Sinaia - Sunday afternoon 10/4

We arrived in Sinaia around 1pm and checked into our hotel.  Then we went on a four hour walking tour.  Some of the pictures are at http://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/SinaiaRomania#

I may add a few more photos.  I have one of a poster saying Beware of Bears.  Sinaia is a city created around a royal palace and is a favorite place for Romanians and many tourists to visit.  To read the history of the Romanian Monarchy is quite interesting.  The first king, Carol I was a Hapsburg and his offspring populated palaces around Europe.   It is a city in the mountains and people use it year round; in the winter it is a popular ski spot.  We did a lot of uphill walking and passed various roadside merchants selling a wide range of products.  The embrodery is really beautiful.  One woman was very insistent that I should by an embroidered table cloth.  Her refrain "ten dollars" - it really was worth it but my decor doesn't lend itself to embroidered tablecloths.  The crochet work is also very beautiful.  We looked at the main palace and then did a small tour of a smaller palace built by some of the royal children who found the main palace too much.  We wandered up to a Romanian Orthodox monastery.  They don't allow pictures inside churches which is a pity because we've seen some magnificent churches.

After our palace tour, we walked back downtown and found a restaurant called Steak.  I found out that here steak can mean any kind of meat.  I had bean soup with smoked ham and chicken with red beans and a lot of garlic slices.  Florin had lamb chops, and a salad.  We drank a dry Romanian red wine.  Then we walked back to the hotel and have been in the lobby catching up on email and blogs.

This has been a marvelous weekend.  We will either take a train back to Bucharest tomorrow or a maxi taxi depending on whether there's a general strike or not.  Talk to you soon.