With no concerts on the near horizon and a whole-ass swathe of boring winter ahead of us, Henry and I have started planning out some day trips / culture days. He found out that the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg is free (the best way to get Henry out to a museum, btw) so that’s where we headed Saturday morning after a quick stop at Pigeon Bagels for a carby breakfast.

Anyway, we were the first ones there right at opening! I love being FIRST. ME FIRST.

We spent 2 whole hours there which went by super quickly. Here is a collection of my favorite paintings and moments.

This immersive exhibit was called Steel Valley Visions. It shows the rise and fall of Pittsburgh’s steel industry.

Bambi. :(

(That was Drew’s nickname.)

!!!Obviously!!!

Then there was the cabinet full of fraktur (manuscript art of the Pennsylvanian Germans) and I had to open every single drawer much to Henry’s chagrin. I think there were about 60 drawers, lol. But there was barely anyone else there even at this point so I didn’t feel rushed and wanted to slow down and look at everything, which isn’t always a luxury you’re given at the more popular, crowded museums. Those are the ones where I get museum fatigue real quick.

Anyway, I was mostly obsessed with making fun of the art on these. It was so rudimentary! The ones with the angels looked like they were “courtesy of Mrs. Bennington’s preschool class” I swear to god. They were hauntingly bad.

And this looks like it was from the Erin Practices Lettering in 3rd Grade archives.

I REALLY LIKED THIS ONE THOUGH. According to the information book, it’s called Heaven or Hell by good old G.S. Peters.

I begged him to do this pose. You’re welcome!

I just liked the wood panel walls in this room.

This was another favorite – literally a painting of a girl stitching a button but there is so much to take in. It was also a great time to remind Henry that he has to re-sew a button on one of my coats.

FUN FACT!!! Henry lived on this street before he moved in with me. He’s being exceptionally annoying right now as I write this so I WONDER IF HE CAN MOVE BACK THERE.

The overarching theme of this museum is STEEL MILL stuff and this little station lets you play records of really cringey mill worker anthems. I was only able to get through 1 and a half songs.

This exhibit of the Florida Highwaymen landscapes had JUST opened on this day! It was by far the best part of the place and now I need to read a book or two about the Highwaymen for sure.

They even had a station set up where you could sketch out your own Florida landscape by spinning a wheel three times. I got: palm tree, sunset, clouds.

You know I was all about this activity!

Henry refused to participate.

This was hands down my ult fave of the day. I love that the background is mica flakes!! Also adding this guy to my list of artists to follow.

Oblig bathroom selfie.

The last exhibit we saw before leaving was this one by Maryam Safajoo and believe me when I tell you each and every painting and its description made me cry. These are just some of them:

And then we left to the news of Alex Pretti’s murder at the hand of ICE. Another fucking Saturday in MAGA USA.

Well, other than crying all weekend over the fascist state of America, ugh’ing at the gross amount of snow we got here on Sunday and waking up to a stomach virus at 5am yesterday (twice in three mths, how does one get so lucky?!) I have nothing to share today expect for this picture of Buddy braving the snowstorm for some walnuts – the Oh Honestly Bistro is open 24/7.

And as always, FUCK ICE.

I’m so glad that my illness wore off in time to go to the Museum of Communism because this was one of the main things I was interested in seeing in Bucharest. This will mostly just be pictures.

Also, sex is life.

Blessedly, there were not many people there when we arrived, which was kind of crazy since it was a Saturday. The museum itself is upstairs from a cafe, and it’s pretty small – one hallway and three rooms. So I imagine it can be pretty claustrophobic on a crowded day.

The museum is very interactive – you’re encouraged to flip through pamphlets, turn on TVs, TRY ON CLOTHES (my favorite part!) so it was really nice to get to do these hands-on things without feeling like we were being pushed along.

Everything was fine until this young British couple (“young” to me since I am officially old now, but probably in their early 30s?) arrived and blew past us, skipping over the entire beginning section and then forcing us to have to change directions so we wouldn’t be behind them. The girl was fine but the guy was like a super snotty Robert Pattinson and I mean that both figuratively and literally – he was arrogant and also putting his post-nasal drip on full display to the point where it sounded like it was being aired over a loud speaker. The snorting and grossly intense sniffling and swallowing and wet coughing – OH MY LORD, GO AWAY.

The two sections of the museum featured many interesting artifacts from Communist Romania, such as military things, currency, and print advertisements.

Imagine how triggered MAGA would be if they went anywhere in a foreign country and saw that the British flag denotes English and not the ‘MURICA flag. Cry about it, fascists.

Henry really loved twiddling and diddling the dials.

These glasses were ALMOST as big as I need them to be!

The next room was set up to resemble a typical house back in Communist Romania and it was neat (I can’t believe I said “neat,” GOSH*) and made it extra fun to try on Romanian women ensembles.

*(I have noticed an uptick in grown ass adults eschewing “oh my god” for GOSH lately and I am not scared to say that it gets on my motherfucking nerves. Are you OPIE? Is this MAYBERRY?? Are you LEAVING IT TO BEAVER? I literally can’t stand it. I’m sorry, but taking the Lord’s name in vain is one of the few liberties we still have left, it feels like, so PLEASE DON’T TAKE THAT AWAY TOO. Especially at work! Why are you sending me Teams responses to my enflamed tirades that say GOSH?? I’m over here on the verge of self-immolation from all the stress and unhinged ire I feel on the daily and you’re going to hit me with a GOSH? GTFO.)

Anyway, I was happy in this moment.

I couldn’t get Henry to try anything on, but I went HAD 3 WARDROBE CHANGES. I couldn’t get enough. No one else was in this room yet so I was living my best Communist housewife life.

TENNIS.

I love this graphic design so much.

Henry was said he couldn’t diddle this one. :( Also, the museum staff at that time consisted of two college-aged guys who seemed like they couldn’t have cared less if someone touched this, although the music did turn up at one point (I think Henry jiggled something, I don’t know) and they came CRUISING over from the hallway to readjust the volume.

CONFIRMED: Henry said that yes, it was him that did this accidentally. “I wouldn’t say HE CAME RUNNING though. He was already on his way in.” Mmm. That’s exactly what someone would say when they want the readers to think it was less of a deal than it really was.

:/

As I’m writing this, ICE agents are reportedly following WHITE PEOPLE into grocery stores to see if they’re buying food for their neighbors of color and then attempting to follow them home, just saying. People never thought this shit would happen here, but sadly, we have lots of dumb ass motherfuckers who voted for it.

I did NOT want to part with these glasses.

Ending on an inspirational note.

So many important and uncomfortably close-to-home lessons to learn here.

Something interesting happened. I dragged Henry to the Hollywood Theater last night to see Hamnet. Yes, I know! Crazy – Henry willingly going to see to an historical fiction book adaption. But that’s not the interesting thing.

I read this book a few years ago and got really excited when I saw that there was a film adaption because in my head, this was a 5-star read. That’s how I sold Henry on it. “No really, I read the book and it was so good, you’ll love it.”

