Day 16 -- Seriously?!??

Seriously...I had no clue what today had in store until we were well into it. The drive to Vlad the Imapaler's castle was horrendous.  It took almost 4 hours on roads that clutched the side of the mountain with guard rails that looked insufficient at best.  They were wooden picket fences that looked like they had previously penned bunnies. The road was absolutely decrepit and with every unmarked sharp curve I feared what was ahead.  After 2 hours, a car sick kid, a crabby mom, and seriously unhappy children, we reached the halfway point where we tried to find breakfast in a small village.  We wandered into a bar/taverna where the owner smiled a lot but had no clue what I was trying to accomplish (breakfast).  I pulled up babblefish web based translation on my IPhone and asked her through the translated Romanian if we could order eggs, coffees and hot chocolate.  Huge success....we got all!

The rest of the drive was more of the same.  Twisting roads, horses everywhere, random wild dogs, broken down cars (we saw 6 in 1 minute) and loads of random cow and horse shit piles, we finally arrived at the castle.  When I saw the sign that read 1480 stairs to the top I about shit myself.  I knew it was a climb...but amost 1500 steps?!?!?!  The kids were in heaven and decided to skip the stairs and just climb the mountain on their own...1/10 th up I didn't have the breath to argue anymore.  The girls came rushing down at one point and assurrred me they had found a short cut that would reduce the climb...I will have a hard time trusting them again.  It was a climb up the hill where I was literally on my hands and kness grabbing at roots.  Seriously??!?!?!?!? 

When I finally got to the top I was out of breath and so dizzy I'm sure the people behind me thought I was drunk.  We climbed over a suspended bridge (for anyone who knows me....you know I was literally almost dying at that point) and arrived at the castle.  The views were stunning and words could never give it justice...if I wasn't worried about the shit that was sure to appear in  my underwear if I continued to look down, I would have appreciated the views much more.

We finally made our way down the mountain, with Michael, bless his little heart, by my side the whole way.  We then drove to Bucharest in extremely harsh rain that was literally flooding the highway.  After hydraplaning for the 4th time, I swore I would never rent another broken down piece of shit from 'Dollar Car' rental again.  The name should say enough.

We finally got to the the hotel in Bucharest where my intention was to explore the city a bit before our flight to Bucharent tomorrow.  Well...forget that.  We stayed in and hung at the hotel.  I declared that we all needed a little break from each other and we went to our corners.  I had a glass of wine. Michael found WIFI and facebook. The girls played on thier kindles.  Shortly after, we came together again, and now sit ready for dinner as a family...less Daddy...who we all can not wait to see in 2 days!