Corvin Castle

Many times people ask me if there are castles and fun things to see in Romania. Of course one immediately thinks of Dracula's Castle (or Braun Castle) but today I want to show you this picture of another castle....Corvin castle. This castle was recently discovered by one of our mission couples, the Bremners. It is located not far from the city of Deva (where we do have a Branch) The castle has such a wonderful, fairytale look that I just had to share it!

This week we started our zone tour through the western part of the country. We saw a big gypsy caravan headed south for the winter. Before our mission here I always thought gypsies were a lost culture and only found in movies. So wrong! Their culture is not lost and this caravan was another reminder of how strong it is. There were probably 15 or so covered wagons traveling down the road. Pots and pans and other household goods dangle from the sides. The horses all have a bright red tassle on their bridles (a gypsy trademark); the people were bundled up in coats and the children watched the cars and people race by them. These caravans have as much right to travel down the highway as the automobiles do. I wonder as I watch them where they will settle for the winter and then what it is that brings them north again as spring comes. Romanians do not recognise gypsies as a part of their country. They are the "non-people" here and are not given birth certificates. They cannot do anything here that requires proper identification because they can't get the identification (unless they have a lot of money to pay someone to help them).

Anyway, as we travel we can see that winter is coming! We passed a wedding party but they are becoming fewer and fewer, (wedding groups walk down the streets and follow the musicians, usually accordian players. Sometimes they dance in the streets and have a ceremony where they dance in circles around some men holding up a pine tree). The storkes are now all out of their nests, the fields are dry and ploughed over for spring. The weather is colder and its getting dark earlier. The darkness makes our trips longer! I guess its all mental but it took us 10 hours to drive from Bucharest to Timisoara today and it seemed so long! However, the great thing is our zone conferences. We have six zones we travel to and we love meeting with the missionaries. They are so awesome and it is a real spiritual high to learn and be together. It makes all the traveling worth it!