The day began with the alarm clock going off far too early (0515).
The day proceeded to take us on the metro to the train station where we promptly found our train, boarded, walked a few cars, thought we were on the wrong train, panicked slightly, and then discovered we were looking at the wrong tickets and we were in fact on the correct train. Once settled, we enjoyed the scenery as we played a few rousing rounds of Yahtzee (quite an experience on a train, I might add).
Once in Sinaia, we walked and climbed and walked and climbed up a hill toward Peles Castle. I felt terrible for the ladies with leg problems, but they were troopers! We stopped at a quaint cafe as we neared the castle for a coffee (or Coke Zero in my case) and a couple pastries (the Romanians sure do know how to make them!). We proceeded to the castle after our short break and arrived just in time to begin the English tour.
I had been to the castle last year, so I was excited, but not expecting anything different than I had already seen. Boy, was I mistaken!--but wait, let me back up. When we entered the "lobby" of the castle, we had to put little booties over our shoes. Anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand socks or shoes (especially in my current condition), so I was not looking forward to this. It was ok at first, but my foot did grow increasingly sensitive and felt a bit like a hot, tingling mess. However, the castle was phenomenal, so I proceeded to distract myself. Colette even asked how she could become queen and our guide asked if she was available tomorrow. He was quite funny! As we came upon the end of the tour, I began to turn around to head back to the entrance, but our tour guide asked if we had paid for the optional extended tour. We didn't think so (Denisa bought the tickets), but we handed him our tickets anyway to check. He told us we were ok to proceed. Pe bune? I was seriously excited. I had never seen the upstairs part of the castle. And, let me tell you what, is was AMAZING! We got to see secret doors, the bedrooms, the bathroom, a crazy huge closet, the servants quarters, and much more. We were honestly like giddy little children as we approached each room. So worth it! As the tour ended and we met Denisa outside, we told her how excited we were about the extended tour...and guess what?...she didn't even pay for it! Our guide must have just really liked us and he let us go anyway!!! So neat! Definite high!....or so we thought!
As we journeyed down toward town, we stopped at a few of the shopping stalls and bartered our way into a few nice things. Just as we were finishing up our shopping adventures, thunder roared. And when I say "roared", I mean a 747 taking its seat at the Crystal Cathedral "roared"! It was INTENSE! The drops started shortly after that, and before long we were caught in a full blown HUGE thunder and lightening storm--unlike anything we get in California. I LOVED it! We, of course, had no umbrellas, and many of us didn't even have sweaters, so we just embraced it--and laughed and yelped and laughed some more. As we were trying to look for somewhere to eat, it even began to HAIL--huge hail stones! It was crazy! We found a nice little restaurant and sat our hot mess selves down for something to eat. Seriously, I looked a wreck--see??
After lunch we headed back to the train station, but not before getting a chocolate filled pretzel (what! those things exist!?). Once on the train (no confusion this time), we played another round of Yahtzee. By the end of the game, we could hardly keep our eyes open, so we basically all passed out--well, all except Ky and RaeAnn I think. I awoke to a little Romanian child singing--loudly. And she didn't stop. The entire way home! It was seriously annoying. But, we joked amongst ourselves and tried to laugh it off.
Upon arrival, we took the metro to get some din din (as if we hadn't eaten enough already) and the bus back to the ministry center. EXHAUSTED! It's not even 9pm and we're all ready for bed!
Tomorrow we'll have children from #6 apartments with us all day. I heard a rumor that we may even take them bowling. That would be exciting! I'll let you know. :)
Thanks again for your continued prayers!
Please pray for deep connections, seeds planted, and God's name lifted high on our last two days (kills me to say that!).
Noapte buna! (Goodnight)
Isus te iubeste si te iubesc! (Jesus loves you and I love you!)
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