ROMANIA {CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS}

The most unique and memorable part of my visit to Romania was my adventure to a small village in the Carpathian mountains where my friend's grandparents lived. This village was like none I had ever been to. It was like stepping back in time to Little House on the Prarie. The homes were made of dirt and hay, they lived off of what they could grown on their small bits of property, and there were no modern comforts. The grandparents had a well for water and this water was the most delicious water I had ever tasted. There was no plumbing, almost no electricity, and they used animals and wagons instead of cars. A very simple life. They managed to live off of $10 a month.

Here is a Romanian car being driven by a cute little old lady. You can see how weathered her skin has become from years of working in the sun. The roads were all dirt. Few people had jobs. It was one of the poorest places I have ever been, yet they were some of the happiest people. There is a lot to be said for being thankful for what you have as well as not knowing what you are missing.

We took a long walk one of the afternoons up to a lookout. One thing that I love when I am traveling are puffy clouds. I get really excited and literally jump up and down giggling puffy clouds! puffy clouds! Because they make the photos so much more interesting. Wouldn't you agree?

During our walk these three ducks kept following behind me right in a row like this. Aren't they cute! I think they wanted their picture taken but they were probably just hoping I had some food for them. Everywhere we went there was so much to photograph. I got more photos in one day in this village then I did in the rest of the two weeks of my trip.

Back at the house I played with their chickens. They were very cute. They had lots of them and they were all different colors, shapes, sizes, and breeds. I asked what this little fella's name was and they laughed and me saying, "we don't name our food!" Oh! and that's why if I had to kill my own meat I'd instantly become a vegetarian. No way! Could not handle that. While I was there I learned how to call a chicken. You say... Poi Poi Poi.

This is my friend's grandfather taking a rest after picking fruits and vegetables for dinner. He is so gosh darn cute, I couldn't stand it. I think he was a little puzzled as to why I kept wanting to take pictures of him, his chicken food, his living room, his well, his outhouse, ha ha! Later this day he opened up a sack and handed me some hazelnuts. Apparently hazelnuts grow on the side of the Carpathian mountains and he had hiked up and gathered some. So we sat down and crushed them with a rock and ate them. They were delicious. Funny thing is that I usually have an issue with getting dirty and eating with my hands but for some reason when I travel I luckily am somehow able to put all that aside.

So we of course had to take some family photos since I was here. Here is everyone. My friend and her son, then her niece, her mom, her uncle and aunt, with grandpa and grandma in the front. The are posing in the... well outdoor living room you could say. Sort of a court yard for all the rooms of the house. I love how the background really places them at the village, in the home. This photo couldn't have come from anywhere else. These were all such great people and they were so welcoming to me. I could never thank them enough.

And while I was taking family photos I was making quite a ruckus in the neighborhood. I was trying so hard to get grandma and grandpa to smile who didn't speak a lick of English so I was jumping up and down on a chair yelling and making funny faces yell POI POI POI (calling the chickens) since that was all the Romanian I knew. So the ladies who lived next door had to come peak over the fence and see what I was up to. They were so cute I had to take their photo too.

As we were leaving the village we passed by this lookout. Here is where some of the locals go to fish. The sun had just set, the extreme heat had finally settled down and here was this beautiful view. So peaceful. Till next time Romania.

BRASOV, ROMANIA {DRACULA'S CASTLE}

I can't tell you how much I love it when clients request if I'll come join them in another country for a photo session. Traveling the world is one of my biggest passions in life and when I can get paid to do it or can trade my work for a first hand tour guide from someone who lives in the country, it is pretty priceless. A good friend of mine from Romania did just that. She invited me to visit her country with her when she went home and take family photos for her in exchange for a top notch cultural experience. Unfortunately her visits home are years apart and this would be the first time her family would be meeting her 2 year old son.

Bran Castle

 When she asked me what I would like to do when I was there I didn't have to do much thinking. I said, "I want to experience Romania how you see it... except for one little thing, I also want to go visit Dracula's Castle!" I mean come on! Go all the way to Transylvania, Romania and not visit the grounds were Vlad the Impaler staked thousands of people! Lets go! Unfortunately what I didn't know is that the castle is very difficult to photograph from were tourists could go so this was the best photo I could capture of Dracula's Castle. But it is still really fun to say that I've been there.

The town closest to Bran is Brasov which is the home of the Black Church, "Biserica Neagră." This church used to actually be called St. Mary and was first constructed sometime around the 1400's and is Gothic style like Notre Dame.  But then during the 1600's during the Turkish war a big fire broke out in the city and the church was burned. Much of the inside has been restored but you can still see remnants from the outside of the fire and has been since called the Black Church.

Brasov has beautifully colorful architecture as you can see in this photo of their town square. We were only in the town for a few hours so I didn't capture too many images but it was full of so many cute little shops and fountains. Brasov also serves Dracula ice cream. Now, I can't eat dairy but this I just had to try. It is vanilla ice cream that has been dyed black and then they mix in cherry red POP ROCKS! Yeah! So your tongue turns black and the rocks pop all over your mouth. It was pretty fun. If you ever visit, you must look for it at the street vendor ice cream shops. 

Here is a photo of Buni (Grandma) and Daevon playing in the fountain in the middle of the town square. It was a lot of fun watching them interact. Daevon was just getting to know his Buni and she only speaks Romanian so it was really funny watching him cock his head to the side as his listened and soaked in everything she would say to him. It's interesting how language can really be all irrelevant. Even I had a few hours of time with her at moments without anyone to translate yet it still seemed like we were able to have some sort of a decent conversation. 

As we were driving back to Focsani, where my friend was from, we drove through part of the Caraiman mountains and this here is one of my favorite shots from the entire trip. If you look at the top of the mountain on the right you will see a cross peaking out through the fogged raining clouds but with a bit of sun sneaking through from behind. This cross was built in the early 1900's by order of Queen Mary to show honor to those who served in WWI. When I look at this photo it really warms my heart with a feeling of heaven up in the clouds. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. PS- I took this photo through the car window while driving around twisty turn roads. Sometimes you just never know what you might get!