chain saw going all day because every house needs to have its own fire. The guys bring the wood from piles outside to stack for the guy who keeps our furnace going until about 10 pm when he goes to bed. As the fire dies out, there is no heat until he lights it again around 8 am. But that's fine with me because the house is way too hot most of the time and just gets comfortable during the night.
9088 steps (3.9 miles)
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