Then we went to Sibiu and loved it too

I really do love great pedestrian spaces like this. So nice to be able to relax and not worry about car traffic.

There was no special significance of this building that we know of.  That's ok. We liked it anyway.

Mel at the potters tower of course.

An abandoned-looking mansion that we would happily live in.

Enter through the rear and slide down the trunk. Reminds me a bit of a South Park episode with Cartman.

Another town, another big church.

Just something to think about that was posted in shop window.

Yep, the inside of a church.

I always enjoy the side streets that aren't on the main tourist path.

Can't say for sure I know what this sign is trying to tell me. Maybe this is a tree, house, children-playing, and parked -car zone? Oh, and things are moved by cart from 5 to 9.

Then we took a day trip to Rasnov and Bran

What you don't see is how we got here. Somehow I failed to capture our mode of transportation to this point from Brasov. We paid for a shuttle bus to take us to some of the popular tourist sites and the two of us ended up in a taxi with a crazy driver. He dropped us at this "train" and waited for us.

Moments before I could really see it in Mel's eyes that she thought this guy was crazy and should get away from her. 

The "train" dropped us off just below Rasnov Castle which you see here.

Looks to be an abandoned nuclear power plant and it wasn't the first we had seen.

One of the farmers we passed while in the taxi on our way to Bran.

This castle is marketed to tourists as Dracula's Castle but in reality he stayed there once. And we were disappointed that it wasn't creepy at all.

It looked like we had the place almost to ourselves.

Then we turned the corner. Hello tour group.

I bought a Canon S100 specifically for this trip. This is the last photo I was able to take with it before it got a lens error that made it stop working. Boooo

So from Bran Castle we went to a Royal Palace that was quite beautiful. My line drawings would not likely do it any justice so here's a link instead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele%C8%99_Castle

We took a train from Bucharest to Brasov

We really liked Bucharest but Brasov was amazing. It was much smaller, manageable, and relaxing.

They went ahead and did the Hollywood-sign thing.

Pretty architecture near the main town square.

Mel hanging in the square on one of the rare days on the trip when it didn't rain.

The main synagogue in the center of town. It's sad I can't be more specific but honestly we have seen so many  religious buildings that it doesn't seem possible to keep track.

It doesn't matter how hungry you are when you can't read the menu. :|

This turned out to be mental health hospital.

The view up from the city walls to the white tower.

The view back down in case you thought Mel only climbed steep hills on her bike.

Ambience galore in this cellar restaurant.

That's one way to sell rubbing alcohol.

Even Mr. Proper looks interested.

The road to our hostel was having some work done.

Transylvania region and the Vlad legacy

After Bucharest we boarded yet another train, this one with actual parking for our bikes, through the Carpathians to explore the cities of Brasov, Sibiu, Sighisoara, and Cluj Napoca. Transylvania is one big beautiful countryside with small towns or villages and butt loads of fortified churches and forts. We pretty much went by train from town to town with the exception of Sibiu to Sighisoara, which we ended up riding the 94km between towns. As a result, we didn't get to see all the old goodies but being on a bike, we did happen to ride by A LOT. The countryside is literally littered with history.

stuff like this all over 

Things I've learned about Vlad the Impaler. Apparently he wasn't such a bad dude. Who knew? He was raised by the Turks to be a great warrior and in turn, he ended up defending the churches, successfully I might add, from them. Can you imagine training this great killing machine only to have him turn on you? The betrayal! Ok ok, sure he liked to impale his victims. And sure, he did it through the rectum out the shoulder to ensure a long and painful death, legend has it, so he could watch while enjoying his favorite cup o' tea and a crumpet. A theory of this favorite pass time was due to being molested by the very Turks who took him in as a child. Bottom line, he was hired to protect the churches of Transylvania from the invading hoards and he did his job very well. Why'd he get such a bad rap when there have been other, equally bloody conquers and rulers? Who knows, but all the little towns play strongly to his legend and the folklore Bram Stoker created. It would appear this Victorian author grasped on to this historical figure as well as old country superstitions to create one hell of a popular fable.

At Bran Castle

Let us touch on a few of these superstitions, shall we? Strigoi, are spirits of the dead whose actions were not worthy to be allowed to move on. These troubled souls raised from the dead with powers to transform into animals and drain victims of their blood. No doubt where the vampire legend was derived. Ghosts were also considered a form of vampire and many wards, like the famous garlic, were used for projection. A dog bark too much in your direction? You're doomed, plan your funeral now. This one is my favorite...did you know that if your baby was born with a red bonnet on it's head and you did not remove said bonnet before said baby ate it, well then, your baby is as good as possessed by the Devil. So on and so forth.