But then the night before, I checked Goodreads and I actually gave it 3 stars (lol) which is FINE, that doesn’t mean I hated it by any means, but it made me start to remember things, like it was “too descriptive” (god forbid! I’m in a hurry!) and “too Shakespeare-y” (LOL, obviduh?). But all of that said, I do remember that it made me cry and that is how I know that on a certain level, even for my eclectic / maybe pedantic taste, it was a good book.

We get there. STILL NOT SERVING BEER. But they say next week, they should have their renewed license. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad thing that I didn’t have a beer to nurse during what would become the most emotionally fraught 2.5 hours of my most recent years.

Not a spoiler as this is LITERALLY the premise of the book/movie, but when Hamnet convulses and dies in Agnes’ arms, my tear ducts nearly blew out. I was crying so violently that I had to cover my mouth and nose with a popcorn buttered napkin in an attempt to stiff back the audible wails that were threatening to burst out of me.

I sobbed as hard as I did the day Drew died because I felt like I was watching Drew’s death on the big screen. Drew was Hamnet. I was Agnes. I was shattered.

I have dreamt of Drew here and there since she died but she has appeared more frequently over the last few weeks, in such visceral and vivid vignettes that I wake up forgetting that she’s not here anymore. In my dreams, I can touch her. I’m carrying her. (That’s how I know it’s a dream because in real life she never let me pick her up lol.)

And then I remember she’s gone and I’m losing her all over again in real time. My Bambi. My Ursula’s Shoulder Pad. My Suez.

The trauma part isn’t as prevalent anymore – therapy did help with that – but I can’t help but wonder if the recent dreams culminating with last night was supposed to happen, like I’ve been “stuck” in a grief whirlpool and this pulled the plug. Because, I’ll tell you – when the final scene happened, where Agnes goes to London with her brother and sees that William has written a play about their son, and at first she’s like this is blasphemous but then she gets it, she really sees it and understands that it was William healing through writing and acting and it helps her get closure too and for the first time since Hamnet died, shes able to smile and laugh at the memory of him.

(I am so wrecked writing this.)

And I’m wondering, does Henry need to write a play about Drew? Is this what my takeaway was meant to be?! Just kidding, That would not be a good play, lol. Everyone would be talking in one word grunts. Like if a stick figure drawing was adapted to a script.

But honestly, for as emotionally spent I feel today, I think I needed that to happen. I think I needed to let myself cry THAT HARD again because I stupidly had myself convinced that I should be “over it” by now and “shouldn’t be” crying “that hard” anymore. No.

I’m still not over it. But last night made me realize that one day it really will hurt less and I will finally be able to look at pictures of her and smile and laugh, because brother I will tell you, that is not yet the case.

My therapist and I have some things to talk about next week, clearly.

But yeah, comparing the death of William Shakespeare’s son to the death of my cat and then opening the door when grief came knocking for the second time – that was an interesting thing that happened on a relatively normal Wednesday night.

—————-

Also, before I go, Jacobi Jupe MADE this character. JFC, he wasn’t even in HALF of the movie yet his performance ran circles around Timothee Chalomet in Marty Supreme. It felt like he was actually dying and I was like NO MAYBE IT WILL SWERVE FROM THE BOOK AND HE WILL LIVE PLZ DONT LET HIM DIE I CANT DO THIS AGAIN.

ugh.

Fantastic movie. Absolutely moving performances. (Jessie Buckley was possessed AF in this role.) Stunning cinematography. I’m glad I saw it. I hope it wins more awards. I will never watch it again.

No one asked, but I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and mostly human on Saturday morning! We got a really early start to the day since it was our last day and, well, you know how maniacal I get about SAND THROUGH THE HOURGLASS and so on and so forth.

We started off the day with a subway ride! You know I’m obsessed with subways and have to ride them in every city we go to, at least once.

Henry contemplating chucking his wedding band into a gutter for probably the 8796875th time since March 26, 2024 :) I think I was in the process of mocking him as he consulted the subway map. I love mocking him, it might even be what I was put on this earth to do.

Subway!

I didn’t take any pictures on the subway because it was pretty crowded, but it was otherwise a pleasant experience! So far, anything is better than Philly and Boston as far as I’m concerned.

And Pittsburgh, obviously. Though, I will say that ours at least isn’t too downtrodden and stinky but it definitely lacks in the convenience department because it barely goes anywhere! I have said for years that if it went to Oakland, Lawrenceville, Shadyside — I’d be getting out of the house way more often because those are all places that I hate driving to (because of parking!!!).

Arcul de Triumf! This is one of the reasons why Bucharest is called Little Paris, obviously. We saw this on our first “night” in Romania when we were driving to our hotel from the airport at approx. 3:ooAM, ugh. I remember being SO EXCITED to see it in the dark though, and thinking, “OK, we are IN ROMANIA!!”

From  there, we walked to King Michael I Park, which is also the location of a Michael Jackson tribute which you might think is odd but he actually had a very big cultural impact on Romania, as he was the first Western artist to perform in post-Communist Romania, after the revolution in 1989. It was a really big deal to Romanians and I get it! Hilariously though, Michael infamously stood on a balcony during his visit and yelled, “Hello BUDAPEST” instead of Bucharest. He wouldn’t be the first nor the last to make this mistake, and Bucharest really leaned into this and made it into a cute little campaign lol:

I had packed these jeans as back-up but they were admittedly a tight squeeze pre-trip. Happy to report that all my puking had me slipping into this pair with ease, LOL. Always looking for the bright side:) But sincerely, I went home weighing three pounds less than I did when we left Pittsburgh. Love that for me.

I felt so much better on this day!

This little plaza had 12 alarmingly giant bronze domes making up the Monument to the Founding Fathers of the European Union. Very creepy to a certain extent and I liked it.

EW. Lol.

EW. Lol.

Obsessed.

I was on squirrel watch the whole time we were there, having not seen ONE SINGLE SQUIRREL anywhere in Romania! Henry saw one in this park for a split second and by the time he told me, I could only catch the tail end of it slipping into the darkened tree boughs. :(

There was quite a bit of construction going on throughout the park during the off season; I can only imagine how nice it will be in the spring and summer! I will say our last day there was probably the warmest day of the whole trip, warm enough for Henry to be like, “YAY I’M WEARING SHORTS TODAY!” I mean, I didn’t think it was THAT warm, but OK. There were lots of people out jogging and walking their dogs (lots of leashless dog-walking in Bucharest, I observed) and there was some little kid obstacle course that was being set up too. It just looked like it was going to be a really nice day at the park.

Back to the underground!

Waiting for the subway to take us back to the Old Town area so we could find food!

December 21, 1989 was the day shit really hit the fan in Bucharest and the people fought back. Timely inspiration, if you ask me. Everywhere we went in Romania, we found nuggets of hope within their history that maybe America could fucking stand up and do the same. LET’S GO, USA. The Romanian dictator at the time – Nicolae Ceaușescu – and his wife Elena were swiftly found guilty and executed ON LIVE TV ON XMAS DAY.

DARE.

TO.

DREAM.

