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Post by Timm on Mar 4, 2005 20:51:42 GMT 11
To be anywhere but Hamilton right now would be wonderful... Except Tasmania  |
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Post by Miska on Mar 5, 2005 2:18:01 GMT 11
lol timm!  *pokes* oberusal is like 15min from frankfurt to the south east me thinks....but its rite near it:)
nad duck u didnt fial me, i just got a bit more time then i thought on line last nite:)
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Post by Talmina on Mar 5, 2005 18:05:43 GMT 11
sounds like youre having an awesome time. we still miss you though and cant wait for your return
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Post by ~Dani~ on Mar 5, 2005 22:45:12 GMT 11
To be anywhere but Hamilton right now would be wonderful... Except Tasmania Excuse me!! Whats wrong with Tasmania? At least it has nice weather, unlike Brisbane  Sorry, my dad used to live in Hobart, I have this thing for Tas  |
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Post by Timm on Mar 6, 2005 16:47:19 GMT 11
Tasmania? Nice weather? LMAO |
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Post by ~Dani~ on Mar 6, 2005 16:51:37 GMT 11
Its better than Brisbane! Brisbane has no weather, every day its blue skies and sunshine, which gets pretty boring. It like never rains, and its has been 30 degrees every day now, for about a month. Its always HOT You try living in Brisbane, you would probably hate it |
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Post by Talmina on Mar 6, 2005 17:46:41 GMT 11
dani, brisbane usually has a wet and a dry season. its not ALWAYS sunny
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Post by ~Dani~ on Mar 6, 2005 19:04:24 GMT 11
Yes it is!!!!!!!
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Post by Miska on Mar 8, 2005 2:09:23 GMT 11
dani that type of weather is brilliant! dont complain!!! anyway photos will come ppl...i havent got many tho  my camera has bin freezing up since its been too cold! argh! anyway il lbe back later! mwahahaha
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Post by Min on Mar 8, 2005 2:17:04 GMT 11
But Talmina, it really seems to just be hot and sunny all the time of late. We had about a week of rain, but that was it...
I'm totally looking forward to winter, after this year's summer! It was ghastly!! It's not nice not being able to sleep because it's 28 degrees...
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Post by Miska on Mar 8, 2005 3:31:08 GMT 11
ok so this is really long (again) and very much a factual piece... ill post another one on my actual happenings! i just couldnt help but explain what ive seen, im in a weird mood! ...enjoy ppl!
hmmm lets see. ill start with a bit of background. romania is made of 3 provences - transylvania, moldovia and wallachia. moldovia is still mainly seperate and has a great rusian influence. its up near the russian border and has on numerous occasions been classified as part of russia. transylvania is the middle state and the only one that has really remained romania throughout history. wallachia is closer to bulgaria and hense has undergone the same treatment as moldovia, but is now deffiantely romainia (unlike moldovia which is its own country-sorta). bucharest (spelt bucharesti) is in wallachia. thats were i am based in section number 4 i think...not to sure, but near the town cetre. anyway i think i told u all about the palace which is also known as the peoples palace or palace of parliment. the parliment uses it now even tho it is still under construction. anyway romania was under communist rule up until the revolution in 1989. this was when their priminister and his wife were beheaded. that period was and still is known as Ceausescu's rule.
ok before i get away from mysefl i think ill start with wat i no of bucharesti and general things ive noticed about romania before goin onto my weekend away! so here goes! it will be long again!
i missed a great detailed account of life under Ceausescu's rule and thru the revolution to today by one of george's (our family friend we're staying with) friend Paula - i unfortunatly fell asleep in the car. in anycase it was hard with most of the intellect moving out of the country leaving gypsys and the like. the whole area looks very run down with lots of unfinished buildings (where Ceausescu has dreams/visions). there are plenty of differnet styles but what u notice most is the lack of destruction. during a revolution ud think most things would be destroyed and ransacked, but not with wat i have seen. infact they have immediately opened it up for tourism and gone into finishing or fixing it up! which is fantastic in my mind! at least they are tryin to preserve and get back some of their history! other then that the mian points i notice is the LACK of technology and spoilt landscape. people on farms are still using horse drawn carages for harvesting and ploughing, etc. this was highly evident when george took us thru his facotry (works for a power plant company) and showed us the equiptment whose used by date was pre 1980's! so no money has gone into the ppl or for hteir well being! instead it was spent on huge palaces etc. anyway the environment has faired well from that! The air and landscape are sooooooo untouched it it amauszin! so beautifuly natural and origianl. i really cant describe it, but u can taste the claen are when in teh mountains! just wow! (tho i will say they should invest in some salt to treat the roads cos when it snows there is no hope!!!!) there is also lots and lots of stray dogs! its like the equivalent of cats in venice and cats in turkey. they just roam the streets. i feel so sorry for them and haven wanted to take so many home! esp the puppies i see sivering in the cold looking for food. but thye all look healthy and solid. plus htey have adapted to city life quiet well - seeking hte green man to walk and stuff! its so cute to see! cleaver dogs! so in sayin that i havent seen an ingured one yet! lets hope i dont! ooo no thats a lie a gypsy was holding on whiel we were in the country! obviously hit by a car! *cries* i didnt want to remember that! on that note ill move on to the weekend away! as i think i have covered everythin i wanted to about bucharesti and romania in general! ooooo no wait! their lights have a count down system too! so u no how much time u have befor the light change! i was highly amused by that! ok now the weekend!
