Today we went to some beautiful sites in Romania that we have already seen, and they were just as lovely this time around as they were the first time!

But first things first. No trip is complete without  a gas station pee stop.   And of course gas stations mean snacks! Our guide insisted on buying everyone’s snacks.  No one should let that man loose in a gas station by himself. He bought so many snacks! (which if thetwinsontour say it’s a lot of snacks, it’s a lot of snacks) So we had a ton of pretzels and Communist Era chocolate bars.

I should probably be a better tourist and listen to my guide instead of walking around taking selfies. But, really, what would be the fun of that. Anyways, we went to this monastery called Sinaia Monastery, which was really lovely. I don’t remember how old it is. However, I do remember that it was built sometime before 1862 because that is when Romania switched from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Phoenician alphabet, and this place features Cyrillic writing in its paintings. And, hmm, what else? I remember that Orthodox Churches have 3 rooms. It is required. I do not know what they are called, but the front room is like the front porch. Also, the cupola always features Jesus. There are no pews– you have to stand– and Orthodox services are like 3 hours, but potty breaks are allowed. Even though there are 3 rooms, only the clergy is allowed in the 3rd room– the altar room. Us peasants aren’t even allowed to see it– it is Verboten. (They probably actually use it for storage and are hiding the Rubbermaid totes back there– at least that is what thetwinsontour do at their house.) Also interesting about the Orthodox Church– the themes of the churches are all the same! The wall in front of the secret altar always has a picture of Mary on the left, Jesus on the right, and the Assumption. Always. Like, they must not value creativity and thinking outside the box.

After the monastery, we headed off to lunch. It was fish. Thetwinsontour do not do fish. This was some kind of trout. At least they cut the head off before they set it in front of us. But the tail was still there. I might have made my guide slice and de-bone it for me. And might means did. If you were confused. But you shouldn’t be confused. You should know these things about thetwinsontour by now. Unsurprisingly, we were not impressed by the fish. Fortunately, for the starter we had some kind of delicious vegetable cream soup (squash?) with a ton of croutons. Really, I would have happily eaten 3 bowls of that stuff instead of the fish. And of course there was ice cream for dessert which is always a good thing. Pretty sure this was a lemon mint ice cream. Not sure if this is a good thing, but we ate it all anyways. You know, just to be sure. No hasty, uninformed decisions allowed when it comes to ice cream.

Then we were off to Peles Castle, more of a Palace really. Its not super old in the grand scheme of things. It was built in the late 1800’s by the first king of Romania, King Carol I. What is really interesting about this guy is that he was German, not Romanian. Romania decided that they wanted a King, so they went out shopping amongst the family members of the monarchs of Europe to find one. It seems like the plot to a great comedy starring Tom Hanks, or more likely a really awful movie starring Will Ferrel that goes on forever and makes you want to poke your eyes out with a grapefruit spoon. The Romanians really wanted some French guy who was related to Napoleon III, but he had no desire to be a king. This Carol guy was their second choice. So, he accepted, came to Romania, and eventually built this Palace. But this is the cool thing, instead of draining the Romanian coffers to build his beautiful Castle/Palace, he built it with his own money! Way to go Carol! There were only 4 kings of Romania, so it wasn’t a very long-lived dynasty. King Carol’s only child was a girl that died at age 4, so his nephew was the second King. The last King died in Switzerland just 6 years ago, but his reign ended in 1947. I assume this was because they became a Communist country, but we didn’t really go over all that. Anyways, the castle is still there, and it is lovely with some great selfie opportunities.

Oh, another thing– King Carol’s wife, Queen Elizabeth (not of England. There can be more than one Queen Elizabeth people) was quite a talented artist. Several of her paintings adorn the walls of the castle, most notably her series of the Four Seasons. There are three of them because she didn’t like winter. So if you are Queen you can just paint a series of 3 paintings and pass it off as the 4 seasons. You can just completely ignore winter if you don’t like it. Gutsy. I like it.

Well I think that’s enough Romania for one day. But I would like to take this moment to acknowledge that my mother is watching Artichoke AT HER HOUSE. She is not OK. Who is the she in the prior sentence? Well it could be my mom or Artichoke. Either interpretation is extremely accurate. So if you are in the area, stop by and play fetch with Artichoke and then help my mom sweep dog hair up off the floor.

Love,

thetwinsontour