We found this trendy little joint called Nuba Cafe and it looked like a place that would have something wholesome and healthy for me, cautiously ready to finally eat. I can tell you how I knew I wasn’t fully 100% health reactivated – just Henry saying the words, “I’m going to get the shakshuka” made me burp up just a hint of acidic bile. JUST A DROP!

In my journal, I wrote, “Henry got shakshuka which is actually so repulsive to me right now, but cook on, Henry! Only thinking of himself!” I’m such a peach :)

Similar to the place we ate in Cluj, this was also run predominately by young men who looked very bored and disinterested in the roles they were playing, like they were just killing time before the beat drop at their popcorn DJ set later that night. They made zero eye contact with anyone, barely even looked at each other, left a table of GenZers to die at a back table (they were getting SO HUFFY, too, I was eating it up), generally acted as a Romanian Service Industry stereotype.

I think this was an iced chai??

Also, what the hell was going on outside the window behind me that had Henry peering so intently,  like he’s about to buy binoculars on Amazon and have them drop-shipped to his lap?

THIS WAS PERFECT. I ate it so slowly and savored every last scrape of honey that I could finagle. NOURISHMENT. In case you were wondering, they call berries “forest fruit” in Romania and I love that lots.

Another cool-ass building.

I’m getting really sad like I’m living this last day all over again even though it was 3 mths ago at this point. Over 3 mths ago. This is absurd. This will teach me to never again leave my laptop at home while traveling.

Next on the agenda was the Communism Museum! I took a lot of pictures in there so stop by another day and we will go through those together. Aw.

January is usually my LEAST favorite month of the year, but so far so good for this 2026 version. I mean, I still absolutely abhor the weather and gray skies, but otherwise it’s been kind of OK.

After taking Chooch back to school that first weekend of the new year, I expected to be depressed – and I was. We just had such a nice holiday season with him and I know eventually it will be the norm to not have him home, but the adjustment is still on-going (at least on my side – I don’t think he or Henry care much because: men).

The weekdays are all the same, honestly. Work. Quiet evenings at home, exercising and watching brain-rot videos on YouTube. My therapist and I are having discussions of different things I can do to break out of this boring-ass routine and I think I have some ideas.

Last weekend, Henry and I went to Industry Public House because, and this is so pathetic, they have this Christmas beer that I had imprinted on. OK, let me back up: you know that I was doing that whole beer stamp-collecting rigmarole during the last few mths of 2025, right? Well, it burnt me out. It made me realize that I don’t really care about beer all that much, it was just fun to have something to do. But, do I want that “something to do” to revolve around drinking beer? Eh, no, not really. And honestly, there weren’t even any beers that I had during my Pgh Brewery Travels that made me lean back and gasp, “I can’t wait to come back here and drink this again!” I just…don’t care that much.

However! When Henry and I went to the nearly re-opened Hollywood Theater down the street to see The Cure concert film, they had a Breckenridge Christmas ale on tap and I thought, why the hell not, get me a cup of that. And DANG y’all, maybe it’s just because I now associate it with The Cure (my favorite band of all time, natch), I have been on a one-track mission to imbibe that seasonal cheer in liquid form again. It actually FELT like Christmas in my mouth. I haven’t had that happen before with a “Christmas” beer. But this one got the spices right, I guess.

That last Friday that Chooch was home, January 2nd, he and I went to the Hollywood Theater to see Marty Supreme and I will be quite frank here – one of the main reasons I suggested it was because I wanted to get that beer again LOL. But UGH, they lost their liquor license!!! In that span of like 3 weeks, it must have been lapsed when it became 2026 I guess? I didn’t really pay attention to the explanation because after the concession stand person said, “I’m sorry, we’re actually not serving alcohol—” everything after that sounded like it was being projected from under the sea.

This is a very long-winded side-bar to explain why we ended up at a random bar/restaurant in Robinson Twnshp on a Saturday afternoon in January. Bro, I was so happy though. We sat at the bar and Henry the Bitch Boy got a flight but I ordered a full pour of my Breckenridge bae with confidence and was content with that and only that. It was just as I remembered it! Plus, I liked sitting at the bar. The hostess originally sat us at a table but we weren’t planning on eating (I have to plan these things carefully because of my calorie-intake compulsion. Signed, A Blogger with Disordered Eating) plus there was a man across from us who was VIOLENTLY blowing his nose and making sick throat gurgles so I said, “Nope” and we moved to the bar where we enjoyed a peaceful sit with our beers. I was very content in case I have not already mentioned that.

The next morning, we got up early and drove out to Freeport for a cinnamon knot and croissant from Vivienne’s Bakery. Truly so delicious and worth the drive every time though it does make me sad because the first time we went to that area was for a walk during Memorial Day weekend of 2024 and Drew was still alive then so my mind always goes there. I’m trying to push through the pain! Anyway, Henry pointed out that there was fresh sourdough at the bakery so we added a loaf to our order (sourdough bread is my snack every evening after exercising in case you wanted even more detail into my incredibly exciting routine) and I can no longer eat sourdough bread from anywhere else, thank you very much. God, theirs is so good.

My dietician keeps trying to talk me into making my own sourdough which is hilarious to me because she doesn’t know me that well. I mentioned this to my therapist and she started laughing because she DOES know me on that level and knows that the real Erin would NEVER bake her own bread. I mean, maybe HENRY might want to do that but certainly not me, LOL!

Lots of cozy time with Penelope. Henry bought me a heated blanket and Penelope is the biggest fan.

Sunday night, I was watching the Golden Globes red carpet just because I wanted to see Joshua from Seventeen (!!!) but then after sitting through the whole thing, realized I was invested at that point and needed to see the whole thing through so I watched the actual award to the very end and felt like…vintage Erin. I used to eat this shit up and would have to race around town during awards season, making the rounds in an effort to watch all of the nominated movies. It was fun to see some things win that I had actually watched, like Timothee Chalomet for Marty Supreme, Kpop Demon Hunters (save your Negative Nancy comments, they won’t get approved), Adolescence….I can’t remember if there was anything else I actually had seen.

I realized though that I was getting really excited while watching this, like I used to as a younger version of myself, and maybe I should start going to the theater more often. Even before this, I had planned on going to see Hamnet at the Hollywood Theater on my own this week because I read and loved the book and had made the promise to support my local theater more actively. But maybe instead of sitting here every night watching people scream on YouTube while doing food reactions, or making fun of travel vloggers who mispronounce names of things in South Korea, I could start watching more movies and then also that would give me something to bond with Chooch over since he is so movie-focused that I had to buy him an AMC membership.

My therapist loves this idea. I think so many people fixate on finding “new” interests but isn’t it OK to revisit old ones? Surely that counts.

Penelope dares you to disagree.

Last week, I had to go back to the gum doctor so he could check on the work he did on me last month. I absolutely love that doctor. I mean, I don’t love that I have gum issues that require me going to the dentist extra times a year and the occasional visit to the periodontist, but at least he is a great guy and makes me feel like a person and not just a patient.

Anyway, Henry drove me there and on the way back, we stopped at this newish cafe on Library Road called Pour Johnny’s which has a logo that looks REMARKABLY like the Monopoly guy and I honestly don’t know how they get away with that, but OK.

