Little River and the Castle Peles

I am sure there will be much more on this subject...but I am getting the first lick in!

Yesterday (Friday) we made the 3 1/2 hour drive to Sinai to see the Peles Castle. Construction on the way turned the drive into a 4+ hour drive...each way. It was a lovely, warm day in the van. At one construction section there was a hole in the road we were driving around. Of course we looked in the hole. Apparently a van had fallen in and it looked like it had been set there by a crane or some giant child's hand. The windshield was smashed, but it looked normal otherwise. That was good to occupy 10 minutes of time as we discussed how it could have fallen in like that. There was no way it could have driven down into it on purpose. The hole had perfectly vertical sides and the roof of the van was level with the road. Weird!

Don't worry, I'll tell you about the little river soon.

We drove on and on and finally came to the beautiful resort town of Sinai (pronounce Sen-eye-ah). The last time Michael and I had been here we had taken the train from Sibiu so we really enjoyed seeing a different approach to the town. Up the hill was Peles (Pell-esh) Castle. It is very picturesque. After the long ride we were all full of water and needed a restroom. We found one on the walk up the last of the hill to the castle. There was a window inside the door where you paid .40 lei (about 15 cents) to use the toilet and for one 12 inch piece of 1 ply toilet paper.

Once we had paid then we saw what the toilet was. It reminded me of toilets in China, or at least what I have heard of them. There are two foot shaped placed where you are obviously supposed to put your feet as you squat and relieve yourself over a drain. It was all nice and clean and modern...but you have to squat really low if you don't want to splash...use your imagination. I know my imagination was running wild at the sight!

The castle was beautiful. You could just lift your camera and take a picture without looking and it would be postcard perfect. I am sure our photographers Liz and Linda will post some pictures. Doug picked a perch and spent the time sketching. He was really in the zone and we all came up to watch him when it was time to leave. He didn't notice us for a long time, so of course we took pictures of him. I think they are some of our best shots.

After the castle we had lunch at a place near the bottom of the road to the castle. We had several dishes we shared...mostly anyway! The road to the castle had lots of stalls full of craft items to buy. We did some shopping, but were short on time so had to cut it short.

On the drive home we noticed signs with names of streams/creeks we crossed. We asked Radu what 'parau' meant as it was before each name. He said it meant 'little river'. We spent the next 3 or 4 hours trying to say it correctly. We even tried again today and we still don't really have it. It seems so simple but it uses a sound we don't have in English. To us it sounds like Radu is saying Peru, like the country with the r rolled....but that is not it. I think there should be a prize for the person who gets it right!

Tonight I am making Chicago style pizza for everyone. I remembered from last time I was here that the ovens do not have degrees, just low flame, medium flame and high flame. I was prepared for that...but we have no measuring cups! So I am just about to go downstairs to see how the dough is doing. I just guessed what was close to a cup and a teaspoon and how much yeast I needed. It should be fun. We have to wait to find out if we have an edible dinner tonight, so you will have to wait to find out, too!