After a day in Sighisoara we headed to Bran Castle and then on to Brasov.

Bran Castle while fairly touristy was beautiful. Bran Castle for those of you not in the know is rumored to be Dracula's castle. In reality, it's just a really beautiful old castle that was strategically built to guard the countryside, protect the people and I think to tax those on the main road.

Today it's open for tourists. You walk up the hill and then progressively make your way through much of the house. It's a maze of rooms, windows and views. I thought it was incredible.

Interestingly in the 1920's the castle became a royal home and the queen actually lived there. This was actually very hard for me to imagine. I am not sure why because frankly castles and princesses should go hand in hand. Maybe it's because the castle feels rather remote. Moreover, the rooms while interesting seem a little uninviting for actually living in and on the day we visited the wind was punishing. I thought it was great fun to visit but not necessarily the kind of place I'd want to stay in permanently.

One of the things I was struck by at the castle were the photos of Queen Marie at Bran. Often she was photographed in Romanian national costume even though she was not Romanian. She seems to have adopted the costume and the country.

From Bran we drove to Brasov. I found myself impressed by this town.

It's young and hip. Hardly anyone seemed to be hurrying anywhere the day we were visiting. Spring seemed to have just emerged.

Cafes had tables and chairs outside but were still working out the issue of service but no one worried. There was a sense that everything would work itself out. We did plenty of people watching and then scouted out some restaurant options.

Interestingly, everyone else seemed to have the same plan we did and when we went back for dinner sometime after 8pm most of the restaurants we'd identified as wanting to try out were already full. None of us really expected this as it was the middle of the week. Brasov was more happening than we guessed. Serves us right.

We never should have underestimated the town. We ended up at a little Italian place with a nautical theme. Don't ask. I have no idea. The pizza and pasta were both good but I can't for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant. Later we wandered down the street for a beer at a local German beer hall.

This was a little disconcerting for me. Actually the whole, a little piece of Germany in Transylvania was disconcerting for me.  Most of the towns in Transylvania have German names, Hungarian names and Romanian names. I guess that's just to keep everyone on their toes.

In fact the Black Church apparently functions in German and the postcard I bought there has a description in English, Romanian and German. Inside the church many of the pews have been painted with flowers and other scenes and German. I didn't really hear German being spoken while I was in Brasov but then again I wasn't really listening for it. There were a lot of other things to take in.