I don’t know if this lady was the owner – I feel like she was – but the barista on duty that day was SO FRIENDLY. And not even in a fake way, but effortlessly natural. Like, I could have been having the worst day ever and I feel like being in her presence would have healed me at least to some degree.

I got a chai latte (I am HUGLEY picky with these, btw, and there are only approx. 2 places in this city that makes them to my taste) and Henry got an iced caramel latte. As we walked out with our drinks, I said to him, “This can taste like hot dirt and I would still go back because that lady was so fucking delightful.”

Then I took a sip and as expected, it was the kind of chai that I do not like, so I just laughed and said, “I should have started out with a coffee drink, I guess.” But I had already had two cups of coffee at home and wanted something different! I tasted Henry’s latte and it was really good though, so now I know to just avoid the chai latte if/when I return (she gave us a punch card and they sell baked goods from Brown Bear so I think it’s safe to say we will be back).

Penelope says FUCK ICE, thank you very much.

In other weeknight news, Chooch convinced us to start watching The Pitt because he binged it all week long and loves it. I will admit that hearing Lisa (from Blackpink, god forbid that Kpop nonsense bleeding into the mainstream so forcibly that now – GASP – Kpop idols are presenting at the Golden Globes /sarcasm) namedrop our city of Pittsburgh when referencing The Pitt while presenting at the Golden Globes made me feel actually excited (Kpop tours never come to Pgh so I always just assume that no one from that side of the world knows that we exist). “Pittsburgh” coming out of THE Lisa’s mouth! I don’t care for hospital shows but it definitely piqued my interest.

I couldn’t make it through the first 10 minutes of the first episode, LOL. I thought it was so boring and cringey! The writing was….so weird?? So cheesy? But then Chooch was like, “No, you must give it another try” so we have since watched two episodes and it’s OK. I will continue but I’m not totally convinced or captivated. Also, I don’t have hometown pride that much either so the fact that it’s based on a hospital in Pgh doesn’t add much value for me.

One thing I will say is that it extremely graphic. Chooch knows my aversion to gore so warned me. “You’re going to spend a lot of time looking away,” he texted and boy howdy, was he correct. I have to look away so often that I tell Henry to not even pause it and use those moments to get a water refill or take a bathroom break.

Friday night, Henry and I were watching one of my favorite vloggers at the Stray Kids concert – wholesome, pure content – when suddenly it switched over to the scene from 127 Hours where James Franco is AMPUTATING HIS OWN FUCKING ARM. Blood and gore filled the screen alongside screaming and flesh sounds, and I almost passed out. I texted Chooch immediately: DID YOU DO THAT??

Turns out, he was trying to show his friend Mason “the worst scene ever” and somehow connected to my YouTube at home, hijacking my WHOLESOME AND PURE KPOP CONTENT. Oh, it was a whole frenzied episode here at the OHE Headquarters.

Chooch swears he did it accidentally and I actually do believe him, but this is totally something that he would also do ON PURPOSE!!

On Saturday, Henry and I went to see No Other Choice at the theater and it was REALLY GOOD. Always happy when foreign films get screen time in the States.

Also let’s recognize that Henry has grown as a person from the time we started dating back in tbe 00s (lol) because he used to go see foreign films with me kicking and screaming and now he’s like SUBTITLES RULE.

Later that night, our friends Brittany and Todd came over for a pizza hangout and it was SO GOOD. I keep saying I want to have friends over more often now that we’re empty nesters but then complacency sets in and I don’t do anything about it. But this time, I made the plans and we ordered pizza from Fiori’s (my local favorite that I actually haven’t had in years). It was the first time visiting our house for both of them and it was exciting to show them around!

I have to say, they are on the short list of people that Henry actually effortlessly engages with and I love that. Usually, Henry will just sit in the background and not talk but it’s not like that with Todd and Brittany. I love them and btw they are engaged now so this is all very exciting!

I think that about catches me up on here! I mean, I still have Romanian recaps to write but that’s another story. :/

*(Just a reminder that it was now Friday, late afternoon.)

Old Town seemed to be the best bet for food so we stayed there and started scoping out menus. I know this is wildly annoying and invasive for some travelers, but I loved that there were girls stationed outside of every restaurant, trying to entice people to choose their spot. They almost always started with, “Hello, you can sit here, have a coffee…” I don’t know, I appreciated their verve.

We ended up choosing a very trendy, Instagrammable place called Old Habits. I really liked the girl who lured us in (don’t tell her, but we had already looked at the menu and decided to eat there) because she had this really cool, IDGAF attitude. She kept going back over to her little customer-fishing podium, looking at her phone, smoking a cigarette, and drinking (I’m pretty sure) beer. I love Romania, you guys. I love it.

Honestly, all the spots in Old Town looked so cozy and cute. But it was the mismatched pillows, hot air balloon decor, and neon that swayed me. I still didn’t have much of an appetite but Henry kept asking, with the strained hope-tinged tone of a boy asking if dad was ever going to come back, “Are you going to want to eat at some point today? Maybe? Yes? No? Dot dot dot question mark?”

Oh, this area was a whole-ass vibe. Especially when some old lady randomly brought over tropical birds for people to hold? While they were eating? And I’m sure for a fee, as well? That felt kind of questionable, but you know, Romania.

Wow. OK. Henry actually posted this on Instagram. Romania changed him.

The one thing that I remember vividly about this moment is that there was a halloumi burger on the menu and it sounded like something I would have beasted on a normal day, but I was terrified of ordering it. So I got some kind of plain tomato penne.

I only ate about 1/4 of it because almost immediately after our (super sweet, btw) server set it in front of me, my stomach was like, “Yo, we’re still not alright in here, remember??” as my body was internally doing the Lord’s work trying to protect me from whatever virus was ping-ponging around my intestinal tract.

Actually, even just looking at this….yeah, I feel super burpy, lol.

Henry ended up eating all of his food (he got mici and I would love to thank him for that, loved sitting across from those meat sticks) and mine. The server was so upset when she came out and saw how much I had left. “Oh, no! You didn’t like it?” she asked, all concerned type shit. I told her that no, I did like it (I really did) it was just too much. She admitted that she asked the chef to give me extra since I don’t eat meat. Seriously! What a sweet person. If you’re in Bucharest, go to Old Habits. They are nice there and while I can’t speak very much on the food since I was in a state, Henry says his mici was delicious.

Then we walked back to the room to drop off the honey and wine (for Sue!) we bought at the farmers market thing. I was so sick from eating lunch when I clearly wasn’t ready to resume eating anything more substantial than crackers. I passed out in bed for about 45 minutes and then felt renewed enough to walk to the Parliament building.

(When I say I am the most stubborn sick person, you guys, I mean it. Nothing gives me FOMO more than being sick. I will forever be the one kid mouse in Secret of Nimh – TIMOTHY!!! – who is sick and watching his siblings play outside with the most forlorn expression.)

Bro. This building. It’s actually so much more impressive IRL.

Some facts from the Visit Bucharest website:

• the largest administrative building (for civil use), as confirmed by the Guinness World Records Book
• the 3rd place worldwide by its volume
• the heaviest and the most expensive building in the world

Apparently, the dictator at the time – Ceaușescu – got the inspiration for this building after a trip to North Korea.

