place2place

also gypsy horse carts and quail eggs

Mom's been in Bucharest one month today. To celebrate she went with us on a CLO trip to Lacerta Winery in the lovely Prahova Valley. We ate salad with hand made sausages and local cheeses for lunch along with a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Rosé, a Merlot, a Pinot Noir and a wine made from the local grape, the Feteasca Negra. Peter says when you come to Romania this can all be yours.

si si si sicily

I entered into the Must Get Out of Bucharest Machine:

• Cheap, short flight
• Not expensive, dog-friendly accommodations (Paris/London = no way)
• A view...with a beach would be best

And out popped Sicily.

The view of the village of Taomina from our balcony.

The view of our balcony, not quite all the way from Taomina.

Camille and Bea opening the gate to The Lemon Tree Villa. I love staying anywhere called a villa.

I didn't even enter in:
• Good wine
• A diffent flavor of gelato every day
• The popsicle store
• A Fiat Cinquecinto "Wait! I drove up to the top of this road but we can't drive down stairs!"
• One-person-sized presecco
* Sheep on the road
* Spring showers at night, wam sun during the day 
• Aritchokes 

Even Bea is enjoying Sicily.

sinaia must mean "too good to be true"

Drove just an hour and half north of Bucharest the other day to the dreamy little town of Sinaia. We caught the town between snow storms, on a day in the middle of this crazy cold when the tempurature was about 15F degrees. Sinaia has everything you could ever want in a town though, starting with a gingerbread-house of a monastery that dates from the 1600s.

King Carol liked the extra-blue sky here too, he built a castle during Downtown Abbey times.

Of course we need dogs in the story.

Sinaia is also a bear zone.

And a mom and baby zone.

And Sinaia has a ski lift that comes right down to the main street, that's what every fairy tale town needs in my book.

snow and tiramisu--hurry up take the picture before they're gone

Finally! January 20th and we got our first snowfall.

I spent part of the afternoon with our neighbor after I begged her to show me how she makes the best the tiramisu ever. Not pictured: the Romanian congnac that may or may not be the secret ingredient.

12 days of christmas in 7 days in paris

One Eiffel Tower.

Two feet around the very center of Paris.

Three French macaroons at Angelina at Versailles.

Four matching bracelets. Three years ago we bought matching silk-corded bracelets that the four of us wore until they fell off. Peter's was the last to give out, he wore his tiny LOVE amulet for almost three years! I didn't know if the store would still be there, or if they would still have the bracelets. When we found the store and I expressed my relief to the proprietor she said, "We've been here for 25 years." They still have the bracelets too, and we are outfitted for another couple years, or until our next trip to Paris.

Camille discovers the 4th arrondisement.

One of the huge fireplaces at the Chateau de Vincenne, five minutes from where we stayed. Where's Santa?

Six pounds of clementines a day. Stefan discovered the charm of squeezing the peel into a candle flame and now it's like, his job.

Seven nights of gorgeous lights. Also, Beaumarchais fans, squeee!

Eight stops from our hotel to Saint Paul on the number 1 line metro.

Ten trips a day to the bakery for croissants.

Eleven pipers piping.

Twelve drummers pounding in my head--I've had Bronchitis/possibly Pnemonia--I call it Cough Until You Pee or Throw Up. Having a fever every day has given this last couple of weeks an altered feeling, I knew I was sick when I couldn't be bothered to try on these shoes at Comptoires de Cotonnier. I don't recommend being ill. I do recommend Paris at Chirstmastime though, they have zithromax a plenty and you can always order online.

seeing with your photographic eyes

I spent the afternoon poking through art supply stores on a Harry-Potter-Diagon-Alley kind of street called Hanal cu Tei in Lipscan, everyone's favorite neighborhood.

In this neighborhood, run down buildings stand next to refurbished ones, shabby belle-epoch chic dominates the mood. The stores and cafes that are open are busy, street muscians draw a pretty good crowd. At an artisan-kind-of market you can buy honey and homemade soaps, hand-knitted socks and, from an old man wearing a tie and sweater vest, funny decorated gingerbread cookies. 

