Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
What do you get when you combine good friends and a trip to their home country? A fantastic, extremely memorable experience! This is exactly what we got when Lucian and Raluca invited us to go to Romania with them and share their country and their cultures with us over Easter Break. Words can not express how special this vacation was for us and I don't think we can ever thank them or their family (who welcomed us into their home) enough for their gratitude.
Our trip to Romania was more than I expected it to be. Not that I had any expectations, but I guess what I mean is that it surprised me in a good way. I felt like you could drive an hour any direction and have completely different landscapes and weather, and you go easily from large cities, to rural villages to ski areas. I didn't expect that at all. Every place we went was beautiful in its own way.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
We started off in Bucharest, which is a large, bustling city, and I was amazed how a country (and city) which had not so long ago been under communism, was anything but that. And how the city almost mocked their previous state and had large communist buildings that are now shopping malls. I think that is truly the definition of communism turning into capitalism!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
We stayed overnight in Bucharest meeting up with Lucian's sister at a delicious restaurant with traditional Romanian food. It was really yummy! We had pastrami, which was basically the same form as cut pieces of steak that was so delicious and I loved all the polenta everywhere we went!
The next day we visited The Village Museum (Muzeul Satului), which is an open-air park consisting of a collection of over 300 structures including houses, barns, sheds, windmills, gates, churches, chapels, etc. They were brought from all over Romania, reassembled bit by bit in the park, and clustered and arranged so as to show the real pattern of Romanian villages, with little winding paths between them. It really makes you feel like you're walking in a distant old village! Also, they are organised in Romania's ethnographical regions: Transylvania, Moldova, Dobrogea, etc. It really takes you on a tour of the country's rich tradition of folk architecture and art.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Since we were close to Easter, they had some traditional dances and singing going on in the park as well as people selling wool blankets, pottery, handpainted eggs and other things.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Jordan got a purple sucker to go with her new purple watch from Bucharest!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
From here, we went to Curtea de Arges (about a 2 hour drive), which is where both Lucian's and Raluca's parents live and where they both grew. It was so fun to see where they grew up and where they were married. It was just nice to get to know this side of them, and I loved seeing all of their younger pictures! We stayed with Raluca's parents Mircea and Eugenia and I can't say enough of how kind and generous they were to our family. They were such the host for us, not letting us help with anything, washing our clothes for us, cooking every meal. I felt bad that they wouldn't let us help more, but I think this is their custom and they would feel bad if they let us help. Both Lucian and Raluca's parents are some of the kindest people I have ever met, and I truly mean that.
Here is a picture of Lucian with his Dad, Nicu, who was such a sweet, sensitive man. He even cried when we left.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
This is Raluca's mom, Eugenia, cooking. I don't think she ever stopped cooking. From the time we woke up to the time we went to sleep, the poor thing was cooking and doing dishes.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
They showered us all with love and care, and lots of delicious FOOD! Every meal was atleast 3-4 courses, and you had to pace yourself because you didn't know when it was going to end and of course, you would feel bad if you didn't eat something.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Camille gorged herself on pickles every night. The pickles were always out first and the poor thing just couldn't stop herself and then she hardly ate anything else because she was so full. Normally, I would stop her and trust me, I did some nights, but she doesn't get pickles like this often and it is a vegetable technically, right?
The appetizers were generally lots of pickles, and the word pickles refers to pickled vegetables. There was regular cucumber pickles, and there was also bell pepper pickles - these were my favorite because they were very sweet and sour= the perfect combination! There was also slices of meat, and lots of raw veggies, such as bell peppers and tomatos.
The second meal that followed varied from polenta to salade de boeuf, which tasted like a potato salad, to soup. And the main meal was some kind of meat. We had the most delicious pork one day that was super salty but absolutely wonderful!
And lastly, of course there was dessert- LOTS of dessert! And it was so delicious and there was alot of variety. There were so many different kinds of cakes and they were all cut in bite-sized pieces, so you could try everything. It was all absolutely delicious, but after eating this way for lunch and dinner almost every night, you reach a point where you just aren't hungry any more, but you have to eat too. So, I guess you learn to pace yourself a little.
The next day we were off in the Gervescu Van to visit several Sibiu, Sinaia, and Brasov.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The first stop was Sibiu, and as we were driving there, the landscape changed to mountains, and it got colder. We took a small detour up to the top of one of the mountains and found ourselves completely covered by snow. It was beautiful! We took the lift up to the Ice Hotel! Super cool! And I mean that figuratively and literally!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
There was also an Ice Chapel that had amazing carvings of The Last Supper!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
It was so bright with all the snow when we were not in the Ice hotel or chapel that we really couldn't see (and here I thought leaving my sunglasses in the car would be a good idea.).
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Afterwards, we stopped at a restaurant and had a delicious soup before heading back down the mountain towards Sibiu.
Check out these cool icicles!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
On our way down the mountain, we picked up a hairy beast of some sort. Not quite sure what to do with her.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
That night in Sibiu we found a really good restaurant that had a cool interior. The food really was delicious and Raluca was spot on when she recommended ordering the Bulz-which is polenta baked with cheese, bacon and an egg on top!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
At this point in our trip, we had reached the region of Transilvania, and we were thankful to have a local in tow with us to avoid any vampires.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
We went to another outdoor cultural museum called Astra. Located in the middle of a dense forest and surrounded by a beautiful lake, this museum is similar to the Village museum in Bucharest because it shows lots of architectural styles from many parts of Romania, but it also has watermills and windmills, gigantic presses for wine, fruit and oil, and hydraulic forges.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
We were able to view this museum by a horse-drawn carriage and a local guide who lives at the museum and takes care of the horses.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
And it wouldn't be a vacation without seeing the picture below.:)
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
This museum was huge and really beautiful, and we had a gorgeous day to visit it. Afterwards, we spent some time in one of the main squares in Sibiu, where they had outdoor easter markets. We had some delicious chips on a stick! They were really cool! There was a machine that quickly sliced the potatoes but they were all still connected in one piece and then they spread them out on a stick, fried them, and flavored them. There were so many flavors to choose from. I had a sea salt one that was yummy and Jordan tried the nacho cheese and ketchup flavors. All were yummy!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.