These birds were so effing cool – like a cross between a pigeon and a crow.

I was in poor condition, guys. Just looking at these pictures, I can remember how weak I felt at the time while still wanting to see everything and take it all in. Bucharest!

Honestly though – this building was stunning to look at it. You can also take tours inside but that was not something I felt up to doing. I needed to be outside in the fresh air.

The Vlad Tepes Fountain!

I started to feel SICK and needed to sit down. We found a nearby bench and it happened to be right near a cafe so I thought, you know, maybe I needed caffeine since I hadn’t had any coffee at all that day. The cafe was called The Coffee Shop Constitutiei and interestingly also serves whiskey.

Henry got me a matcha latte and it only made me feel worse. Sigh.

I don’t know what he got – flat white, maybe? – but I liked the frog!

We made our way back to the room after this and stopped at Mega Image to get laundry detergent and snacks to bring home for Chooch, then went back to the room where I violently puked up my pasta and then felt great! And thank god because we had a really nice time exploring the area at night, and this included me buying some things at a gift shop manned by a very apathetic man. I bought magnets and a cute little handmade box to keep Romanian coins in, but there was a whole section of RELIGIOUS things that I was salivating over and Henry’s response was to FROWN.

We had to walk by this building every time we went to the Old Town section. I was obsessed with it.

Another Cure poster sighting!!!

This is the CEC Palace looking handsome AF at night. (I think this is actually a bank now??)

Zlătari Church. I bought a really pretty green bracelet here, in case you were wondering. If a church has a gift shop, bet on me spending money.

University Square.

We saw some lady holding a bouquet of flowers completely wipe out on the sidewalk – I don’t know if she was drunk or if she tripped, but she went all the way down and I had a moment of paralyzed panic where I felt like I should help but couldn’t get myself to kick into hear. Luckily, two other people helped her up so I said, in my signature socially awkward robotic monotone, “Oh no” and we continued on our way.

We passed this brewery called Ground Zero and I was feeling OK still so told Henry to go ahead and get a beer. I didn’t feel THAT GOOD though so I decided to stick with something non-alcoholic and just got a Fritz. Henry wanted to get a flight but some dumb guy in front of us ordered like 8 flights for his group so they didn’t have any of the glasses left. The bartender was super nice and apologetic about it but it wasn’t his fault!

Henry got the Amber Guerre, a red ale. I checked it in on Untappd and apparently liked my tiny sip enough to give it a 4.

Russian Church. We started to go in but there was mass going on and I panicked so we left lol. I am easily susceptible to recruition.

We walked past this place and I was OBSESSED with that back wall so I had to take a picture. It’s called Drunken Lords and is also a music venue. Sadly, my FRITZ COLA was making me about to vomit again so we had to make it an early night and start walking back to our room at 9PM, so lame. And on the way back, Henry kept pointing out street food places and beer and I was like, “CAN YOU NOT.”

I’m glad I was able to get out and do SOME things but I can promise you that there were so many other things I had wanted to do and just couldn’t. What can you do, though? At the end of the day, I was still there, in actual Bucharest (!!!), and that is what matters the most to me.

Here’s the daily video compilation!

She sent me four cans of G-Dragon’s limited edition Peaceminusone highballs! They were only just released in the US after debuting last spring in Korea and of course, there is nowhere even remotely close to Pittsburgh that is stocking them. But Veronica lives in LA and was able to snag a case of both the black and red versions and sent me two of each, plus stickers!!!

I actually screamed, I’m not even going to lie. You can ask my cat Penelope. I stopped everything, nearly sliced my hand with a knife while savagely carving the box open, and then immediately took pictures to send to Henry and Chooch. Chooch of course just said, “Wow. Good job” because he is so over my Beatles-level mania for G-Dragon.

I mean, honestly, G-Dragon could put his name on a rock and I would set an alarm to wake up at 3AM in order to join a queue to try to buy one, and then pay more in shipping than I paid for the actual item without even hesitating because GD got me like that. He makes me stupid. Er.

Stupider.

Margie the Bad Influence told me to just crack one open right then and there while I was still logged on to work but I had restraint. Mainly because I wanted to wait for Henry. We decided to save it until tonight and I thought about it all day because I am so lame!

We just tried the black can for now.

First of all, the tab is so cool – I love that it pulls off in a circle! And there is a real lemon slice inside!

OK look, it could taste like actual squirrel piss and I would have rated it on a 5 on Untappd, but this was genuinely delicious. Crisp and refreshing, lemon-y and fizzy. It actually gave me Smirnoff Ice vibes, a little bit? And if you knew me in, say, 2000, you know that was my drink of choice at McCoy’s and at home, which was obvious if you see pictures of me back then with my big bloated face.

This has a French burgundy Sauvignon Blanc base so it feels fancier than a Smirnoff Ice, for sure. Plus, the power of GD’s branding.

I’m excited to try the red one next, maybe this weekend!

God, I love G-Dragon so much. Thank you, Veronica! I am always so grateful for our paths crossing on Instagram all those years ago. <3

(Obvi I have to keep the cans and do art with them.)

We left our guest house in Brasov on Friday morning and began our 3ish hour drive to Bucharest. The final city on our weird honeymoon road trip! It was sad though because it also meant leaving the Transylvania region. And also, it meant being in the car while still half-sick, aren’t you so thrilled this portion of the trip is still on-going. You know, I’m really wondering if I had norovirus.

Before we leave though, I had to stand on a sidewalk with all the luggage while Henry walked the mile or so away where he parked the car, and I’ll be real with you – I wasn’t feeling so hot. I hadn’t puked at all that morning but I was still squeamish at the mere sight of food, so imagine how stoked I was still be standing next to a truck making a potato delivery.

But…better than fish, I guess.

We saw this cemetery on the road! The geotag on my photo says it was from Sinaia, which is the area where Peles is. I forgot we had to drive back out that way in order to get to Bucharest.

To be honest, I slept for most of the drive there which is how you know I was sick because I am usually like if Aerosmith wrote “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” for a passenger princess on a road trip.

The hallway of our apartment for the next two nights! It had a tiny, rickety elevator and I loved it. Still sickly but smiling!

This apartment was very cozy and clean. And it had a washer so Henry was like YES, LAUNDRY TIME! MY FAVORITE!

He’s so weird. And domestic.

Ofc I had to add my name to the chalkboard wall! I lit up like a Kindergartener peeling glue off their fingertips in art class when I saw it and immediately went on the hunt of the chalk.

We had a little enclosed balcony and this was the view from it. (It also had a lilac Eyfel diffuser in there and I was determined at this point to finally go to one of the shops and buy some.)

The first thing on our agenda was to just basically get out and poke around while also walking to a post office so I could – GOD FORBID – buy stamps for my postcards. This has to be on Henry’s list of Reasons Not to Travel with ERK – being one of the only surviving postcard senders left on earth which means we are always having to find post offices in foreign places.

