Romania: speaking at a school, visiting Dracula sites

My paternal grandmother Bertha [born Belissa] left Romania as a baby in 1909. No one in my family has been back...till now. 

In an early morning fugue state [i.e. 5:45 am flight], I tried to board a plane to Budapest instead of Bucharest. Don't worry—the airlines have systems in place to catch minor oversights like this. I've made far bigger travel mistakes...

Thanks, Sandy Sackrison and Cristina Cuzuc of the American International School of Bucharest, for inviting me to spend four days with your community. 

This being the country of Transylvania, the school even has a Bat Cave. 

Museum of the History and Culture of the Jewish Community, 

housed in a former temple built in 1836; one of four Jewish buildings

I visited in Bucharest, three in close proximity

Highlight: I went to both of Dracula's castles, though neither one was Dracula's castle. 

Bran Castle in Transylvania, built in 1377, is marketed as the Dracula castle—but it has no confirmed connection to either the 1897 Bram Stoker novel that popularized Dracula or Vlad the Impaler, a gruesome real-world inspiration for the novel's vampire. Neither Vlad nor Stoker was ever at this castle. It's just to boost tourism.

Poenari Fortress, built in the 1400s, is three hours from Bran, not in Transylvania. Vlad was here; he used it as an escape from marauders and a prison. Now it's a ruins. No gift shop. To reach it, you have to climb 1,480 steps...and before that, take a long, windy road. I don't always do well on twisty roads [or choppy water], so to combat carsickness, I did five things:

• didn't eat beforehand
• sat in the front seat
• took nausea prevention tablets
• opened the window a crack
• did not look at my phone

It worked.

You can see it up the mountain in the distance.

No stairs in Vlad's era. 
No enemies could run up this.

First glimpse of Poenari from the trail.

The view back down.

Kids gleefully swarming a stock, a gallows, 

and [out of view] an execution block [ax and wooden block],

in the shadow of two impaled guys.

Near Bran Castle is an absolutely picturesque medieval city called Brașov.

White structure dates to the 1300s, light green to the 1400s...

...salmon to the 1500s...

...other light green to the 1700s. All in a row!

This is a high school.

My high school looked different.

That high school [on right] is mere steps from the 

Black Church, built 1477 and so named because 

it was coated in soot from the 1689 Great Fire.

Synagogue with no barricades or guards,

unlike most of the ones in Bucharest.

Romania is home to the greatest number of bears of any European country. They really ought to make a book compiling all the warning signs:

Here's that bear again, with Vlad.

I visited a lovingly maintained bear sanctuary where some of the animals have been rescued from unspeakable abuse [often in circuses]. In Thailand a decade ago, I went to an elephant sanctuary with similarly wounded denizens. One bear was so traumatized by humans that he spent 3.5 years—years—in a tree by himself.

This two-day tour, which involved lots of driving, cost $530, plus $40 tip, $7 parking, $20 entrance fee each for Bran and bears, and meals. Is that good or bad? No idea.

Other sights from Bucharest:

A UFO sculpture on the grounds of Hotel Caro, where I stayed.

Reminded me of a UFO I saw in Tanzania...

My AISB hosts took me to dinner at the top [36th floor].

Walked a lot in Romania.

The Airbnb-like place I stayed the night before my early flight home.

It's a growth industry.

[Another truck I didn't get a photo of said "We repair what your husband fixed."]

A Romanian restaurant bathroom designed like a forest...

and including a hanging pair of tighty whities behind me.