Pretty Pickles!

Pretty pickles at a food booth in the Cluj Christmas market.

Romanian National Ribbon

It was so refreshing to see a European country proud of itself as Romania is on National Day.  They had people handing out flags and selling medallions.  I bought one of the latter.

Romanian National Day

Cluj-Napoca has been part of Romania for less than a hundred years.  The costumed people in these top photos are re-enacting a event that took place at the end of the 19th century, where people protested to break from the Austro-Hungarian empire.  Going through this part of Romania, you see signs in both German and Hungarian, depending on the city or village.  It's an interesting history of empires going back and forth.  The people of Cluj are happy to be part of Romania now, as shown by the large Romanian flags on the buildings.  December first is Romanian National Day, the day the king and queen re-entered Bucharest to reclaim Romania after the first World War.

Found In Romania

It's a Romanian language stitching magazine, similar to Spain's Labores de Hogar.  Fun to look at and I will try to make a project out of it.

Piatra Neamt Pizza

We took a road trip in early December.  It was an interesting experience snaking through the Carpathian mountains in the snow.  At the halfway point to Cluj Napoca, we stopped for lunch.  There was an H&M opening at the mall next door to the pizza place, so it as mobbed.  The pizza took a -very- long time to come out, but was good when it finally got to the table.

Books From Cluj

We found a great little stationery shop in Cluj about a block from our apartment.  I bought my new 2015 agenda and one for 2016, too.  I like the bright colors and have already started using the stripy one.

Quick Lunch In Iasi

The Monday before Thanksgiving we made a quick shopping trip to Iasi.  There are some things you just can't buy here in Moldova.  We made the trip and had lunch at one of the Chinese places in the food court of Palas Mall.  Got pretty much everything we needed and got back just after nightfall, too!

My Favorite Church

 These are the photos Andreas took of the little church between Brasov and Onesti.  I shared the ones I took earlier.  I so want to make a needlepoint out of this!

Storks!

I showed you some photos of the storks we saw in Romania before.  Those were taken with my point and shoot.  Here are some much better photos from Andreas' DSLR.  At first, we didn't realize they were real storks because they don't move much.  They are, though, and they sit on top of lots of telephone poles looking very comfortable - up to five or six per nest.

Brasov At Night

 After a long day exploring, we found all this waiting for us on our return to Brasov's old square while in the city in July.  It all bustles.

Back To Romania

 Sinaia monastery is just down the mountain from Peles Castle.  It's the center of Sinaia town, as the town grew up around the monastery.  The monastery is no more than an acre large, but it's beautiful.  These are photos from this past July when we visited.

Cute Little Monastery

I know I showed a few photos of this monastery from my camera, but here are some from Andreas'.  It's Sinaia Monastery next to Peles castle.  Evidently the monastery was there first and the local town takes its name from the monastery, which took its name from Sinai.

The place is beautiful, compact, and peaceful.  It's built with a couple of open courtyards and is comparatively small, especially in relation to the ones here.