Sometimes in the US too! We had a bitch of a time finding a place to mail my post cards in Iowa and this was with me PRE-PLANNING by buying postcard stamps AT HOME before we left! (Actually, I made Chooch go to the post office for this and he was so annoyed.)

Anyway, no surprise here but Bucharest was way different than any of the places in Romania we had previously explored. I mean, obviously it’s the capital so it’s already going to have that gritty, urban vibe to it and the Communist / Bauhaus architecture was popping. I personally found it beautiful and unique but apparently travelers complain about it?

Fun fact is that Bucharest is known as Little Paris. It has been A LONG ASS TIME since I was last in Paris (literally mid-90s) but I didn’t really get that feeling? It’s also been A LONG ASS TIME since I’ve been to Berlin but if I had to compare Bucharest with a Euro city I’ve been to, it would be Berlin.

We spent most of our time in Old Town, I would say. It was really close to where we were staying and just had a really cool vibe to it. Yes, full of tourists but not overwhelmingly so. (Consider the season!) We had to pass through here on the way to the post office, so we also popped into the famous Cărturești Carusel bookstore that EVERYONE GOES TO when they visit Bucharest. It is so prevalent in all of the “things to do in Bucharest” travel vlogs that it very quickly turned Henry averse to it and he did NOT want to go.

I have to say you guys – I was very underwhelmed. I mean, it was pretty at its core but it wasn’t anything to LITERALLY write home about? Just a book store. However, I do need to mention that A SONG FROM BLOODFLOWERS was actually playing inside there and I NEVER hear songs from that Cure album, especially out in the wild. And that is one of my favorite Cure albums too. I took a quick video, of course, so that will be posted later once I compile all my clips from this day.

(And yes, we found the post office!)

This was the square outside of the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development where a farmer’s market type thing was going on. There were so many different stands with local honey and I was like I NEED TO GET HONEY FROM ONE OF THESE PLACES but it was so hard to choose.

Also, there were so many food stalls but I wasn’t ready to eat yet :( I wanted Henry to at least enjoy the cheese samples but he was being SO WEIRD about it and said he didn’t want to ask for samples when he knew he wasn’t going to buy any cheese. Like, wow, much martydom.

I did end up getting honey from here – a whole cute set of it – and I think I already wrote about this when we first came home but it got taken by TSA at the Dulles airport because of a checked bag that ended up getting UNCHECKED because we were put on a different flight and then they wouldn’t let us recheck it and LONG STORY SLIGHTLY TRIMMED, my carry-on was routed over to the SUS LANE and the TSA agent (super nice guy, at least) was like, “I’m so sorry but I have to take this unless you go back and check in your bag” and we were like, “We tried that” and then honestly the clock was ticking, we were already cutting it close, so I was like ENJOY THE ROMANIAN HONEY MY GUY and we left it there. :(

Literally we have the worst luck with these things, even when we initially do it the right way.

The fact that the TSA agent was actually nice and treated us like human beings made me less mad though, for sure. I know it was probably just thrown out but in my imagination, he took it home, smeared it on some toast, and shared it with his neighborhood squirrels while wondering if I made it home safely. (He was kind of cute, OK??)

Korean market!

And by this point, it was mid-afternoon and Henry was like, “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE OK TO EAT” like just say it bro, I’m ruining your life by being sick! Anyway, we’ll talk about lunch in the next post because I have blogging fatigue. :(

December books coming atchoo.

1. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I actually read this on the last day of November and somehow forgot to include it in that wrap-up.  Mostly, I wanted to see what a John Green book is like as an (older) adult and this was pretty insufferable to get through if we’re being real here. Also, it did not age well.

2. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

I generally hate books about tech (and now, AI) but this one was pretty compelling and thought-provoking, revolving around a fatal car accident that may or may not have been caused by the autonomous minivan driven by a teenager with his whole family in tow.

3. A Perfect Union of Contrary Things by Sarah Jensen

OOOoooof. I love MJK and all of his projects but this was book was such a snooze. I get that he’s good friends with the broad who wrote this but perhaps it would have been interesting in someone else’s hands. I couldn’t wait for this to end.

4.Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Henry and I listened to this audiobook on the drive home from Chicago and both had the same reaction: “That’s it?” It reminded me of a line from a Cure song, “And wait…and wait….and wait for something to happen.”

5. We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls, #1) by Karin Slaughter

This book was so long, and for what.

File under: if you read one, you’ve read them all.

6. The Stranger by Albert Camus

I just REALLY was invested in that fucking dog.

It reads like a flat line. Despondent and devoid of feeling, just like how it feels living in present day America.

I’m depressed.

7. The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

It was no Raven Boys, but it’ll do. I never really fully grasped the concept of the magic (?) water. There were some real characters up in that hotel  though!

8. A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

LOVED IT. Charming. Cute. Memorable characters. Fun concept. Snazzy cover. Let’s go, Ashley Poston! I adore her and this was just the light-hearted read I needed during the stress of the holiday season.

9. The Cold House by A.G. Slatter

Short and scary! I really enjoyed this one – it was funny and dark, with an ending that I did NOT see coming.

10. My Train Leaves at Three by Natalie Guerrero

Maybe I’m the wrong demographic for this one. I thought it was just OK because I’m not a struggling 20-something singer using sex as a coping mechanism. I love the cover colors though.

11. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

OK this one is wildly popular and hyped, and I LOVED this author’s last book, but this one was so. fucking. boring. “…a thrilling drama unfolds.” – BITCH, WHERE? All those POVs for what?? Not one compelling character. I didn’t care if the missing kid was ever found, to be honest.

12. Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham

I generally like Stacy Willingham but this was a miss for me. One should not be bored when reading a thriller.

Wow, and that concludes my 2025 book wrap-up. I will maybe come back with a list of my faves. It feels like I didn’t have very many this year but maybe I’m just a bitch who needs medication, who knows.

This Brasov wrap-up is going to be a quick one since I spent a good bit of time crashed out in the room. :( Henry went out while I was sleeping and bought me a ring that I had been eyeing the day before. Can you believe it? He actually paid attention. I know, I’m just as stunned as you are.

Anyway, I woke up around 5 and was in no shape to go out but I am so stubborn and didn’t want to waste any more time in that room! Plus, my EVERY PEN I brought with me from home had run out of ink from all of my obsessive journaling, so I wanted to at least go out and buy a new pen.

And that’s pretty much all we did on our last evening in Brasov – walked around and shopped while I avoided making eye contact with all of the food we were passing along the way. :(

(According to my vacation journal, I only slept for 2 hours so I guess not too much of the day was wasted unless you count the zero time we spent in Viscri earlier that day, ugh.)

Hilariously, we went to so many souvenir shops in Brasov looking for pens (I’m picky), but Brasov ended up being the one place I didn’t buy a magnet. I still have no idea how I managed that! Wait a failure.

There were many times when I had to sit down on a bench while Henry went into shops on my behalf before I started feeling kind of….burpy. You know how what I mean.

In one of the souvenir shops, there were these wooden vampire things that looked JUST LIKE ROBERT SMITH, even Henry was like, “Why does that look like Robert?” so ofc I had to buy one. I even sent a picture to Chooch who is the #1 naysayer in my contacts, but he too agreed!

