This Is Sighisoara!

Merry (late) Christmas everyone!!! I hope that you all had a wonderful last couple of weeks and are looking forward to celebrating the New Year soon (I know that I am). Patrick and I are currently in Sighisoara, Romania with Radu and his family. It is an incredible place! But first, a recap of the last two weeks leading up to it.

Before we met up with Radu in Germany, Patrick and I met up with our grandma Lolla in Munich. She was traveling with our aunt Christina and cousin Beatrice. I haven't seen much of the latter two during the last couple of years, so it was great getting to spend three days with them while we were all in Europe. During the day, the two of them were occupied with school obligations for Bea, but Lolla, Patrick and I ventured out to take in the sights and enjoy more than our fair share of German beer, wurst, and sauerkraut. 

My bro and I parted ways with Lolla, Christina, and Bea to travel to Göppingen where Radu lives for most of the year. I haven't seen him for over two years! It was amazing to finally be here, all together, after a half year of planning! We hung out for three days while Radu finished up with his semester (we even joined him in class for two days) before taking off to Sibiu, Romania via Stuttgart. Unfortunately, the day of the flight turned into a much greater adventure than any of us had planned for! While we were checking into our flight, the attendant stopped Patrick and held him at the counter. He had his printed confirmation with him so I couldn't figure out what the problem would be. Long story short - they refused to give him a boarding pass because the airline hadn't received payment from Orbitz (the company he went through to buy the tickets from BlueAir). He couldn't buy another ticket because the attendants at the counter weren't BlueAir reps - they were just hired hands to check in passengers. No one at the counter could contact anyone with the actual company so there was no way to get him on the flight. And since it was the only flight to Sibiu that day, there weren't too many options. We all decided that the best thing to do was for Radu and me to get on the plane and have Patrick stay in Göppingen until we could find a way to get him over to Romania. As luck would have it, Ady (Radu's dad) knew someone who was driving from Germany to Romania in two days time and convinced him to give Patrick a ride. I guess that turned into a long story after all! And we all learned from the experience and have already checked into our return flight to Germany. 

Outside of the first day being stressful due to the travel problems, Romania has been incredible. I really love it here! Radu's family have been wonderful hosts, they've made us feel completely at home. As a country, Romania is very interesting. I'd heard my mom and Patrick's stories from when they were here two summers ago, but I feel like I didn't completely understand the crazy beauty of it until I experienced it as well. The entire country is one giant party: everyone is here to have fun, there aren't very many rules, and the ones that there are seemed to be negotiable, except when they aren't! We've been going like mad ever since we arrived, meeting friends, family, new people - it's been great. On Christmas Eve, Patrick and I traveled around Sighisoara with Radu and his parents singing carols at grandparents' and friends' houses. At every house you would sing and then get invited in for drinks and food. Supposedly you not should refuse food and drink lest you risk insulting your hosts, but I'm not sure if this is actually the truth or just what everyone says to keep you eating and drinking! I wasn't too concerned though because everything we were offered was delicious. 

On Christmas morning, I woke up around 11:30 (such is the result of staying up until 4:00 AM every night)! It was a nice quiet day, spent at Radu's house talking with his family and enjoying more delicious food and drink. In the evening, we decided to go out sledding. The only thing about this was that no one actually had sleds - so we opted for large sheets of packing plastic instead! Let's just say that I definitely prefer the use of inner-tubes for this activity as my back and legs are much the worse for wear after sliding down hard packed snow for a couple of hours. 

The days since have been filled with much of the same - friends, family, food and cheer - and I couldn't be enjoying it more! Take care and talk to you soon.

Munich:

The Munich train station.

I hear that whistle blowin', it's coming around the bend - or in this case, along the straightaway, since there isn't and bend in sight.

The Nymphenburg Palace.

Lolla and Chuck in front of the palace.

More palace.

The Birds

Memories of Turin...

Christmas market!

Christmas in the air!

Funny gargoyle on the church.

Göppingen:

All together in Göppingen!

Radu with his girlfriend Christiana.

Me on my birthday! Donna, Florian, and Radu put on a party for me, complete with birthday cake.

Sighisoara, Christmas Eve:

Radu wasn't a fan of the small round Christmas tree, but I thought it looked very festive.

The Sighisoara Citadel.

Looking out from the Citadel.

Colorful arches.

The portcullis used to keep out the vampires.

Oh dear..... sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself with the jokes here. 

Welcome to Romania!

Inside of the local church on Christmas Eve.

The whole place looked like this!

Learning Romanian Christmas carols.

Radu and his sister, Paula.

Donna, Radu, Paula, and Ady.

More singing, more wine!

The Christmas tree was too big to take inside so they just decided to set it up on the porch.

Erie fog on the cathedral.

New friends (from left to right): Aty, Czaby, Radu, Ado, Chuck, Maria, and Athea.

Not sure why I'm trying to take Aty's wine glass....maybe it's because mine was empty.

Awwww!

Peace from Romania.

The dudes with the hats.

The Christmas present that keeps on giving - a box inside of another box!

Maria and Aty.

Where's your Christmas Eve party at?!

Happy to be together celebrating Christmas!

Falling asleep in front of the fire.

Sighisoara, Christmas:

Radu wielding the one piece of actual snow equipment we brought sledding with us.

It's like the luge, just a lot more ridiculous.

Picture time (once everyone hurt too badly to continue sledding)!

Radu with his grandparents, Ianku and Maria.

Post-Christmas - Mures and Road Trip:

Mures lights at night.

Interestingly, Santa could still be found on December 26th.

Sleigh ride with makeshift reindeer. 

Christmas presents from Athea to all of us! From the top left: Chuck, Maria, Radu, me, Aty, and Athea. 

Don't you notice the resemblance?

You sir, look absurd!

What's up with all these reindeer after Christmas?

Mutant, Romanian reindeer!

Chuck rockin' "66", a Hungarian card game that Radu taught us.

Up top.

Heeeeey!

Pitstop during the road trip.

Under Romanian skies.

I leave for two minutes and a snowball fight breaks out!

More of the countryside.

The infamous Romanian highways - notice how I'm a good ten feet back from the tarmac.

The crew!

Simulation of an emergency exit from the car should the need arise.

Athea and Aty.

Hey you!

Time to go...