Rasnov and Bran Castle

Last Saturday, my classmates and professors from the language program and I took a field trip to some nearby tourist attractions. We visited a medieval fortress in the village of Rasnov and Bran Castle, which is often referred to as Dracula's castle. The Rasnov fortress was built around 1215 on a hill between three villages along an important trading route. The idea was that if the area was attacked, many of the people and the livestock from the three surrounding villages could take shelter there while the soldiers defended the citadel.

According to local mythology, the well in the citadel was dug by two Turkish prisoners. They assumed that after completing the well, they would be given their freedom. Instead, when the well was completed after 17 years of hard work, they were killed. The name of the fortress comes from the German word for 'rose' because, like many old villages and cities in Transylvania, Rasnov was founded by Saxons (German-speakers who later converted to Lutheranism).

Rasnov Fortress

The chapel in the fortress

A view of the town of Rasnov from the citadel

Next, we visited Bran Castle, which, I'm sorry to inform you, has no connection to Dracula whatsoever. The castle was built in the thirteenth century by the Saxons of Brasov (or Kronstadt as it is known in German). Brasov is located on the border between Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Wallachia, which was sometimes independent and sometimes a tributary state to the Ottoman Empire (based in Turkey). Therefore it was a strategic location for both warfare and commerce. Bran castle was originally a fortress used to defend Transylvania from the Turks, and it was later used as a customs post, where merchants crossing between Wallachia and Transylvania had to stop and pay a fine.

In the early twentieth century, the people of Bran gave the castle to Romania's beloved Queen Marie. The castle was the summer home of the royal family until the communist takeover in 1948. It was recently returned to the royal family and now belongs to the heir of Queen Marie's daughter, Archduke Dominic of Austria, who is an architect in New York.

Vlad Tepes (or Vlad the Impaler), the Wallachian prince who is rumered to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker's book Dracula , never lived at Bran Castle, and no one knows for sure if he ever visited it. As far as I can tell, it was chosen as "Dracula's Castle" because it is a well preserved medieval castle in Transylvania. In order to capitalize on certain tourists' vampire obsessions, a lot of Dracula-related tourist traps have sprung up around the castle.

Bran Castle from across the valley

The central courtyard and tower of the castle


Me sitting in front a window with a great view





Wishing well in the courtyard

A particularly amusing bit of vampire kitsch

Romanian Dance Class

In addition to our Romanian language classes every morning, the program includes lectures, films, tours, and activities: opportunities to both learn about Romanian culture and practice speaking and listening in Romanian. One of these activities is Romanian ballroom dancing. The class meets twice a week, and it is taught by a former dancer and choreographer from the Bucharest opera.

She is like a very elegant drill sergeant.

Here is a short video of my classmates dancing. You can see our instructor at the front of the room, but more importantly, you can hear her yelling "sub mana!" (under the hand) "cerc!" (circle) and counting the time in Romanian.

Tram 32

I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last post. This language program has been keeping me very busy. So while I have a lot to write about, I don't have much time to write. I have a lot to tell you about the last week and a half in Brasov, but first I'd like to backtrack a bit to Bucharest.

When I first arrived in Bucharest this summer, I was intrigued by an article that I read in "Bucharest in Your Pocket" about Tram 32. The article (which has some great pictures, if you care to check it out) described "a pointless journey on public transport in Bucharest," and it claimed that a ride on Tram 32 would reveal "Bucharest as you've never seen it." That was enough to catch my attention, so I invited my friend Elspeth from the Embassy to join me on my little adventure. On my last Saturday in the city we took a ride on Tram 32.

Tram 32 passes through Rahova, which might be described as a working class neighborhood in Bucharest. Along the main streets, it looked relatively safe, but it is not one of Bucharest's nicer areas. We rode the tram to the second to last stop and got out at Piata Rahova, where there is a large market selling everything from pomegranates to suits. Piata Rahova was full off people and activity. It was livelier than similar neighborhoods that I've seen, but the claim that it was "Bucharest as you've never seen it" made me think that maybe the guidebook's target audience doesn't mingle with ordinary Bucharest residents very often.

In addition to its busy marketplace, Rahova's claim to fame is its painted blocs. As you may have seen in some of my other Bucharest photos, most blocs in the city are a uniform cement gray. In Rahova, the blocs are painted in bright colors, an idea that the local city counselor borrowed from Tirana, Albania. Although they don't look quite as nice as the ones in Tirana, the colors actually make the blocs look somewhat more cheerful.



By far the best part of the trip, however, was the ride to Piata Rahova. Shortly after we got on the tram, a man with an accordion got on and started walking up and down the center of the cars serenading us.



Unfortunately, I took the video sideways and couldn't figure out how to rotate it. However, the video is short and definitely worth watching. You'll just have to pretend that it's upright.

The Halfway Point

I've now officially been here for three weeks and will be headed home in another three weeks. I've also reached that strange point where it feels completely normal to be here. It's almost like I never left. I think it's strange the way the mind works. At least for me, it seems that it can really only take in the immediate surroundings. When I'm in a certain place, be it Bucharest, Brasov, or Bloomington, that could just as well be the only place on earth. Of course I know objectively that other places exist and that life elsewhere is still moving along at the same speed as ever. But even though I get a constant reminder of that when I call friends and family at home, it just doesn't feel that way.

I don't know if this makes any sense, but because of this trick of perception, it doesn't feel like I was in the U.S. three weeks ago. It feels like I've always been here. When I arrived in Bucharest, the familiarity of the streets and the sights made it feel like I never left last summer. As though my Romanian self had taken a particularly long nap and awakened to find that a few things had changed, but for the most part the city had stayed the same. I've only been to Brasov briefly in the past, but my previous visit and its quintessential Romanianness make it familiar as well.

