As the oldest of twelve children I with my sister and two brothers had a quartet. We sang and performed for many events through our years growing up. Al, was born with Glaucoma and was legally blind. He had side vision, no center vision and whatever he could see looked like shadows. A remarkable musician, he later made music his profession. Tim presently performs with a Barber Shop Group. Performing part time and singing in church has been a life long love of mine. When Pam and I get together sometimes we sing just for fun. We all have the bond of music. I love the picture below. It reminds me of how happy we were on stage making otheres happy and bringing music to their hearts.

Pam, Barb, Al and Tim

More legends of the Liar's Bridge

Kinga emailed me ( she is in one of the pictures posted below) and gave me her input on the legends of the Liar's Bridge in Sibiu. Kinga has spent a lot of time in that city. So I copied and pasted part of her message.

There are 4 legends that float around the bridge.
The first record of the bridge is from 1771 and from then on this bridge is very important to the town of Sibiu.
According to the first legend and this is the peasant legend passed on from generation to generation the bridge has magical powers and if you told a lie on it it would start to fall apart in great noise and kneel the person that told a lie literally.
According to another legend the little market place ( that we also saw ) right before you get to the bridge was a place for merchants to sell their goods. If the buyer realized that he was cheated by a merchandiser he would throw the liar off the bridge so it will be a lesson for other that come to Sibiu to sell their goods not to fool the people of Sibiu.
The most popular legend is that of the couples in love. It was told that if the girl would lie about her virginity on the bridge , after the night of the wedding her man would throw her off the bridge, of course she would not have been harmed as you saw the bridge is not that high :)))
The last legend but the one that perhaps has the most seed of truth in it sais that army man that stole the hearts of young women from Sibiu would meat with them on the bridge and promise them the sun and the moon only to let them waiting in vain the next day.

So that is about it , I don't know which one I like more, but I definitely like the idea of not lying :)

Thank you Kinga. It is very interesting.

Our Trip To Romania

Every once in a while things happen to us that are not planed. Romania! I would have never dreamed nor have I ever thought of going to Romania. What a nice surprise! I would consider it sort of an untouched part of Europe. There are tourists but it is not as though you are going to crowed touristy places in for example Italy, France, England, Ireland, or Germany. But is rich in history, picturesque, it hold images of Sheppards with their sheep, goats, cattle and horses with no fences surrounding the properties. One can not drive any place where the homes are not painted in beautiful pastels complementing each other. There are old forts or castles all over the country side built hundreds of years ago. The hotels are reasonably priced especially for Europe. We enjoyed the wonderful goats cheese, the sweet taste of the tomatoes and different blends of Romanian food. They even have their own wine country. Most of all we enjoyed the friendly hospitality of the people of Romania.

Saturday was our last day in Romania. After we left Sibiu we stopped for dinner on our way back to Brasov. Bob's co-worker recommended Albota. It is a little resort area with a restaurant and hotel snuggled right at the edge of the mountains. We drove about 15 minutes from the highway on a very rough road. I was beginning to wonder what we were getting into. Once we arrived it took my breath away. I wanted to stay but of course we had to catch a flight in a few hours. What a beautiful place! There are fishing ponds fed from the river holding trout. You can walk down the hill and pick out the fish you want to eat if you wish. It was unbelievable, the trees, the mountains and the feeling in the air! We had a delicious dinner, walked around and headed back to Brasov. If I ever go back to Romania, Albota will be a must to at least stay for a weekend.

Part of Hotel area of Albota

Outside Restaurant Area at Albota

Ponds for the fish at Albota

Kinga at Albota

Andrei and Adelina at Albota

Bob and Barb at Albota

Liar's Bridge at Sibiu Romania

The story behind Liar's bridge is that this is where proposals of marriage are made. They promise the world and when they leave the promises are broken.

Street Under Liar's Bridge

Barb and Kinga

Painting of Cip and Alexandra

While in Romania we were invited to dinner at the homes of Alex, also her mother. They live right above each other in an apartment. Alex's mother, Alex and Cip all had a hand in preparing some Romanian food. Lots of it! It was wonderful. I think I mentioned it before. My memories are still vivid of everything and the different tastes. I made a couple of little watercolor paintings for Alex and her Mom as thank you gifts. Alex loved this one and plans to frame it. Who would have known the her living room is yellow and blue.

Church Tower at Sibiu

As we walked through the city of Sibiu we came upon this church. Our group decided to climb to the top to see the views. I was not up to it and Bob said later that it would have been difficult for me because the stairs were deep and steep. Bob took the camera and now I feel as though I went with them.

View from the Church tower at Sibiu

Belinda, Kinga, Andrei, Adelina, and Ryan

Belinda, Kinga, Bob, Adelina and Ryan

I'm Back!

We returned home from Romania welcomed by the results of a flood in part of our house. We were home four days cleaning up. Then we headed for Branson Mo. for a week and continued to Chicago and Indiana for vacation. This had been planned for a long time. Upon our return home our modem and router broke. We just got it fixed and we are back in business.

I have a few more pictures of Romania before I move on. It was so beautiful that I don't want to leave anything out.

The Saturday before we caught our flight home from Romania we drove to Sibiu. It was approximately two hours from Brasov. The photos below are of the down town area.

Oh yes, we had some really bad storms last night. Bob and I cuddled in the downstairs bathroom after a tornado warning. It was so scary! We were just sure the winds were going to take our roof. It did take the siding off part of our house. The winds were 80 miles per hour. I don't think it was a tornado but there were some in the area. My fountain was broken and some minor things but we were very fortunate because it could have been worse. I guess when it rains it pours.

Fountain at Sibiu Town Square

 

Sibiu Romania Town Square