His childhood home in Sighisoara

Dracula and his legend are riddled all over the area, it's his homeland and a beautiful one at that, but you'll only find bits and pieces pertaining to the man himself. However the locals, I'm sure proud, pinpoint in on the story and the tourists who feed upon it, to make a living. As a result you go looking for Vlad and find cheesy paraphernalia. Bran castle, aside from being stunning and worth a visit, wasn't Vlad's. True, apparently he stayed there, but it was more a royal home throughout the years. Sighisoara was where he lived with his father as a child, so there you will find a plaque on his home. Apparently the castle that Vlad took as his own, Poenari, was indeed in the mountains on a cliff above a river. I really wanted to see it but it would seem that reaching it would be a monetary effort. I could not find tours that would go there from our side of the Carpathians. Private tour guides were available for a big price, or you could travel by bus or train to the town nearest to it, Curtea de Arges, and somehow find a way the last distance to the 1,480 steps to climb that reach the ruins. Alas, I was defeated. Another time.

Vlad the man himself

While planning this trip the name Transylvania brought to mind things like Vampires, creepy gypsy witches warning me not to go into dark forests after the clock struck on some hour, and werewolves. Alas, nothing was really scary there and I was mostly met with beauty. Damn my luck. I guess growing up with horror movies has desensitized me because I was hoping for more. On the whole the area is well worth a visit. I would recommend planning a two week trip by train or rental car. Take the time to hit all the small villages and make a tour of all the Medieval fortified goodies lying about. Having a car will also help you in reaching Vlad III's ruins

Apparently his other mode of transportation

Pictures of Bucharest to Brasov

Not many pictures on this particular photo post. However, the next photo post will be an EXPLOSIVE-IN-YO-FACE-AND-SHIZ type of post. Yo

After the Drobeta-Turnu train experience, we did the happy dance when we saw bike parking

Little villages and towns were sprinkled all over the countryside like this

Just one of the many beautiful buildings you'll see in Romania

Greg's before...

Greg's after. Hungry boy

Last legs of Serbia to Bucharest

Our poor bikes had not seen much action once we got into Romania. But let me back up a bit...

We had our fun loving romp through Serbia in the heat and bug waves, on the ever rough and tumble route of Eurovelo 6(Atlantic to the Black Sea). I highly recommend if doing this route through Eastern Europe that you have a mountain bike with solid shocks, straight handlebars, and one hell of an ass pillow made of pure air for your seat, all of which we did not have. By the time we made it to Valiko Gradiste we were exhausted, it was hot, and let's face it, I am a whiney little child. We ended up there for a few days deciding our game plan. Greg, the ever-gracious husband that he is, agreed to let me take a bus the final 80 or so kilometers to the Romanian boarder. This would essentially take a final two day ride down to one and all in the hopes that we'd be able to grab a train across the border into Bucharest for a much needed rest.

After a failed attempt to board a bus in Valiko, we decided to say 'fuck it' and grin and bear it to the boarder after all. 16km to the next town I had yet again, unknown to me, suffered another broken spoke, thus causing my brakes to rub, giving me one challenging ride through some hills. So there I sat sweating my ass off and once again Greg said we could try to catch a bus. We were told "15-30minutes"(the local standard for time pertaining to anything of measure) for the next bus that was actually 3hours, I blissfully sat my happy ass down in an air conditioned cushy coach seat to the border.

So we arrived at the border, were greeted by a crossing guard who whistled when he saw our passports and sang a little quip of "Left my heart in San Francisco". We hauled ass the last 12km to the train station in Drobeta-Turnu Severin and attempted to board a train to the capital, Bucharest. Apparently Romania doesn't see much bicycle travel other than the locals in outward lying small villages, and as a result the first train we could board with our bikes was at 2am. The trains don't really cater to cycles and as a result we had to manipulate our bikes between cars while allowing room for other passengers to get by and chain smoke their cigarettes between stops. It ended up being a fun loving 5+hour train ride with little sleep.

Thankfully whilst on this train adventure we meet another cyclist from Bucharest, Ervin, who was extremely helpful in helping us with our bikes. We ended up spending a few days with him drinking beers and enjoying a local museum. Greg posted pictures here

Ervin is a good guy

After a good chunk of time being spent in the country, getting to the city of Bucharest was a nice change of pace. At first we didn't like it because we ended up in a part of town that seemed very dirty and run down. On the second day we switched location to a more suburban area with massive old houses and a lovely park. I instantly fell in love with all the old buildings but it is sad to see that a great deal of the historic areas are falling apart. Ervin informed us that the city won't put money into restoring the old buildings but won't let developers tear them down either. As a result, developers buy old buildings and weaken them further in hopes of them falling apart faster so they can then build their update new eye sores. Shame, really. Out of curiosity I looked at some prices of a few old homes. Example: 4-5 bed house built in 1906, huge, with a yard, about 85k Euro, or $100k USD. Granted, you'd have to spend another $100k to get the house up to living standards, but my god, you could own a mansion!!

Overall Bucharest was nice and the old buildings beautiful, but the drivers are nuts and the streets could use a sweeping. Still, I'd visit it again.