Romania

This trip turned out to be pretty stressful, especially with Eliza, but we had a lot of fun too. The pictures are roughly in chronological order. I've also included a few pictures from my mission (8-9 years ago) for comparison.

Here's Eliza in the Rochester Airport. What you can't see is that she is in the middle of soiling 5 layers: diaper, onseie, pajamas, jacket, and blanket. Ouch. Fortunately, this was the worst blow-out of the trip.

Flying out of Rochester on a small 18-passenger plane.

Here's the apartment where we stayed with a friend at the beginning and end of our trip. The room was cramped and the bed was lumpy, but you couldn't beat the company.

Casa Poporului or House of the People.

Unfortunately, I've never seen these fountains working.

From this vantage point in 2002 I counted 15 huge construction cranes that had been dormant since 25 December 1989 when Ceausescu was overthrown. Now in 2011, all those cranes had finally been taken down and replaced by a few new ones working on new construction.

This is Cismigiu Park--one of Bucharest's central parks.

Notice the exercise equipment in the background. We found this bow

for Eliza on one of our first days in Bucharest, but lost it by the end of the trip.

Train ride to Sinaia to see Peles Palace.

As long as she has something in her mouth, Eliza is happy.

We stayed with Grandma Gorzo for quite a few nights. She fed us very

well and was super helpful with Eliza.

The Danube.

The Danube 2002.

Here is a sampling of the horses, carts, and sheep on the roads.

This is Brasov; in the background you can see Biserica Neagra or

The Black Church (which isn't really black, at least not anymore).

Here's Hannah climbing a secret staircase in Castle Bran.

The courtyard of Castle Bran

At times, Hannah was a little unsure about the food,

but for the most part, it was great.

This is a view of Sighisoara, a beautiful medieval town.

Church inside the Citadel of Sighisoara.

Cemetery on top of the hill of Sighisoara.

Hannah stopped me just in time to avoid stepping on this huge snail.

Hunedoara Castle

This "selection" is for Owen.

Overlooking the city of Hunedoara.

Communist murals in the Hunedoara train station.

This is the Decsy family in Arad. My companions and I taught them in 2003.

Paul has really grown!

Look how short Paul is here, and how much he's

grown to look like his father now.

Here's another apartment where we stayed. Hannah was a little

turned-off by the bathroom-in-the-kitchen trick.

It reminded me of my apartments as a missionary.

Overlooking the sleepy village of Lipova, on the way to Soimos Citedal.

Hannah still claims that she is NOT blowing a snot rocket.

Hannah remembered Gabi's pose from my mission pictures.

Exploring the ruins.

We figure this was the main entrance. You can see the pillars that

once held up a bridge over the mote.

Eliza getting a special meal at the top of the lower walls.

Hanging out with the Fotea Family.

I served with Elder Fotea in 2002 (see below).

When we go back, we want to spend more time in Sibiu.

Check out the unique eye-shaped windows in the roof in the background.

We climbed this tower that gave me some great ideas for the

tower we'll build in our backyard someday.

It was super exciting to watch the parking police get ready to lift this car onto the truck. Unfortunately, the owner showed up in the nick of time and we didn't get to see the lifting happen.

One thing we missed was open clean floorspace to let Eliza do her own

thing own. She liked the beds just fine, though.

Check out these tulips in Titan Park.

In the background here you can see the national TV building, which was taken over by revolutionaries in 1989 to broadcast uncensored news of the revolution.

This is the same tower; I believe this picture was taken in May or June of 2002. Unfortunately we were a little too early to see the best blooms and really green landscapes that I remember from my mission.

Arcul de Triumf

Overall, the trip was exhausting.

I wanted to show Karin the sandals we found--notice

these won't give me a toe-wedgie.

Here's Eliza's traditional shirt.

It kind of makes her look like a marshmallow.