A Halloween Night To Remember

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Last night's quick winter storm passed through and we awoke the next morning with everything covered in a beautiful blanket of fresh snow. Halloween in Romania! Never did I ever think I would be in Romania but here I was getting ready to celebrate Halloween at Dracula's Castle! But first, we got the chance to spend the morning exploring the city of Brasov. We arrived in Brasov around 10am and immediately headed out for a 2 hour walking tour of Brasov's Old Town. The bus let us out near the base of Mt. Tampa, a mountain overlooking Brasov's Old Town. Atop this mountain was a sign of Brasov that was similar to the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles. Had we more time, it would have been great to take one of the trails to the top for what I'm sure would have been an awesome view over Brasov. The tour began at Piata Sfatului, also known as Council Square and is the main square in the Old Town. It was a beautiful square with restaurants and cafes with roofs covered with a light dusting of snow. This would have been a great place to sit back in one of the outdoor cafes and people watch but the weather was blisteringly cold today. I would have loved nothing more than to sit somewhere indoors but convinced myself that I must explore the city. From the main square, our walking tour lead us over to the Black Church, the largest Gothic church in Eastern Europe. We weren't allowed to go inside so we stood in front of the church listening to our tour guide explain some of it's history. As we stood there, snow flurries began to fall and the temperature began to dip. It was not going to be an enjoyable walking tour! Our guide lead us through the backstreets of Brasov's Old Town where we stopped at various landmarks such as The Catherine's Gate and the St. Nicholas Cathedral. I honestly had little attention span during this walking tour. Although Brasov was a beautiful city, I was far too cold to appreciate it's charm. That coupled wtih tonight's festivities, I was just not in the mood to enjoy the sights. Our walking tour ended in Piata Unirii where we had some independent time before we had to be back on the bus. David, Paul, Shea, and I stopped for some lunch at some place that sold nothing but french fries. Afterwards, we returned to Piata Sfatului for some coffee and to purchase some snacks before finding our way back to the bus to return to Bran.

Back in Bran, we had the remainder of the afternoon to prepare for tonight's party at Dracula's Castle. As we had to be ready by 5pm to head to the castle, Shea and I began putting our costumes together at around 3pm. My costume was a Dia De Los Muertos skeleton and included face makeup. I really wasn't looking forward to the face makeup as I fear breaking out in some facial rash. Shea was dressed as some character named Miss Peregrine from a TV show named Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children that I was unfamiliar with. With our costumes on, we were ready to party the night away. Meeting up with everyone on the bus, we were excited to see everyone's costumes for the first time. There were some elaborate and very creative costumes within our group. Erin and Angie were dressed as the creepy sisters from the movie The Shining, Paul and David were dressed as Mario and Bowser from the Super Mario Brothers game, Margaret was dressed up as some sort of Bolivian devil, and Maria as Waldo from Where's Waldo. The bus was a total party atmosphere as everyone was in such a good mood and so excited for tonight's festivities. Missing from the bus was the Australian couple who apparently had some elaborate costumes that they were not ready by the time we all departed. They would later join us at Dracula's castle by taxi. Arriving at Dracula's castle was such a surreal moment. The castle was floodlit and with the bright full moon illuminating the clouds behind the castle, it gave Dracula's Castle a very spooky look. It was such a fitting scene for Halloween night. As the other buses carrying the other groups pulled in, we all gathered at the entrance to the castle. The other groups also had some very elaborate and creative costumes. By looking around, I saw Pennywise from It, the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, a zombie ice princess, and your usual costumes of pirates, skeletons, and ghosts. As we waited there outside the castle, it was obvious that everyone was excited about how fortunate that our 5 groups would have Dracula's Castle all to ourselves on Halloween night. The doors to the entrance of the castle opened and we were greeted by a man dressed as Vlad Tepes who would be our "host" for the evening. After he explained what we could expect tonight, he let us all inside the castle for a quick look around before the various groups split up for dinner. After dinner, we were free to explore the various rooms of the castle as well as dance the night away in the courtyard. There was a costume contest tonight where our friends Dave and Paul took third place with their Mario and Bowser costumes. It was a great night for them as they were also celebrating their 8 year wedding anniversary tonight. Our friends Erin and Angie won the big prize for 1st place tonight with their twins from the movie The Shining. Not only were their costumes great but they did a great job at playing the part. Any many times of the night, we would find them in the corner or at the top of a staircase where they were standing hand in hand and staring silently at everyone. Their win was well deserved and they would forever be able to say that they won a costume contest on Halloween at Dracula's Castle. After dancing away for much of the evening and enjoying the atmosphere and ambience of the castle, we took one of the three scheduled buses to take us back to the hotel. It's hard to imagine any future Halloween night being able to top this one!

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Photos

Piata Sfatalui in Brasov
Main square in medieval Brasov

Piata Sfatalui in Brasov
Main square in medieval Brasov

Piata Sfatalui in Brasov
Main square in medieval Brasov

Piata Sfatalui in Brasov
Main square in medieval Brasov

St. Nicholas' Cathedral in Brasov
Romanian Orthodox church

Romanian Cemetery
Cemetery near St. Nicholas' Cathedral

Local Mother and Child
Piata Unirii in Brasov