well we left really early in the morning and had a 4hr drive up to casimara which is a villa outside of bran, near the transylanian border. we saw Peles caslte and pelisor (little peles) before retiring for the nite. these two castles are located in the forest in Sinaia which is in the mountians. these are the homes of the royal family of which there were 4 dinisties (sp?!?). the first king came from germany and was carol the first! he built Peles and modeled it on his families castle in germany, of which there are 11. it was very ornate made of solid marble and solid walnut oak. very intrigate wood desisngs were present throughout the rooms even tho each room was of a differnent style. there was italian, fench, baroque, neo baroque and renasiance. there was a main middle area which is 16meters high, civered in a glass movible celling. form here rooms moved off 3 sides (the 4th was teh main entrace) and consisted of a weapons room (which held all the types of armour from the 15th centuary to WW2), 4bed rooms, 2 dinning halls, tea room, theartre room (yes a ciniam which had a celling lined in 24 carrat gold) and a couple of smaller rooms. the thearter was all in cream and gosd and italian renasiance style. the tea room was a turkish style in rich reds and purples - lots of low beanbag cusions and tapesties linning the walls, cellings nad floor! one of the eating areas (not the main dinning hall) was in an asian style too. since this was first occupied in 1883 and last in 1940 (or there bouts) there is quiet a mix of styles and furnishing which makes it a very modern castle compaired to others. there was central heating and all natural light! nothin aritfical there..which was quiet impressive!
Pelisor was an even more modern castle and the last residence of Queen maria (said Mary. it wa svery modern nad much more simple compaired to the ornaite Pelse. it was completed in 1903, 20yrs after Peles. not much to say about this but id has the gold room - which is a little vurved celling room covered in celtic designs and completely in gold! kinda like a little caple. it was the summer holiday house for the royal family. now i cant quiet think of how to explain the rest of it. but nothin else really stood out.
so i think ill leave it at that and explain the royal family...first (as i said before) was king carol of germany. he married elisabeth of denmark and they had a gril, but she died at a very young age from scarlet fever. so king carol adopted his nephew (from his older brother) ferdinan. ferdinan became the second king of romania nad married maria - queen victoria's granddaughter. Queen maria was very much like queen victoria in personality and is soley responsible for rejoining hte whole of romania (as the provences were under different country rules from wars and such) and establishing much of their system, making it a very rich and weathy (culturally, eduactionally, medically and ecconomically) country. however her son carol the second became king and handed most of the rule over to the military which destroied everythin that queen maria had achieved. there was another ruler micheal after carol II but he wasnt around for long since communism came into play.
i hope that makes sense! if not sorry and ask as many questions as u want! so yea that was saturday - we saw the royal families residence. saturday nie we stayed in a villa which was at the top and heart of the mountain ranges! so lovely! it was in teh middle of the national forest and thru summer they constantly have problems wit free roaming bears and wolves! the villa was decked out in stuffed wildlife nad wolf skin rugs (heads attaced) and bear skins hangin on the wall. that was kinda weird nad i htink i could turn vegie form that, but then again very typical of the mountains nad huntin life style. sunday we had a late breaky before heading off ot bran which is just on the otherside of the border in transylvania. we went ot the castle which has been called draculas castle for many years - well by everyone but romanians. it was a small fortress castle which controlled the boarder trade between the 2 provences. it was the first established trade route and taxes (the VAT as its knonw here) were established (a whole of 3%!). no more then 24ppl stayed there at a time, mainly archers and a government offical. there are 4 levels and its very plain, but EVER so cute! i loved it an dcould easily live there. it was last used by Queen maria as another summer retreate. the ground floor opened up to a central courtyard which the rooms were situated around .the courtyard had a hidden well which also acted as an escapre route, since it was built on the top, in the middle of the tallest border mountain. the mountian is 50meters tall and the well 47meters deep. the first floor was the music room. one large open room. this also hid a secret passage behind the fireplace. this was a stair case which led straight up to the thrid floor, which was Queen Maria's appartment. the second floor was the kings appartment and the fourth floor the hunting room (trophy room) and balconies which contained archer look outs, a great view and room for hot liquid pouring! the archers look outs were really cute. small rectangular wholes covered by a center pivot plant of wood. so they could protect themselves and gain arrows! this castle was very plain. all white plaster whith the only ornate thinge being the furnature - again very decroative walnut wood peices. like Peles and Pelisor they had a very religious background/feel and many celtic symbols. i think this is one of my favourite castles! so veryy cool!!!
