Our friend Carmen met us at the train station. This was the only day in our trip where we had rain. Since Carmen doesn’t drive, her friend Bogdan had offered to be our chauffeur for the weekend. After a glimpse of Bucharest, we headed north to Carmen’s hometown of Campina. Her mother and 18 year old daughter live in their apartment there. Carmen keeps an apartment in Bucharest where she works, going home to Campina on the weekends. They also have a rough country house that belonged to Carmen’s grandparents.
Because of the traffic, the trip took a couple hours, but in spite of the late hour, Carmen’s mother had a delicious dinner waiting for us. The daughter, Andrea, speaks beautiful English.
Bogdan returned bright and early the next morning and we headed north into the Carpathian Mountains. First stop Bran Castle, in Wallachia, eastern Transylvania. Built in 1388, it was an important military and political location and was passed around to princes of Wallachia. Vlad Tepes was the prince 3 times in his life, a Romanian hero for fighting the Ottomans and the Saxons. His father was Vlad Dracul or Vlad the Dragon (after receiving the Order of the Dragon). Dracula means son of Dracul. In modern Romanian, dracul means “the devil”, which contributed to Vlad’s reputation along with his brutal tactics.
We were in the countryside, and it was the weekend, and many Budapest residents drive out to guest houses to have barbecues with friends. After a lunch of typical Romanian dishes at a restaurant, Steve was befriended by a group of men who were just firing up the BBQ, standing around drinking tuica (tswee-ka), a homemade alcoholic drink that everyone seems to make and consume regularly. 
Next stop, the ruins of an old citadel built in the early 1200’s, Râșnov Fortress. Our friend Carmen was horrified by the condition of the ruins, which had gone downhill significantly since she last visited a few years ago. What was especially upsetting to her was that there was a lot of advertising that indicated that millions of Romanian leu (currency) had been spent on it. She pointed out several displays that had fallen apart and a painting dated 1863 that was displayed outside.
On to the city of Brasov, which was a lovely old city, still in Transylvania, with medieval Saxon walls, a Gothic-style Black Church and lively cafes. Piata Sfatului (Council Square) in the old town is surrounded by baroque buildings. We walked along the narrowest street in Europe and then had a profiterole (Carmen and Allane) and a beer (Steve and Bogdan) in a cafe on the square. 
Steve and Al 