Peles castle - Poiana Brasov - new plans

As I wrote in my previous post, my sister and her husband visited me, and I also took those days off. They arrived early Wednesday morning (5 am) and after a few hours of sleep we started to explore the city. The weather was gorgeous all the time they were here, about 30 degrees and lots of sunshine! We visited the Black Church and went up to Mount Tampa. My sister is terrified of hights but after a couple of drinks we got her to the cable car 😁. Dinner we had in Sergiana.

On Thursday we took the train to Sinaia in the morning and went to Peles castle. I hadn’t been there myself before! Omg that place is gorgeous!! I totally recommend everybody to visit, the garden is so beautiful too. The entrance fee was 30 lei, it includes a guided tour. If you want larger tour to the private rooms, it is 60 lei, and if you want to take pictures inside it is 35 lei. We took just the basic tour. Luckily we were there early so we didn’t have to wait long, but after our tour the queu was VERY long. So go early, or not in high season. We were back in Brasov in the evening, and had dinner in Stradivari.

Here’s some pictures from there

On Friday it was the hottest day so we wanted to escape that a little, and went to Poiana Brasov for a day. It was hot there too but of course the air is more fresh in the mountains. We took the bus at noon so it was already quite warm… we just walked around and me and my brother-in-law took the cable car up. There is not enough alcohol on this planet to get my sister there so she stayed on the terrace ☺. The view up there is just amazing! I just walked around and took dozens of pictures because it was so gprgeous! I think the price for up and down was 30 lei. You can also go only one way and I was thinking some day go just up and hike down, they have good trails for hiking there. After going down we decided to stay in Poiana until evening, we found a nice terrace and the cider was cold 🍻. Dinner place in Brasov was Pocol (they have excellent risotto) and that restaurant has the weirdest toilets ever. Every wall in the toilet is a mirror. So no matter where you look, you just see your own ass 😂. Very confusing. I wonder if the designer was high?

Pictures from Poiana

Saturday was shopping day and that is always fun! We also had excellent sushi for lunch! For dinner we went to Jamaica Club or something like that. On Sunday they left. So I thought. But there was a storm between Brasov and Bucharest and on the mountain roads there were fallen trees for 2 km so they had to turn back. I booked them new flights for Tuesday and on Monday they went to Bucharest to see the city a little bit. And they made it back home! It was great having them here, we had very nice dinners with very nice wine, but I also have to say that for a very introverted person like me it was also exhausting. Glad they visited and glad they left.

This sign for toilets in hotel Aro Palace in Brasov

I noticed I haven’t shown you my tattoo, so here it is. The text NOMAD I took in November 2015 in Finland and the rest of it I took here over a month ago. I am also going to get a cover tattoo on my old one, it is a black and white rose and it is getting very blurry now. I can recommend Eli Tattoo here! 

And then my new plans… I told about the contact from Lisbon in my previous post. Well, they offered me the job and I have accepted it. The training will start October 9 and my flight is on the 4th, so I will have a few days to get to know the city a little bit. I love Brasov and I am going to miss so many people here (but some of them have promised to visit me in Lisbon) but I miss water so much and now I have a chance to live at the ocean! OCEAN!!! If I hate the job, I will look for something new again. At first I will live in company’s apartment, shared with others so we’ll see how that goes… but I am excited to go and can’t wait for the two months to go by!

I still have five days vacation so in a week I will have a week off. Still not sure where I will travel then because I have too many choices in my head. So many nearby places I want to visit and if I don’t visit now they will disappear and I will never see them. PANIC! So my next post will be about that holiday, stay tuned to find out where I ended up… ☺

Poiana Brasov, and this and that

I just celebrated my birthday a week ago! On that day, which luckily was Saturday this year, I went out with a few friends, and then on Sunday I went to Poiana Brasov. I even bought a summer dress! Yes, really!! It was really warm weather that weekend, on Saturday even 35 degrees and that kind of temperature is not usual here. I love Poiana, it takes about 30 mins by bus from Brasov, and it costs 5 lei. Poiana is very touristy, lots of hotels and spas, because lots of tourists come to the mountains, in the winter for skiing, summer for hiking, or just for a spa.

Here’s finally some pictures from there.

Since I updated my Couchsurfing profile to accepting guests again, I have been hosting here a lot. I have a guest almost every week, or even three guests a week! As I am an extreme introvert, sometimes I have to “force” myself to host. Don’t get me wrong, I love hosting and I have only positive experience, but I just need so much time alone to recharge my batteries. At work I am with people all day so sometimes I decline requests because I can’t handle any more social interaction. But I have met great people from all over the world and with some of them we keep in touch and I hope to meet them again! There are not that many active hosts in Brasov so I get a LOT of requests, and just because of that I have to decline most of them, I have only one couch ☺. My friends in Brasov; set up a couch! NOW!

But so far, all my guests would stay with me again, and I would host all of them again. I haven’t surfed myself a lot, and not in a long time but all my hosts would host me again! So in my profile I have only positive references.

Some of my friends have asked me about street dogs. Yes, there are a lot of street dogs here, and a lot more in Iasi and especially Chisinau. Here in Brasov you don’t see them that much in the centre though. It was just breaking my heart in Moldova when the dogs were looking for humans, coming close and wanting food and attention. I just wanted to adopt them all 😭. Just horrible. Every dog should have a warm and loving home! In Poiana when I was hiking, a street dog started to follow me. He walked right next to me all the way to the hotel, just like he was my dog. I just had to walk to the hotel without even looking at him because I just wanted  to take him with me. I had my window to the  door, and I saw him standing there for a while looking at the door, like waiting for me to come back. It was so awful!! Don’t take pets if you can’t take care of them! And if something happens, find your pet a new home or take him/her to an animal shelter but DO NOT throw them to the street! Assholes. And if you have a chance, offer a home to a homeless animal, just as my friend here in Brasov has already done, adopted a street dog. I have spoken.

In week and a half my sister and her husband are coming for a visit, and I will also take a few days off to show them around. Haven’t made any plans, except just walk around the old town, eat good food, and one day go to Poiana. Maybe, just MAYBE, sometimes have a glass of wine :).It is great they visit me, actually so far only one friend has visited me and then I had been here only a few weeks and knew nothing where to visit! I still haven’t visited Codlea or Peles castle, or Cluj, and those places at least I want to check. I hope I will still get other visitors too!

And then some thoughts about the future… Almost a year ago when I was looking for a job, I also applied for a job in Lisbon, and they contacted me but then I got this job and told them I am no longer available. About six months later they emailed me that they need now some finnish speaking people over there, and asked if I would be interested. First they were talking about 2 positions that would’ve started right away but I said no. Then they said a new project will start in October, and interviewed me for that position. But then a couple of days ago they emailed me that the project has been cancelled, BUT they might have another project starting in October if I would like to hear more about that. They will call me on Monday and tell me more. What I know so far is that this project doesn’t seem as interesting as the previous one. This would be pretty much the same thing I am doing now. The salary would not be as good but I could live in company’s apartment (shared). But living costs in Lisbon are higher than in Brasov. But I would live near the ocean. You probably noticed I have mixed feelings at the moment. Am I moving forward if I am doing the same thing but just in a different location? I want to move forward, haven’t applied for any other jobs yet though, because it is just my personality to keep going! Of course, if I hate the job, I can always look for the next one. Or hell, come back here (if they will take me back anymore :)). I don’t know, but I have weeks to figure this out. And talk to my sister about this, she is always a good mirror to me and knows me better than anyone else.

So there, lots of things to write about this time, next post will be after my sister’s visit and hopefully then I have visited some new places!