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Post by Miska on Mar 8, 2005 4:18:46 GMT 11
oooo i havent explained the whole thing wit dracula have i! how rude of me...ill do that then actually get onto wats happened wit me! okies well dracula - broken down this word translates to: dracu = the devil; la= son. so dracula means the son of the devil. this came about when Vlad's (im sure u no about him) father first moved into romania. he wore a change with a huge gold pendant of a dragon on it. in romania the dragon is the symbol of hte devil. so he became known as dracu, hence vlad the implalor became known as dracula. wat this has to do with bran and translyvania is nothin. the lived in wallachia and only twice did vald visit bran castle for trade monitoring. tho seeing the area and hearing about vlads deeds its really understandible how creative ppl would twist things - peotic licesnse do lots!
so thats the story of draculas origin. as for me. well the rest of that day consisted of fallin over and visiting Brasov. falling over y?! well lots and lots of ice! we woke up sunday morning and from raining durin the nite it had frozen and started snowing! no wind so it was very very pleasent. however the black ice was a pain in the bum. and since they dont belive in salting any paths it made the treck really difficult. i was the first to slip down the stairs leaving bran castle. i fell 5stairs with my brother catchin me by the hood of my jacket. my sister turned round nad cursed me for fallin and almost takin her down! whcih was really rude since my wrist was so swalllon and i could swear i had fractured it again! :S my fingures on my right hand are still badly scraped, but were bleeding quiet nicely. i slipped again, but not as badly, at the bottom of the walk way from teh car to bran caslte. but htat was ok since it was during one of hte many snow fights we had, and hense fallin on snow doenst hurt as much!
at brasov we wondered round the town which was very early gothic architecture. there wa sa black church in the middle - made completly by black stone; and 4 white towers at the coners of the town, but up high on the mountians. brasov in is hte valley and it was quiet a large town back then. all of the churches and fortresses where closed for the winter but walkin up to one of them saw me fall again and gain the personal assistance of nicolae who is our driver for our stay in romania. so after walkin round all these places nad picking up some freshly made pasties with cherry, apricot, cheese, poppyseed or pizza fillings we made our way to the cable car which took up to the top of the tallest mountain. there we tried to go on one of the bush walks but hte ice stopped most of us. elena, andrew, maria's brother and raluca did do part of it while the rest of us sipped heated red wine! the wine also contained a cinomen stick! it was very nice nad ever so warming!
before i go on ill explain who actually came away with us. george came and organised this weekend away as a trail run. he is tryin to set up a sytem which allowed workers when overly stressed to have a weekend away for relaxation.so he came and his love interest Paula who is a very bubbley prima donna. but very smart! lots of fun and nos english quiet well. elena and i were in the car with them. in the van was nicolae who is our driver. basically how romania is set up is there are ppl who are drivers for a living - who are in charge of takin care of the expacts and ppl who come to visit them. so nicolae is georges and hence ours for the 10days we're here. he has a 18yr old daughter and his wife died of cancer last yr. his girlfriend kristina also came with us and also works for george, but in a differnt sector she too has a 13yr old daughter. Maria - georges head II engineer also came with her 15yr old daughter Raluca. both spoke english really well and were alot of fun. mum, noddy, aunt kerri and andrew were in the van with them. raluca kept andrew busy with lots of snowball fights. every chance they got they were throwin snow! at peles they were against noddy and george. on the sunday it was just against each other! as saturday finished a in the car snowball fight against andrew!
maria's brother joined us while we were in brasov as he lives there.
okies now where was i! ooo yes i had a thought. saturday nite we ate at a serbian resturant which was the sister one to the place we ate on friday nite. ill get to firday nite later. back to sunday. after we finsihed in brasov we moved on to ...actually i dont no where. but it was high up in the mountains! like very high! tge snow was about 3meters high and i swear we were goin to get stuck. it was a small hotel resturant mostly again with bulgarian foods, but i think the foods are really interchangible. the van got bogged on teh way back but after that i dont remember as i fell asleep to the slow darkening of the sky from light blue to black with the constnat snow fall. large flurries but no wind. so very picturesque when surrounded byt dense wood land. when i woke we were droppin Paula home and that ended our nite nad weekend.
