Romania - The Trip

Hey one hey all, I'm back!
I don't know if most of you knew, but I was recently overseas on a two-week trip to Romania. Why Romania? Because half my distant family lives there. And because it's in Europe. Heck. Why not.

If I tried doing it all in one post it'd be too long, so I'll split it in two. This post will be purely the trip - what we did, where we went, who we met. The next post will be contrasting some differences between Romania and America, and maybe giving an anecdote or two. So here goes.

We caught a flight on Sunday afternoon, May 26. It took us all night to get to Amsterdam, and from there we caught a flight to Bucharest, Romania. We arrived Monday evening, and spent the night in a seminary.

Tuesday, we began the long drive from Bucharest to Dej, which was far north. Over mountains and through plains, it took all of Tuesday to cross the distance. Beautiful scenery, of course. We got to our Aunt Fivi and Uncle Felice's house at midnight that night. The next day we did practically nothing, because we were so exhausted.

Thursday, we embarked on a trip to a resort. It took about half the day to get to, because we made a detour in order to visit a violin shop to buy my aunt Anca a viola. We spent the rest of Thursday, all of Friday, and half of Saturday in the hotel there visiting the shops, enjoying the scenery, and swimming in their warm salt tubs. We then went back to Dej.

Sunday, of course, we went to church. It was about 20 minutes away in a small town called Chetan, where we met our cousins Mihai and Raluka for the first time. (Mihai's a small boy about 8 years old, and Raluka - definitely the prettiest cousin I have so far ;D - is about 17) We had met three others - Adi, Stephi, and Sergiu on Wednesday of the last week (which I neglected to mention, sorry).

Monday was purely a lay-around day. We did nothing but relax. Tuesday we went to a cafeteria with Adi. Wednesday we went to Cluj by train, visiting several other cousins/uncles/whatevers around the area, taking the train back.

Thursday we prepared to go. Luggage was packed, clothes were washed and all was ready. We had a good time with our cousins before saying good-bye that night. The next day we drove all day back to Bucharest, visiting a mideval castle along the way and spending the night in the same seminary from Monday of the last week.

And, of course, Saturday (today) we boarded our flight back home. From Bucharest to Amsterdam, and from there to Atlanta - encountering a lot of contingencies along the way. Luggage problems, passport issues, etc. But thank the Lord, we made it back.

So that was our trip. If you want a little more specific detail and story, visit the next post. Sayonara!