A self-explanatory video. If you’ve never seen a stag sitting quietly and resting, this would be a good time to check that off your list. 
This animal was filmed at a place called Hanul Dracula, a place in the hills near Danes, a village west of Sighisoara.
Ligia and I went on a refreshing evening walk with friends last night, during a wonderful snowfall which lasted through the night and covered everything in about a foot of snow by morning. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and of course I took photos, lots of them.
This is video from a sledding outing with our friends, near Medias, Romania. Remember sledding?
I ask the question because most people look at me funny when I talk to them about hauling an old-fashioned sled up a hill, then sliding down said hill at great speeds, only to repeat the process until completely exhausted, at which time we’d trudge on home with big smiles on our faces.
My sled is part wood, part cast iron, with steel feet. It’s a heavy, sturdy monster that I’ve had since I was a kid, and there’s a good chance this sled will last me my whole life. I might even be able to pass it down to my children.
In the States, I rarely saw people sledding. Sure, if you visit winter resorts, there’s bound to be some sledding going on. But the neighborhood sledding slope has been slowly disappearing.
Remember when parents and children alike would know just which slopes were perfect for sledding? And they couldn’t wait to get their sleds and run outside after snowfall? Remember being in awe at the glossy photo of the latest wooden sled in the L.L. Bean catalog? I can’t even find those old sled models in their catalog anymore… All I can find now are kiddy sleds and plastic somethings. I’m talking about real sleds, like these!
When I grew up in Romania, the hills were full of children, yelling, laughing, crying, running about, having snowball fights, sledding. It was the same for my wife. Now, the hills are mostly silent. Medias is surrounded by hills, yet when we wanted to go sledding, we had to drive around for about 1 1/2 hours, looking for a good slope. Nobody knew where they were anymore.
I’d love to see more people sledding. It’s great exercise and it’s tons of fun! I think local governments can help by maintaining sledding slopes at certain locations. Nothing fancy, no artificial snow, just some lights and a man to turn them on and off. Word would get around and people would come.
By the way, this is what the moon looked like that night, after we got home.
Ligia and I went on a walk in one of the beech forests near Medias on Christmas Eve. This is a video I filmed during our walk. I loved the clear, crisp air and the quiet, punctuated at times by snow powder falling from the trees or the barking of distant dogs.
The background music is performed by a talented artist by the name of Donald Betts and is called “A Curious Story”.
Here are a few photographs I took on that same walk.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
The central plaza in the city of Medias (Southern Transilvania, Romania) is called Piata Regele Ferdinand (King Ferdinand Plaza). This is what it looks like in winter, during a snowfall.
That’s what it would look like this winter as well, if there were some snow around. I recorded this video almost a year ago to the day and so far, I’ve only seen some frost around. Just yesterday, it was into the low teens (Celsius) and super sunny — warm enough to do some light carpentry work outside.
When you travel through Brasov (Romania), you notice two things: the wonderful medieval buildings and the mountains that surround the city. But there’s another way to see the city — from those same mountains that surround it.
If you take the road toward Poiana Brasov, a mountain resort that sits perched atop those mountains, about 17 km from the city, you’ll find a few lookout points, positioned in such a way that you’ll get some great views of the city.
Here are a few photos taken from those lookout points.
Transalpina is the highest road in Romania. It’s also quite possibly its most picturesque; it certainly offers the most beautiful sights I’ve seen in Romania so far. It connects Transilvania to Oltenia, and the official length of the entire road is 148 km from Novaci to Sebes, although only a stretch of 30-40 km travels atop the Parang Mountains (part of the Carpathians), reaching an altitude of 2145 meters at its highest point.
The road was built by the Romans, as they traveled north toward Sarmisegetusa and then used by them as they carted off thousands of tons of gold and silver from Dacia’s rich mines. (You might want to read through this post for the background info.)
According to this website, the road was paved with rocks by King Carol I in the 1930s, maintained by the Nazis during WWII, then forgotten. Work to repave its entire length began in 2009 and it still goes on, though large portions of the road, including its most beautiful sections, are now ready to be used.
We visited Transalpina twice this year, most recently during this past weekend, and we were awestruck by the beauty of the vistas you can see as you travel along its length. We had the good fortune to drive through right after first snow had fallen on the peaks, draping them in a light blanket of pure white snow. Moreover, we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset that colored everything in sight in a golden orange hue. It was heavenly.
We’d have loved to spend more time atop the mountains but night was falling quickly, the temperature was dropping, and we had hundreds of “miles to go” before we could sleep, to paraphrase Robert Frost.
We drove on, descending into the valley below and into thick fog, then wound our way through the mountains toward Sibiu, passing through such interesting places as Jina and Poiana Sibiului.
I’ll leave you with a few more photos from the trip.