for food - on sunday nite i had stewed pork with polenta, andrew had chevap as did el. mum had sarma. we had some more hot wine, schopska salad and c0ck (male chicken) goolash soup. saturday i stuffed my self silly with vegie soup, lots of homemade bread, shopsak salad and a huge dish of roast meet, polenta, roast sliced capsecan with beans, onion and garlic and some wedges. the romanian beer is ok. tho most of it has a dainish lable, so uses their style. its bubbley and cold!
ooo im uping around a bit, but im jsut writing stuff when i remember it! on saturday there were 2 lion cubs out the frount of hte restuarnt! they were sooo cute! u pay to pat them or take of photo! thats just how gypsyies make thier money! it was near a ski fireld, dont no wat the town was. probalby sinaia. anyway they were so cute! we also saw the cutest puppy cuddled up at Pelisor steps! so cute! oooo and at bran castle we were followed by a gogeous balck dog which proceeded to make its mark on andrew by p!ssing on andrews leg! much entertainment!
we also had the quote of the day which winners got to wear the welsh hat! there were lots of good ones but i think we just gave the hat to george and elena to wear! even tho they didnt do it they tended to say things like 'omg its snowing!" or "gosh its cold'! *slaps head*...anyway hmmmm i think thats all i can remember for now! its a little hard as the TV is blasting in the background!
oki ll leave it here! sorry bout hte double posts and the lenght of it all! eso teh MBT! its all sooo horrible, but i just had to type. im still missin out on today and last friday. so hopefully ill get to do those soon. but i will stop posting htem here if ppl are over it. cos they will be in my LJ! ciao ppl! miss ya all very much! 
PS: HAPY BIRTHDAY to everyone who i will be missin! *hands out choco*
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Ceirwan
Gypsy
Yay for Wanderers!
Posts: 693
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Post by Ceirwan on Mar 9, 2005 15:06:22 GMT 11
hey Miska, glad you're having a great (freezing) time overseas!
Did you say you were going to try and meet with Lucy? Did I miss that? Or did you not end up meeting after all?
Anyhow, looking forward to seeing you when you get back. Sounds like you'll have lots of pictures of castles that we can pretend are Obernewtyn!
Love Roz
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Post by Min on Mar 14, 2005 9:40:55 GMT 11
OMG!!! LION CUBS!! GYPSIES!! *squeals*
Miska, it sounds like such an awesome trip!! You'll have to bring some photos to Brissy when you're up in April!!
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Post by Miska on Mar 14, 2005 10:07:57 GMT 11
OMG! roz yes there is one! braun castle is a smaller version! well from wat i can imagine! its the closest thing! or peles! and yes i did meet lucy! she took me out to dinner which was fantastic! shes sooo cool ,fun and has the cutest little silver smart car! she took me for a drive around the stockton/teeside area in north england! i saw her skools nad places she spent 'childhood' times it was heaps of fun!
min ill make sure i dont clear my camera! tho i havent gotten many pictures u cant take ones of the castles inside but ive got a couple
anywya im in the usa now. just got back from my dads memorial service and im not really in the mood to talk! only cool thing is i had 2 days of awsome shoppin! *sigh* ill come bak later or just b4 i get home! sorry guys but im really not in the mood! *huggles* miss ya all!
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Post by Min on Mar 14, 2005 11:04:07 GMT 11
*grugs Miska* well, we're always here if you need us, ok?
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Post by Megana on Mar 14, 2005 11:35:13 GMT 11
Wow! Sounds like you're having an awesome time Miska......despite the falling down  I so wanna go overseas now!
*grugs* We miss you!!!
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Post by Miska on Mar 15, 2005 0:56:51 GMT 11
thank min! i should be ok as i have today by my lonsome self cos my fam has run off to washington...but yea *grugs* i mite go find a sunday store and eat ice cream in zero weather?! that sounds logical doesnt it ;P
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Post by Raineth on Mar 15, 2005 16:06:18 GMT 11
That sounds truly awesome Miska!
I'm glad you are having such a good time.
Castles, snow, animals and food! Its so great!
Raineth
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*pokes* oberusal is like 15min from frankfurt to the south east me thinks....but its rite near it:) 
my camera has bin freezing up since its been too cold! argh! anyway il lbe back later! mwahahaha
