Romanian history day

From Brasov we hired a tour guide to take us to Bran Castle, which inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the Rasov Fortress. As soon as we got in the car our guide asked if we were interested in hearing some Romanian history. We were, so he started, "Well, forty two thousand years ago..." and four hours later ended with dire predictions of an inevitable invasion of Romania by Russia.  It was pretty awesome. We also learned about geology, the logistics of paragliding in the Brasov region, lies the American media tells, religion, cultural differences between German and Romanian residents, and about a monk who could see the future. 

This is the secret staircase in Bran Castle

Because Romanian currency has bills down to the value of about $0.30, coins aren't so common. 

That explains the bills thrown down the wishing well.

After the castle, we went to the Rasov fortress. But first we were treated to a quick detour up to a mountain ridge with a beautiful view on both sides. There were tons of wildflowers and it almost looked like Switzerland. We could also see where someone had been cutting the grass by hand with a scythe. That didn't surprise us too much. From the train we had seen dozens of horse drawn carts piled with hay, dirt, or whatever else.

The fortress. Can you believe rain was forecast? 

The Fortress was built over a couple hundred years by the people of three different villages. It was only for Germans. The Romanian locals had to head for the hills when there was an invasion. Above you can see the walls of individual homes. The fortress could hold two thousand people and even had a school. It is known for its well. According to legend two prisoners spent 17 years digging the well in order to gain their freedom. No one knows if it's true, but about halfway down there is some Arabic graffiti accusing the locals of being heartless.

Rose garden in the Fortress

We got back to town in mid afternoon. L immediately crawled into bed and fell into a deep sleep and couldn't be roused. The girls were tired, too. So I stayed with them while E and T went out to have some fun together. It seems like I'm always the one staying back, but soon enough E will be working all the time, so it's fair for him to have fun now. E took T to see the town's tower gate, they went for a walk along the river, they climbed up for a view of the town, and they went to two different playgrounds. For a finale, T got to ride a bike in the town square again. When they got back, E took the girls out for a delicious dinner. 

Remainder by E:

The first playground was small, but had this cool 4 person swing that could rotate and tilt on the center pole.

Walking to the 2nd playground we went along a river that sparkled in the sunlight. T called it a "river of gold"

 The 2nd playground was really neat, actually a series of small playgrounds with different climbing sets, slides, sandboxes and merry go rounds to play on. T loves climbing so he quickly went to the top of all the equipment. Below on the right are stairs swinging on chains that were a little challenging, though T loved them.

Brasov from the White Tower

 After playing we took a walk up the hill to the White Tower, one of two old fortifications (the other is the Black Tower) that look out over Brasov. It was a pretty view, and then a much easier walk down to our hotel (which is just behind the clock tower in the picture above).

T's finale: another ride around the square