Some of the streets are being re-cobble-stoned. I heard that a Spanish company won the bid to do the re-cobble-stoning. They came in and tore out all the old, real cobblestone, which they sold. Now they are repaving with cobblestones made of new cement. Romania. It's sad sometimes. That could be their tourism slogan.

Then on the way home, my taxi driver wanted to discuss whether God intervenes in the requests of humans, or is prayer a form of auto-suggestion. He believes in prayer because he feels the answers from God! Then he asked where I've traveled in Romania and he was super excited to hear that I'd recently come back from Lake Balae. 

He has seen yeti there! Well, he hasn't seen him with his own eyes, but he took photos there, and when he looked at the photos later, yeti is in them! Well, not yeti, but bears with lights coming out of their eyes! He told me he has seen yeti twice--with his "photographic eyes"--and that I should look through my photos of Lake Balea very carefully.

I don't know about the Lake Balea photos, but I think I see yeti in the lower left of the photo I took at the cookie stand! That's creepy!

dracula tourism

Bran Castle, located in Transylvania, matches Americans' Hollywood idea of where Dracula lived. The architecture screams gothic, but where is the foreboding cloud action?

Built as a fortress in 1212 when Rome and Luxemburg argued over the area, Queen Marie of Romania enjoyed summers here until they booted her out in 1948. The castle has been given back to the Hapsburgs, they've graciously spent quite a lot of money de-decaying it and scattering bear rugs and crowns about. In 2009, the castle opened as a museum and a place to rent for private parties, for the red-lined-dress-capes-for-men crowd, presumeably.

Wandering through the dining room, I thought of my favorite part in the book, where Dracula pretends to have servants and sneaks around fixing dinner and preparing rooms, scrubbing pots and making beds behind his guest's back.

The foundation that runs the castle does a good job explaining who Vlad the Impaler was, one of his many middle names was Dracula, and local beliefs about undead ghosts. People really do hang garlic over their doors in this area, but signing the guest book on the way out, Peter and I were embassassed by the Americans disappointed with the castle who found it "uninteresting." They weren't actually attacked by a vampire, so they want their $2 admission fee back?

We wandered past carved doors, ate blood-orange flavored black gumdrops, admired the sword collection and enjoyed the hospitality of the imaginary Count Dracula. We didn't see any sharp teeth climbing up the creepy secret staricase in the house, but saw plenty them for sale in the stalls at the base of the castle.

lake balea, go if you get the chance

We spent a long time throwing snowballs onto the frozen lake, then listening for the echo. Click on the photo to pretend you are there.

the road to lake balea, the transfăgărășan highway, yeah that

You know you've started your Romanian roadtrip and have left Bucharest behind when you have to drive around horse carts.

The Top Gear guys drove the road to Lake Balea last spring--in a Masarati, a Austin Martin and a Ferrari. We weren't really sure what to expect--maybe we should have watched the show before the drive?

But it started off pretty.

And then got stunning.

Then we started climbing up and seeing snow. Kind of a lot of snow.

Then it got ridiculous.

Since I've been home and watched the show, I know now that the Top Gear guys describe this road as the "best race track turns in the world, knitted together."

The road went up and up and up, a million hairpin turns, to an elevation of 6000 feet, then we came to what looked like end of the road. I'd heard the pass can be closed when it snows, but I didn't expect it to be closed in October. We drove hours of switchbacks and can't get to the lake?

As we approched what we thought was the end of the road, next to a WC with the best view in the world, we saw a tunnel.

You come out of the tunnel, (the longest in Romania) pass the lake by mistake, have to TURN AROUND on this road where there is absolutely no turning around, then go back up an even steeper road to the tiny alpine lake, almost completely frozen. The hotel couldn't be any more on the lake, in fact, we were a little afraid of it falling in.