Apparently, there was some older broad that Henry kept running into when I was dead in the room, and then we kept seeing her when I was with him too – she was kind of Joan Rivers-y, and I made some comment about her after we ran into her for like the 8th time and it turned out I was fixated on someone entirely different because I didn’t see who Henry was originally pointing out and that’s very on brand for our “marriage.” Rarely on the same page, etc.

I just asked him what else he did while I was dying back in the room. Here is his recap:

“I walked around and got food.”

WOW, COOL.

He thinks he got a pretzel from somewhere. And he got “um, a hotdog?” that was like “inside some kind of pastry that wasn’t very good.”

Then he got something to drink and just walked.

Thrilling! Thanks for the filler, Henry.

He just said that there were two people who tried to get him to buy them food at both places?? He said they stood next to him until he got to the window and then they pounced.

I just asked if they were together and he said no – one was at one place, and one was at the other place. One was an older maybe unhoused man and the other was a kid.

Henry tells the worst stories. Do not ever try to interview him, he will fucking enrage you with his vagueness.

Another highlight for me was seeing this young woman singing and playing the violin – she reminded me so much of my old law firm friend Kaitlin and her songs made me tear up, they were so emotional. (I have some footage at the end of the video that will be at the bottom of this post!)

Also, buying this beautiful Romanian sweater from a boutique and praying that I didn’t puke in the fitting room. (I didn’t.)

Then, and this was so dumb, can you believe my stupid ass was like, “Let’s split an ice cream.” What the actual fuck, Erin. Granted, as I mentioned in an earlier Romanian post, when you get a “small,” it’s ACTUALLY small. Like, the tiniest little scoop because non-Americans don’t need to gorge themselves. So, I thought, OK we’ll get a small and I’ll just take a bite. Yo, I threw up as soon as we got back to the room, LOL.

I can’t even remember what flavor we got. I blacked it out of my mind.

We did do a fair bit of walking that night though because of course I pushed myself. You know I must have been sick though if I only took three pictures the whole time.

And then I remember waking up numerous times throughout the night to puke some more. Yay, vacation vomit!

Brasov, you were amazing though. I hope I can go back someday!

Here’s the video from Thursday, October 16, 2025. Next up: 2 days in Bucharest!

Haven’t done one of these in a minute. Here we go.

1. FUCK ICE

2. FUCK ICE

3. FUCK ICE

4. F   U   C   K        I   C   E

5. FUCK ICE

After leaving Bran on an empty stomach, I was starting to feel weird. Instead of going back to Brasov, the plan was to head over to a small village called Viscri which was close to a 2 hour drive. Viscri is an off-the-beaten path village known for its local artisans, farm-to-table meals at small restaurants, and for being a quiet place to stay in a guest house and experience slow living. It’s claim to fame is being the object of affection of King Charles, who owns a cottage there and advocates for the preservation of Viscri’s heritage and architecture by serving as a cultural ambassador. I was really looking forward to seeing this place especially because it doesn’t seem to be a known tourist attraction (yet). I was really excited to come here, stroll around and look at nature, buy some Romanian pottery and WHAT HAVE YOU. We were originally going to make reservations at one of the guest house restaurants but then decided against it, and well, good thing….

Since we weren’t going to be eating lunch there and I wasn’t sure if there would be snacks readily available, I had Henry buy me a pastry at a gas station.

It was cheese and raisins. It seemed fine.

But then I started to get SICK. I don’t get car sick very often at all – I’m the type of person who can read books and write in vacation journals in moving vehicles with no issue, so when I started to feel green, I immediately blamed it on the 3++++ servings of espresso I had early that morning. Maybe it was starting to hit me since I hadn’t eaten anything substantial in the meantime?

By the time we arrived to Viscri and parked, I was cooked. I didn’t even think I had it in me to get out of the car, but I pushed myself and then we had to walk quite a ways through the woods in order to get to the area where all the shops and houses are. It was here that I started shaking uncontrollably because I was freezing.

It wasn’t cold.

This was THE SICK SHIVERS.

I was basically panting too, all worn out from the slow stroll when I am basically a profesh ambler so you tell me – was I sick or nah.

All of the guest houses and shops are numbered.

Eventually, the path spilled us out in between some houses, one of which was a shop full of local wares. Thank god, because I wasn’t sure how long I was going to last and I at least wanted to buy a thing.

I could barely even stand up at this point and felt so miserable in this shop. I can promise you that had I felt like myself that day, I’d have spent $$$ in that bitch because it was full of exactly the type of rustic Romanian pieces I had been gunning for. But instead, I feebly pointed to a coffee mug and whispered faintly to Henry, “Get me this one, I have to go outside and die now.”

It was pathetic. I could barely even hold my head up and felt like I was going to spew my guts all over this precious pottery. There was a bench outside and I parked my sick ass down immediately and put my head in my hands.

Henry came out with my mug and I said, “I’m not going to make it, Henry. We have to go. NOW.”

I was still trying to take pictures though! Even though I had double-vision and had to do weird lamaze-type breathing except instead of trying to expel a human, I was trying to plug in the vomit.

DOG! A bright spot in my “AM I GOING TO FUCKING DIE IN ROMANIA???” freakout.

The color palette of Viscri, though.

This was truly such a long walk back to the car.

I took this while popping an emergency squat on the way back to the car because I really thought I was about to barf.

But don’t worry! I saved that for when we were about 5 minutes out of Viscri and Henry had to veer off onto the side of the road and frantically fish for a plastic gas station bag in the backseat, into which I violently vomited for what felt like a solid 10 minutes but I don’t think it was that long in succession lol.

The bag was red, btw. And actually very small. I will never forget that bag.

Unfortunately.

This was also the first time I even puked in the car that I can remember at least! There was a time when Janna was driving me home from a bar after I quit Weiss’s the first time, and I was so trashed that she had to pull over so I could puke in someone’s yard.

But this! This was some kind of bug. I thought maybe at first it was food poisoning, but it took me out for the entire rest of the day, part of the next day, and I wasn’t able to actually start eating without puking / feeling immediately nauseous until two days later. Our last day in Romania, LOL. Yay me!

I remembered watching this one travel couple on YouTube and the wife got super sick in Romania so I googled it and it’s actually quite common I guess? It’s one of the places where you’re not supposed to drink the water and I definitely didn’t, so I have no idea what I ended up having but you’ll be thrilled to know that Henry remained 100% unaffected. Because of course.

I ended up passing out in the car for most of the drive back to Brasov, puking again when we got back to the room, and then sleeping for pretty much all afternoon into the early evening.

I was too fucked to even be upset that I was missing out on doing Romania things. Like hiking to the top of the Brasov sign, which is what we were planning on doing when we got back from Viscri. :(

Oh well, here’s my mug!

I feel like this is the one thing most people know about Romania – “Dracula’s Castle.” I am really phoning it in, I know, but here is what Wiki says:

Marketed outside Romania as Dracula’s Castle, it is presented as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker‘s novel Dracula (1897). There is no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle, which has only tangential associations with Vlad the Impaler, voivode of Wallachia, whose byname ‘Drăculea’ resembles that of Dracula. Stoker’s description of Dracula’s crumbling fictional castle also bears no resemblance to Bran Castle.

