Hi Gram!
It’s morning in Sibiu. Well, to be less dramatic it’s morning in Europe, Africa, and a lot of Asia. But I’m not in all those places, so Sibiu is what matters to me. I didn’t sleep well last night. The room was warmer than I would have liked and I didn’t realize this until this morning. When I got up, I turned the radiators down and opened the windows, so hopefully it’ll cool down today and I can sleep better tonight. My watch thinks that I had a good night’s sleep but my robots aren’t always right.

It’s forecast to rain today, so I got up early to walk and get in some stairs. It was a nice morning, warm enough for a long sleeved shirt and just barely raining. Like that level just before mist where the air feels wet and every now and then you feel a pinpoint of a drop. I got in a couple of miles and 24 flights of stairs, then headed back to the apartment. I need to shower and do my journal, puzzles, and morning routine before meeting Bob and Amber for breakfast. The first place we tried for breakfast, named Charlie’s, was only serving coffee until 10, so they directed us to a different cafe, named Charlie’s II, a few minutes away. There’s also a third Charlie’s, but we haven’t been there yet. I’ll report back if we try that one too. Breakfast was really good. I had a bacon, egg, jam and butter sandwich on a light fluffy bun with seeds. I also got a chai latte, but I think the barista got the recipe wrong. It wasn’t very good or hot. Imagine tepid steamed milk with barely a hint of spices.

We headed to the statue meeting point for our walking tour, the rain increasing as we got there. I stood around for a few minutes to see if it would let up, but ultimately made the decision to forego the tour in favor of staying dry. I made the right choice. Amber and Bob learned things on the tour, but they also ended up with wet feet. After the tour, they came back to the apartment to dry their pants and shoes, then we all headed out for the afternoon. The rain had cleared up, the sun came out and we had just a phenomenal day.

We started by splitting some sweet and savory pastries while we walked towards the old town wall. Each guild used to maintain a tower for the city’s defense. We toured a couple of the remaining towers and walked along the wall. Fascinating history.

Then we walked around to a Romanian Orthodox Church with intricate colorful murals and artwork covering every surface on the inside. We gawked and took photos, then headed to a Lutheran church that has the remains of Vlad the Impaler’s son (Vlad, I’ll remind you, inspired the story of Dracula).

The tombs, stained glass, and intricate carvings were cool to see, but my main interest was the bell tower. So many stairs! We were rewarded with nice views out over the city into the surrounding farm fields. Our timing could have been better, though, as there was also a field trip of 40-50 schoolchildren clogging up the stairwell and screeching like banshees. We enjoyed it all the same, and found that getting away from the noise was a welcome relief. Tired, we stopped at the Amber Caffe (my friend Amber swears she doesn’t own it, but who really knows?) for an afternoon beverage before heading back to rest for a bit. Later, we headed to a little basement restaurant where we enjoyed another fantastic dinner. We stopped for some cake on the way home, a delicious sweet ending to another excellent day.