They build an ice hotel in December, so I can't wait to go back.

In the night our water bottles in the car froze, so I was glad I'd stuffed the dog into a suitcase and smuggled her up to our room. She has no idea she's thrown up three times on what the Top Gear guys call the "best driving road in the world." 

spare me

Somewhere between Moscow and Bucharest, our spare tire was stolen. I don't like to think ill of others so I won't accuse one or the other except to say that it was documented that I had one when the car was parked in Moscow and when it arrived here in Bucharest, it was documented that we didn't (have one). My first thought was to buy it back on ebay! But then it occurred to me that it would take up to 3-4 weeks and we are planning a trip through the Romanian back woods next week and a spare tire is better insurance than... actual insurance. If I were a gambling man, I'd bet the odds on a flat tire were greater than getting in an accident — but the truth is, you never know.

So I set out in search of a spare tire locally. I thought a used one would be the way to go, seeing as to how I hope never to use it. A week of inquiry all led to "no." My 1999 Toyota Land Cruiser is either too old for old parts or American and therefore too rare to find in Europe. Save your breath on the fact that they are all made in Japan. European ones are different.

Plan B  - look to buy a new one: Three tire stores I drove by did not have the ability to order me a rim. "Too old" they said. And a tire my size is about $328 (I paid $117/tire 3 years ago but they were on sale). Romanian Parliament just passed a law that demands that tires be rated for snow and mountain hazardous driving or you can receive a huge fine (someone knows someone in the tire business). So tires are expensive here and rims for an 11 year old car are near impossible to find.

Plan C - I drove to the Toyota dealer. Ciprian (pronounced "Chiprian") is a very nice guy. He works in the parts department there. His English is good and he is sympathetic to my cause. He believes the Gypsies had something to do with it. No! Actually, he says he knows the Gypsies had something to do with it. We spend an hour looking on line: There is a rim for my vehicle but it is listed as made for Toyota 2002 - 2008. Then it says in fine print that it will fit any Land Cruiser model and in parenthesis if says, (not to be used as a spare). We debate why this is so. I figure it has to do with the center opening which it seems to lack. This open center rim is essential to suspend the spare under the carriage. So what if we buy it and exchange it with the rim already on the truck and use the old rim as a spare? Ciprian is hesitant. Apparently refunding a part after buying it is the Acme of bureaucracy. "This is a 4 signature and stamp case," he informs me. In my case, it's more because I have my own government to deal with to get the VAT tax refunded.

I decide to gamble after all and order the rim. Now to finding a tire. We find one that is actually a reasonable price and turns out to be the very same tire that is already on my car. Excited prematurely, I urge him to order it. He calls the shop and informs me that they have it but may not be able to deliver it before 5PM when the Service station at the dealership closes. They are located across town and only have one delivery truck. Of course, I can go get it myself, but my work schedule is pretty booked on Fridays. So we decide I will go get it as soon as they open, drive it to the dealership, leave it there for them to see if the rim fits, mount the old tire on the new rim, place the new tire on the old rim, and mount the brand new spare under the car. 

The early morning did not go as planned. I knew it as soon as it started. I forgot my wallet when I walked to the bakery for croissants, a sure omen. I engaged a concierge service from the embassy that will do just about anything for a price. They called me back and informed me they found another similar tire a bit more expensive but far closer to our location. I agreed to let them buy it and deliver it to me. I then drove to the dealership. 

The truck was lifted on the rack and we stood around wondering if the rim would fit or not. Yes! It fits! But there was one little problem. The lug nuts that anchor the rim to the wheel are different. So if the spare is used, the old lug nuts must be saved to use. An important yet small sacrifice to have a spare. At close examination, the rims are different and "look! You need new brake pads!" 

At the end of the day, all patients were seen, although I was late, and I now own a spare I hope I never need. And the squeal I developed since driving in Romania from the brake indicators is also gone. Must have been the Gypsies!