William Reardon’s Blog

We even passed through Brasov, home to Bran Castle, or, as it’s pitched to tourists, Dracula’s Castle. Dan said that Vlad the Impaler might have actually stayed there for a single night, but even that’s questionable. However it was the model Bram Stoker used for Dracula’s castle, so the label sticks.

The contrast between the countryside and the city of Bucharest was total. In particular, unlike Bucharest, the countryside seemed like a place one might actually want to visit. Be that as it may, there we were. In Bucharest.

It was interesting seeing the Soviet-era apartment complexes. The mix of the city’s older architecture and these concrete monstrosities. Growing up in the 80s, you’d see images of them on TV, but I never thought I’d see it with my own eyes. At least not without carrying a rifle.

Architecture aside, there were a couple of other things that took me by surprise:

• Vendors don’t like to make change. Given a 100,000 Lei (a little over $3.00) for a 20,000 Lei item, the vendor would rather not make the sale than give you 80,000 change.
  
• Privacy. Eastern Europe has a very, very different sense of what privacy means. When walking into a store, it’s not uncommon for several men to follow you closely, obviously watching you. Talking with a local, it’s not unique to us as Westerns, it’s just something the people expect.
  

He’d been in Moldova for the Peace Corp for a few months, when the city police came by his home raising a fuss that he hadn’t registered with them when he arrived. After things were straightened out, his host family asked why he hadn’t registered with the police when he first arrived? How could he have forgotten? Explaining it’s not something done in the West, their surprised reply was “Well, how do the police know where you are!?” Exactly, was Dan’s response.