happy new year !

happy new year everybody ! and a great and successful 2008 , all the best and may your wishes come true !
this is the traditional food for holidays in romania. it's called "sarmale" . minced meat with spices , rolled in cabbage leafs (sweet or pickled) and boiled . served with "mămăligă" , boiled corn flour (something like polenta) , sour cream and hot peppers . and of course , red wine .
enjoy !


thank you all for visiting my blog and for your comments in 2007 and i hope i'll show more interesting faces of brasov next year .

4 sunsets

i took 4 shots one after the other , just playing with the settings of my camera . just let me know which one you like .

it seems that this winter will never end or at least slow down . still very cold , bleak , dirty snow , frost , fog ... ahhhh , i wish that 2008 will start with first of march ! and spring ...

white

... and what a white christmas it was ! and frosty ...
no special effects here , everything was covered with a white and cold blanket .
the picture was taken on the way there , some 2 km from my grandparents house , from the car . i know it's not brasov but i had to share it with you . and i have some more interesting winter shots .

after

i hope you all had a great time , a beautiful christmas with your families and friends .
mine was interesting , different , peaceful and enjoyable(most of the time) . also , it was the coldest christmas that i can remember .
thank you for all the wishes and kind words . i missed you ... hahaha ...really
this picture was taken a few days ago in front of a book shop in the old town centre . it's about traditions , traditional romanian christmas songs . (sorry it's a little blur but i was still walking)

happy holidays !

last christmas i was in singapore and for some reason it was wonderful . nothing extraordinary , but for me it was so special . now it's a good time to remember and i want to show you some of the christmas trees in singapore 2006 and my christmas dinner from last year .

oh yeah , and my "christmas tree" in a fresh picture from yesterday ... hahaha

(the big tree is in the council square)

i'll be out of town for a few days , spending christmas in the countryside so no internet and no posts . i'm sorry i didn't have time to visit and comment lately but i want to wish you all :

"Crăciun fericit !" = Merry Christmas !

"Sărbători fericite !" = Happy Holidays !

have a wonderful time together with your love ones , relax and enjoy ...

and don't eat too much ! ...hahaha ... but i know that i will

1989

today we celebrate the romanian anti-communist revolution from 1989 . it is the most important piece of romanian history after ww2 .
it's sad to remember those days . and it's sad to see that after 18 years , romania is the way it is .
life goes on and today we're busy running like crazy to buy things that we don't really need in order to show ourselves and others how happy we are .
if you want to find out more about this , read the article here

star

not so good quality but i still wanted to post it .

this is the oldest and biggest department store in brasov although i don't think is a department store anymore , it's more like a shopping centre . it's called star so it goes well with the season .

i wanted to take the picture because i saw the reflection on the car .

light poles deco

these are all the designs for the light poles decorations in brasov 2007 .

and this is the end of the night walking tour in the old town .

i hope you did enjoy all the lights lights and more lights on the streets in the centre of the old town . the rest of the city doesn't look so festive .

county council building

coming down on republic's street you get to see this view in front of the brasov county council . a lot of trees and a lot of lights .

republic's street

a very old street again . used to be called gate's street because of the old gate for entering the old town .

if the rope street is the most special , republic's is the most important street in brasov . the coolest , most crowded , most expensive , most lively . it's a pedestrian only street (the pavement was changed last year) full of shops , cafes and restaurants with some beautiful and interesting buildings , unfortunately some of them dying for a renovation . in the summer when all the cafes and restaurants have alfrescos in the middle of the street it's amazing with all the umbrellas and colors . but now , with all the christmas lights , it's also perfect for a promenade

stalls

in the council square you can find a dozen stalls to keep you busy while the kids are playing or if you're bored of looking at the christmas tree . you can find souvenirs , hot wine (4 stalls - hahaha) , kurtos kalac , gingerbread , chocolate .

the dolls are great and would be a nice present , for christmas or otherwise . they have different national costumes from several countries . you can see also the post on lara's blog from when she visited brasov click here

a traditional drink for this cold times is hot wine , boiled with spices (sugar , cinnamon ,clove , bay leaf , black pepper) , it's very aromatic and warming . a small cup like that is aprox $0.95 or 0.65 euros .

kurtos kalac is traditional hungarian but quite popular here also and is a roll from sweet dough covered with different crusts . the big one is aprox $3.25 or 2.3 euros .

council square

council square is the "heart" of the old town and the most beautiful place in brasov . a medieval germanic square , very picturesque and full of history .

there are other photos from here in previous posts and i'm very sure there will be a lot more . but now we are on a festive-lights-night-walking-tour . this month there are concerts almost every night , stalls , a lot of people to take pictures with the tree , here is where santa will come and where the countdown for the new year will be held .

muresenilor street

from the "post's orchard" and the "army's house" we turn left on "muresenilor street" going up to "council square" .

it's a very old street but the sidewalks and asphalt are only a few months old so now we can walk safely .

this was the main entrance in the old town and between 14th century and 1836 there was a gate with tower (small photo) . the street was called "custom street" because after the gate was the custom house for the traders . in 1838 they built another gate (second small photo) but only until 1891 when , because they introduced the steam tramway and the locomotive couldn't fit under the gate , they demolished it .

the tramway rails were took out in 1927 because of the traffic .

it's a short but beautiful street , full of shops and with some great buildings , unfortunately some of them in bad shape . the church is "st peter and paul catholic church" and i will have a special post for it .

the decorations are very simple , only on the light poles .

snow storm

we have to take a break from the night walking tour because last evening i felt like a kid again and i want to share it with you .

when winters are a lot of fun with lots of snow and even when wet and frozen you're happy .

we had a snow storm yesterday and it was beautiful ... hahaha . the day before was raining and yesterday in just a few hours everything changed . the second photo is taken 3 hours before the first one , half an hour after the snow started .

i was outside but , because of the heavy snowing and the strong wind it was impossible to take pictures , i took these ones from my window .

the public lighting is with orange lights here and it's perfect for the snow . actually snow is the best decoration that brasov can get , it covers the bad and ugly parts and makes the good parts even better . the air is different , the light , the sky , the streets , buildings , everything is clean , bright and warm (in a cold way of course) and a walk in the fresh snow is great .

it doesn't last long unfortunately ... btw , it's not snowing anymore , it's freezing .

central park

ok , so we are still walking ...
the central park is located between the city hall , nicolae iorga street , the army's house and heroes's street .
the park is not big , unfortunately we don't have a nice park in brasov , but it's a good place for a stop on a hot summer day .
the decorations are different here , not very nice , not very colourful , simple , but at least the park is a little bit alive .






in the second picture , in the background , you can see the army's house . usually used for concerts or weddings .












here is the end of heroes's street , the bus terminal at post's orchard (there is a previous post about this place) , in front of the army's house . this is where the road to poiana brasov begins . poiana brasov is a resort , a ski resort mostly ,the nicest and most expensive in the country , at 13 km from brasov .