Sinaia...a weekend stop

10-22-06 - hey there folks...i am back and on my last day of my break...i have decided i need to catch up with the blog as i am forever behind now...i never did post any pictures from Sinaia...a weekend trip i took with my friend catherine...we went up there before we went away with our respective grades for the week...so this is over a month ago now...ugh...

we didn't really make any plans before we went on this excursion...and unfortunately there were very few places to stay that had room when we got there...so we ended up staying in a 4 star hotel...the rowa dany hotel...very swanky....and a bit pricey for romania....but it was nice...above is a shot of the place we stayed....

sinaia is this great mountain town - located in the bucegi mountains...i have been told its a good, close place to go skiing in the winter...i am hoping to get there to learn to snowboard...at least once...its about a three hour drive from bucharest....the restaurant above was one of our favorites called casa noastra...which means "our house" in romanian...it was all wood and had very tasty food and beer....the beer here is quite good...we have a few local brews - ursus, cuoic, tubor, and then of course we have some german, belgian and dutch beers as well...yummy....

this is a shot out the back of our room...some other things that sinaia is known for is a gondola ride up the mountain...we didn't get a chance to do this....a beautiful monastery...we didn't make it to that either....a really authetic romanian restaurant up in the hills...we did make it to that, and they had the greatest roasted peppers....and an impressive spread for folks who eat meat, like our friends millie and ed who we met up with in sinaia...and a fantastic castle...which we also made it to...

here's a shot of me and peles castle on a stunning day....it is located up in the hills and as castles go, its quite amazing...very german in feel outside...and tons of armour, wood and iron inside....but it actually seems cozy while you are walking around...its not hugely opulent and i could see myself living there......hahahahahaha....right...its a castle...i am just kidding ;)

this is the interior courtyard of the castle...we were not allowed to take pictures inside...but the outside was incredible and as you can see it was a fantastic day weather-wise....the interior courtyard was full of painted on frescos....and had a completely german feel....it was outstanding and catherine and i were really happy we stopped...blogger is not letting me post more...so i will close this one and open the next :) overall, sinaia was a quaint, close town that i am hoping to get back to in the near future...even just for a weekend out of the city...more coming