And with three weeks left to go, this strange feeling of inertia effects my thoughts about my departure as well. It doesn't seem real yet. Three weeks is long enough that I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I'll be going home soon. It feels like I will be here indefinitely, just like it feels as though I've been here indefinitely.

I'm sorry if this post didn't make much sense. If you've had a similar experience with traveling or moving, I'd love to hear about it in comments or an email!

Cursurile la Brasov

Just a quick update today; yesterday I left Bucharest and traveled to Brasov, which is three hours north of Bucharest by train. For the next three weeks I'll be studying Romanian language and culture at the University of Transylvania here in Brasov. Today was the first day of classes, and I am exhausted! We took a placement test this morning, and I was put in the intermediate level, just as I had hoped. In the intermediate class we will be expanding our knowledge of Romanian grammar and practicing speaking a lot. We'll also be going on field trips to some interesting sites in the area. It looks like I'll be very busy with the language program over the next few weeks, but I'll do my best to keep posting regularly!

Sibiu

Last weekend I rode the train up to Sibiu, Romania with my friends who are interning at the Embassy this summer. I had a lovely time, and Sibiu is beautiful. I couldn't believe that I've been coming to Romania for the past few years and missing out on such a beautiful city! If you ever have a chance to visit Romania, you should definitely go to Sibiu. It is an old Saxon city in Transylvania full of beautiful churches and a charming central square. Unlike Bucharest, Sibiu has a distinctly central European look and feel. In 2007, Sibiu was selected as the European Union's "European Capital of Culture," and after visiting there, I can certainly see why. The city's architecture is beautiful, and there seemed to be live music everywhere we went. Rather than attempting to describe Sibiu further, I'll let my photos speak for themselves:

Sibiu's central square from above



Piata Mica or "Small Square" from above


Many of the houses in Sibiu have "eyes" like these in their roofs.

The Council Tower, from which all of my areal photos were taken.



Me and Elspeth with our roommate from the hostel, Clemons from Vienna

The clockworks in the Council Tower, plus my reflection

Sibiu's famous Evangelical Church







An Orthodox Cathedral that is a copy of Istanbul's Hagia Sofia






Sibiu is also home to a large village museum or outdoor ethnographic museum. There are a number of these in Romania, and I know I've posted pictures from one or two of them before. Sibiu's village museum was especially interesting, with lots of windmills and water wheels, ferries and carriages, and even an old fashioned Romanian bowling lane. The museum was founded by Astra, a Romanian cultural association that promoted the development of a unique Romanian culture and advocated for Romanian unity and independence throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.











Traveling companion David demonstrating the popular Romanian men's fashion of letting one's belly get some air...

Finally, here's one last taste of Sibiu's charm. Our first night in town, we sat outside at this cafe and drank espresso while listening to this string quartet:

Muzeul Pompierilor

Last week I needed a break from the archives, and I wanted to take advantage of my time in Bucharest. So I looked in a guidebook for some new sights to see. One of the things they recommended caught my attention: the firefighters' museum. The guidebook said that the museum itself was a bit underwhelming, but that it was worth going to see the view from the tower. The tower was originally built so that the firefighters could watch for fires in the surrounding area. As you probably know if you've been following this blog over the past few years, one of my favorite things to do as a tourist is find a nice bird's-eye view of the city or countryside. I've spent over three months in Bucharest now, and have yet to do that, so I thought that it was about time.

Having visited the firefighters' museum or Muzeul Pomierilor, I would have to disagree with the guidebook. The tower was not very tall, and the view was less than spectacular. If you only have a short time in Bucharest, the Muzeul Pomierilor should not be on your "must see" list. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my visit there. The view wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but the experience of going there was certainly entertaining.

The tower that houses the Muzeul Pomierilor


After I paid my admission fee and went up in the tower to see the lackluster view, I felt that it would be rude to just turn around and leave without looking at the rest of the museum. So I briefly examined the exhibit room on the top floor. I was under the impression that that was the entire museum, because how much could there really be to say about firefighting in Romania? Was I ever mistaken!


After viewing the top floor, the docent who had brought me up there in the elevator directed me to the stairs down. On the next floor there was another whole exhibit.

And on the next floor, and the next floor. The museum was very thorough, with five floors of information and artifacts on the past and present of firefighting in Romania. I was the only visitor in the museum at that moment, so the docent would accompany me to each floor, turning the light on as we entered and off as we left. Not wanting to be rude and rush through, I took my time and learned as much as my limited Romanian vocabulary allowed about pompieri.


Perhaps because I was the only visitor that afternoon, they gave me a little pin with a picture of the tower on it to commemorate my visit.


And they invited me to take my picture as a Romanian firefighter!


I guess fires and firefighting was the theme of the day, because on my walk to the museum, I saw this. This building was on my route to work last summer, so I passed by it in the bus or on foot every day. Last week, I heard from some Romanian friends that there had been a fire there, and on my walk to the museum I got to see for myself.


And through some strange coincidence, I also encountered some fire trucks and real live Romanian firefighters on my walk to the museum. Over the past two summers, I've heard sirens quite frequently in Bucharest, but this was my first time seeing red pompierii trucks like these. As far as I could tell, the fire that they had been called to was very minor, so don't worry!


After the disappointing view from the firefighters' tower, I decided to visit the Intercontinental Hotel in Piata Universitate, which as far as I can tell is the tallest building in Bucharest. They did not have an observation deck, but they let me go up to the pool balcony on the 22nd floor. As you can see below, I got the view of the city that I was looking for: