Hello everyone,
Now in Sighisoara we've had time to wander around the cobblestone streets
and have already found some excellent places to taste test typical Romanian
cuisine. (We had to tear Sarah away from the bakery this afternoon after
eating a huge piece of apple/blackberry pie with the promise of more at
dinner). Unintentionally, our tour of Romania is apparently a Dracula tour
since now we are at the location of Vlad Tepes birthplace. I haven't heard
any stories of cruelty (ie impaling) but he only lived here as a small tot.
It's nice to have two nights in this town just to relax and enjoy the
Romanian culture before traveling onto the bigger cities. For example, as
we were laden down with our 30lb packs wandering aimlessly after getting off
the train, a very nice old man (who didn't speak any English) offered to
show us how to get to our hostel, which we pointed to on the map. He then
led us with great speed up an incredibly vertical staircase to get to the old city which is at the peak of a mountain.

Continuation of the Dracula tour in Sighisoara involved having dinner in his
childhood home with a mural of Drac himself on the wall above our table.
Apparently one of the only portraits of the insane man. Sipping Bloody
Marys underneath his portrait seemed appropriate. Took a day trip to nearby
village of Biertan to see a fortified church -where the local church was the center of a fortress and villagers could take shelter during invasions. This church had three layers of walls and
several free-standing defensive towers - the whole complex was on the Unesco
World Heritage list. Our next night at dinner the most exciting thing
happened - we had live music with dinner! And not just any live music but a
Romanian woman singing 80's songs. We got to hear Madonna, Pat Benatar, and
some kind of country music song that only Sarah recognized. Journal Entry Sighisoara, Romania Posted On: 7/6/2005