Today we were in Sighisoara for the 2nd day. We walked through the old village, which is beautiful — cobblestone steps. We went to the room of Dracula’s birth, which Max loved and I could not get him to leave. There was one “hidden” room” in particular that he adored.

Later, Max dressed up in medieval clothing and looked like an attacking Viking (although there were no Vikings here).

Finally, we visited Saschez (actually our 2nd time there since we stopped there for lunch yesterday and explored a little). We drove down a dirt road and hiked 15 minutes through the woods to an an abandoned castle we could see from the village. It’s called Castle Saschiz and was amazing!

Max’s favorite thing to do today was the Dracula birthplace room. Mine was the abandoned castle–because it is so rare to see such a place in disrepair and will so few tourists (there were only a few others wandering around when we were there).

I think Karolina’s favorite was seeing the countryside. After the castle, we drove a bit west of Saschez on something that became a dirt road. The views were amazing. Stunning greenery. A flock of cows with a shepherd.

On the way home, we drove through the modern area of Saschez: communist-style apartment buildings. Many of the people were outside mingling. Many children were at their old, all-metal playground. Rusted swings and see-saws and one of those spinner things. No plastic anywhere. No sand to break falls. I haven’t seen see-saws in America in decades, nor metal playgrounds.