Some of the more negative travelers will tell you that this is nothing more than a tourist trap and I would have to vehemently disagree. Take the whole Dracula element out of it and this is still a legitimate piece of medieval history. It was built in the 1300s for God’s sake! It contains art and furniture curated by Queen Marie but even if the whole Castle was empty, I’d still want to go there. It is so old! And so eerily perched upon a hill!

I do apologize, but this is going to be a big photo dump because I was acting like a kid in Japan who was given her first Nikon and unlimited rolls of film. I wanted to snap every nook and cranny, but I did find some restraint, I promise.

Henry booked us the full package (wow, spend it daddy) for once, opting to go for the guided tour with “skip the line” plus the optional torture chamber and Queen’s elevator thingie at the end. I didn’t care about all that shit but was happy that we had the skip the line thing because this place gets crowded and fast. We were the first people at the gate though! One lone traveler joined us after a bit and I was quietly laughing to myself because he also looked like a coaster thoosie so it was making me feel like we were waiting for a theme park to open and not freaking Dracula’s Castle in Romania.

Our guide’s name was Mihnea and I will be honest and say he was not giving docent. If I had to guess upon meeting him on the street, I would think he was part of the Romanian Intelligence Service of whatever is more secret than that, even. He was all in black and super mysterious with just a touch of “possibly a vampire.” I didn’t get any pictures of him but he’s possible in some of the video I recorded that day.

This was before the official tour started. We had to walk up the long and steep walkway with Mihnea and then he had us wait here for him while he did BTS tour guide stuff or attend to some secret government espionage thing. WE DIDN’T ASK.

Did you know that Vlad the Impaler never even lived in this Castle? Although it’s alleged that he may have been held prisoner there at some point.

I also find it interesting that while the rest of the world associates Vlad with Dracula and considers him a veritable monster, he is regarded as a national hero in Romania and I love that.

In modern times (aka the 1900s when I was born), Queen Marie lived here until her death in the 30s (who reads this thing for exact dates, anyway?), and then her daughter, Princess Illeana, was driven out in the 40s by the Communist regime and a decade later, the Castle was opened to the public as a museum.

JUST A LITTLE HISTORY FOR YOU.

Coat of Arms.

A window.

Oh! Through that doorway is the famous super steep and narrow staircase that E V E R Y T R A V E L Y O U T U B E R records. And yes, your girl also recorded the ascent, LOL.

Our guide told us to watch our heads at the top and then the lone tourist who looked like a coaster thoosie totally thwacked his forehead REAL HARD and I felt so bad but also had to turn around quickly because I was afraid I was going to start laughing.

The view out of every window was so on point. Probably not back in the day when flaming arrows were headed straight for you though. Just my guess.

You guys, in every single video or picture I’ve seen from people touring this place, the courtyard and walkways have been PACKED with poeple. But since we were FIRST! there was NO ONE ruining our shots! Definitely worth getting there early on a weekday.

Mihnea scolded some woman who started to encroach on our area while he was taking our picture. Worth the extra price of getting the guided tour! Don’t fuck with Mihnea!

That’s the town of Bran down there.

Sorry, I was obsessed with these old ass shingles. Don’t mind me.

Family tree.

Of course, they do play into the Dracula bit by having several little exhibits related to Dracula in media/pop culture and also the origin of vampire lore in Romanian culture, as well, more specifically Strigoi. 

I learned about strigoi from my old Darkchat friend, Cinn, in case anyone cares.

A group of middle-aged American women pushed their way in front of us in this room and Mihnea was like “Oh hell nah” and made an exasperated throat noise because they were talking so loudly while he was trying to do his spiel.

ALWAYS THE AMERICANS.

You guys, Princess Illeana gave up being a royal, turned into a nun, and died in ELWOOD CITY, PA! That’s not too far from us! We were like, “OMG WE HAVE TO GO AND SEE HER GRAVE” and of course have not made it there yet. Maybe this weekend?! I just thought that was a really cool semi-Pittsburgh connection.

Maybe this castle isn’t as grand as Peles, but I loved every inch of it.

Shingle Time!

TORTURE CHAMBER TIME! Mihnea waited outside of it for us, LOL. I was glad to be in there just the two of us so I could hoarsely whisper vile and depraved threats to Henry.

WINDOWS IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER. (It actually wasn’t a torture chamber per se but just the section of the castle where all the various torture devices were displayed. God forbid I should give inaccurate information!)

I kept trying to push Henry inside of this, LOL. Why the smiling face, tho???

Some lady was very sweet and took these pictures for us outside of the gift shop. She was either American or Canadian and pounced as soon as she saw me attempt to take a selfie of us. Super nice lady!

Then we bought a bunch of shit in the gift shop (Henry even bought a Bran Castle hat, LOL, dork) and parted ways with Mihnea as we had reached the end. Since we bought that extra elevator experience thing, we got to leave by going down the elevator that Queen Marie installed so she could have easier access to the Royal Gardens. Of course the current elevator has some Dracula-y video show playing in it which is kind of corny but also – when in Romania, right? It deposited us in this underground walkway thing that was lined with video screens showing different scenes of Vlad and vampire history in Romania. I thought it was really cool, actually, but there was this couple that came down right after us and they blew past all of that and went straight to the end where you could have your picture taken.

“Why would you skip all of this??” I whisper-cried to Henry, because I thought it was actually really cool and worth the upcharge of the deluxe “we’ll never be here again” package we splurged on. And the best part is that the picture at the end was included in that!

Worth it.

After we got our picture printed in yet another gift shop, we left through a door that spilled us out onto a lower courtyard area.

Sorry, a million pictures of me but bro, I’m at Bran Castle. Let me have this, please.

From here, we went back down to where all the vendors were, bought some magnets and postcards, I almost bought a fake Labubu (intentionally), Henry peed in an underground bathroom, and we did the Bran haunted house!

We tried to get food but this was our first taste of WE HATE TOURISTS attitude from the locals which was kind of hilarious considering these people were vending in quite possibly THE most tourist-trappy area of all Romania. I was trying to ask for Placinta cu Branza which is like a savory cheese pie but I wasn’t saying placinta with the exact accent required so the girl was like YOU’RE A MORON which I inferred from her impatient huffing and tone. Then she sent me to some other girl who was more English-y but also even more busy and was like IT’S NOT READY YET. YOU CAN HAVE THIS OR THAT, OR I DON’T KNOW and then stalked off and I was like OR I CAN LEAVE BYE because I was scared, you guys. These were legit Romani I’m pretty sure and they were not fucking around.

So we left that area and started walking back to the car and saw another little food stand thing that also had placinta but when we tried to order it the older woman sternly shook her head NO so…no placinta for us, fam.

This was just the beginning of what would end up being the worst day of the whole trip NOT TO BE DRAMATIC NO NOT ME, NOT EVER.

Also, it occurred to me that I never posted the video recap from the day before this! If you are hard-pressed for something to watch, here it is.