Bran

Bran.
No, not the stuff you're supposed to eat more of so you don't get colon cancer.  I'm talking about the place where Dracula's Castle is.
Except Vlad Ţepeş was never there which means an argument could be made that it is therefore not Dracula's castle. But somehow everyone calls it that.  Why?  I don't know.  You'd think I would know cause I've been there enough times to have figured that out or at least to have read all of the little plaques that surround the place and explain the story.
Retention of trivia used to be my strong suit.  I used to be able to read useless facts and then later regurgitate them when it was least necessary and when people were the least interested, like when talking to strangers in doctor's offices.  "Hey, the name for that space between your brows is glabella" and "Sisinnius was the 86th Pope".
But now my brain is filled with memorizing adverbs, trying to understand how to correctly pluralize nouns and how to keep my kids from failing the 8th and 5th grades.  I've got no space left for long-dead rulers of Wallachia who liked to shove sticks up the bums of their enemies.
Usually no one else really cares about this either but now its October which means Halloween.  October would be my favorite month but Halloween ruined it.  It was okay when I was a kid and no one thought about Halloween until say, October 28th but now we've got orange plastic pumpkins dangling from store windows as early as the end of August and I'm disgusted.
By the way, I've decided that anyone who publicly announces that the sending of Halloween cards is a lame idea is pretty okay in my book.
But back to Bran and Dracula.
So there is no evidence that Vlad Ţepeş was ever at this particular fortress but somehow it has become Dracula's Castle (if you can't rest until you know how, ask Marius for the details) and if it's October and you're doing the Cliff Notes version of a trip to Romania, a visit to Bran and a tour through the castle is a must.
That's pretty much how we ended up there with Sharon, Kelly and Todd.
They did a Cliff Notes trip to Romania in October.
This was day one and two.  Days three through five will be coming soon...

Bran: its not just what's for breakfast.

The Larger Family Unit

The lack of emotional security of our American young people is due, I believe, to their isolation from the larger family unit.  No two people - no mere father and mother - as I have often said, are enough to provide emotional security for a child.  He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk, persons of variety in age and temperament, and yet allied to himself by an indissoluble bond which he cannot break if he could, for nature has welded him into it before he was born.  ~Pearl S. Buck

Did I already mention that we met  up with my cousin Tali in Budapest?  A series of fortunate events took place and made this all possible.  I hadn't seen her in five or six years and when we found out we were all going to be in Europe at the same time, well...

It's great to travel and see new things and try new food and all of that but when you do it in the company of those whom you especially love, its just that much more marvelous.  So here we are: Dan, Marcy, Tali and Anand (no, not Johnny Depp) being drug all over Transylvania by the Traveling Ionescus (plus Silviu) and for the most part, having a ball (I think. I hope).
And by the way, I've discovered I am far less adept at taking decent photos of people than I am of buildings which tend not to move or stuff food in their mouths at just the wrong moment so, er, sorry.

Silviu wondering to himself why he ever agreed to be the extra driver in the second car...

Ye gotta git yorself some ceramic busts...

Heading to the river for an afternoon of swimming and relaxing.  It was a nice break from driving and traveling.

Someone turned 13 while we were in Sighisoara.  A teenager and he's not ashamed to be seen with us yet.

Tali and Anand are off for a great adventure in India and elsewhere.  I definitely think they should do a blog, don't you?

Transylvania Sighişoara

Dracula Is Not the President of Romania.
I saw that on a t-shirt once and it made me laugh.  But just for the record, he's not.  And just for the record, Vlad Ţepeş, the 15th-century Wallachian ruler, was the figure upon which Bram Stoker apparently based his nefarious, blood-sucking character when he wrote his book.  And just for the record, the grandfather of Vlad Ţepeş was Mircea Cel Bătrân. And that concludes the history portion.  Don't expect any more from me because I'm not that cerebral.  I don't try to learn anything when I travel, I just eat and take pictures of the pretty things I see.
You want cerebral, read a book.
But let's face it: if you go to Transylvania, you can't get around the whole Dracula thing.  You'll find the image of Vlad Ţepeş on coffee mugs and key chains, on dinner plates and playing cards and any other item that can be ruined by the cheesy practice of copying that rather unattractive face onto it.  The idea of seeing his beady-eyed representation while taking my first sips of morning coffee does not seem a pleasant prospect.  And I'm sure the idea of his likeness showing up on a refrigerator magnet is enough to make Vlad Ţepeş roll over in his grave. Except that he's not rolling or do anything else of course because he's dead (really, he's dead) and neither he nor Bram Stoker have any idea the kind of kitsch the rest of us 21st century folk are subjected to on their account.
As far as possible, this post is Sighişoara, birth place of Vlad Ţepeş, sans kitsch.
You're welcome.