romanian adventures with wendy - pt 1

1/21/07 - hey there folks...dani here...again...i am actually posting before two months passes...yahoo...i have realized as i sit here on a sunday that romania has truly entered the EU in noticeable ways...we have some more different groceries to choose from...there seems to be less crazy drivers for fear of the added police and new rules...flags are waving from many cars, taxis and buses - EU ones that is...and yet, prices haven't really changed and not much is visible as a change....so who really knows what is going on and where this country is headed :) but it will be interesting to watch over the next year or so i think....i'll keep ya posted.....anyway...i have explored more of this country since october, although i haven't posted those pictures...so i thought i would do that now....the pictures below are from when my good friend wendy was here visting for two weeks....romania was a stop on her tour around the world after being on ice for a year....sounds familiar doesn't it :) we seem to have lived similar lives a year apart....bummer we couldn't do it together....anyway...here are some of our romanian adventures together...enjoy :)

here is a shot of the black sea...we went there for a weekend...but it was off season...and in a huge way...there really wasn't much happening in constanta....i have been told its a rockin place in the summer...especially one town up...mamaia...but this place was shut tight for the winter....there are about 80 resorts in the area and all but 3 were closed...its worse than the jersey shore on the off season :)

here's a shot of me with the surf breakers along the sea...i guess they have done some research into what is the best shape and size for saving the beach and lessening the impact a body of water can have on land and this won...i kept thinking it would be cool if i had a huge bouncy ball and started playing jacks :) gotta love it....

in my opinion, this was one of the coolest buildings in constanta....as this is the casino that overlooks the water...but of course it was closed...well, actually the front door was open, but you could tell no business was happening....it was pretty freaky inside...dusty and dank are two words that spring to mind :)

this is the beautiful inside of an orthodox church in romania...it is a very old one that has been restored and is located in mamaia on the shore of a lake....in the picture the front section of the church is all wood with all of the idols/saints...wendy went to the peasant museum here in bucharest and was amazed by all of the idols/saints in romanian history and they are definitely seen in their churches...they are beautiful places generally, but have no seats...which i imagine is hard to deal with at a four hour sunday morning service, which is what they have...i am hoping to someday make one...i'll keep ya posted on that....i hope to get back to constanta when its season...but i am hoping i don't get freaked out by all of the crowds...

here's wendy having a leffe blonde...yummy beer from belgian...i have come to really appreciate those monks there and their ability to make some tasty beer....this was when we were having dinner in sibiu...after a long and twisty ride to get there...sibiu has been chosen as the european cultural capital for 2007...not really sure how it got that title...and it is a cute place...but i think i might have chosen a different town in romania...a lot of it was under construction, getting ready for 2007 we were told....

Sibiu is quite quaint though....here is a picture of one of its three town squares...the houses are really cute and many of them have curved windows on the top floor of them that look like eyes...the main squares also have some good color schemes as you can see from the above picture...
see...doesn't it look like they are eyes staring at you and a three toothed grin....very cool houses...and when you stood at the city wall and stared over the many roofs of the town it was just really neat....

here's a shot of wendy and i on the bridge of liars in sibiu...it was this cool little wrought iron bridge...i am not saying we are liars or anything...it was just a good place to take a picture....

this last shot form sibiu is of the enormous evangelical church in one of the town squares...it is a "center-piece" of sibiu....i am not sure how many worshippers there are...but the place is HUGE...and compared to the orthodox church, very cold and menacing...it seems like in this place god yells at you to pay attention, sit up straight and do things correctly....the orthodox churches just seem more welcoming and comfortable, even if they don't have chairs to sit on....its wild....okay...i will continue this blog in a moment with the other places we stopped by and visited...but this one is getting long winded...imagine :) more soon