Getting to Romania...

On the day we left for our trip Dan downloaded a map for the GPS. Right before he was going to pay for it he realised that he was on the american site and so he quickly changed to the Canadian site- not noticing that he clicked on the wrong map when he paid. It worked great for Hungary but as soon as we crossed the boarder into Romania the screen went blank. Not the best situation for us as our navigation skills are kind of lacking. Anyways, we worked around it and very proudly made our way to the village of Valeni. We passed the town store, as our directions to our guest house pointed out, counted four houses down (check) we were on the road Strada Principal (check)...but no hostel. It was starting to get dark and we drove up and down the street WAY too many times. Finally we showed the address to some guys congregating outside a corner store, after a bunch of laughing, driving to the town mechanic and having no idea what was going on...we found out that we were on Strada Principal in Valeni not Valenii. We were over an hour in the wrong direction. We also found out there are four towns with almost the exact same name. Luckily a group of five guys decided to show us the way, we insisted that it was too far but they said "no problem we will go to the disco". We showed up very late, and had a wonderful sleep after our long journey. We woke up on Sunday morning and had some bread and jam and the kids colored outside in the morning sun. They loved fetching water from the well to fill up the basin for our sink. We had a nice walk around the village and visited a beautiful hilltop church and the kids had a much needed play on the playground. Lunch rolled around and we realised that the propane was out for the stove and we only had raw eggs and all the shops were closed. So, Dan decided to build a fire. He found a little grill and propped it up with some rocks and after a full box of matches and a roll of toilet paper -voila we had fire! We made scrambled farm eggs (our parting gift from Hungary) and grilled tortillas. I must admit I was very proud of my city boy, he has come along way! The kids loved sitting around the fire, we ate and giggled and I etched out this moment in my mind as a time I would like to remember. That night we had a delicious dinner with the owners of the hostel (a Gabor Gypsy family), and the kids were SO excited to have grapefruit pop out of fancy cups and watch TV with the other kids. The next morning we had an awesome outdoor shower and lazed around a bit enjoying the calmness of the village. After we said our goodbyes we headed off for Brașov- but not before downloading a Romania map, Gavin participating in a million selfies (with the girls who fell in love with him) and Elijah proudly leaving with a Bible in tow that they gave him. We hopped in Angelina and enjoyed a very scenic drive passing horse drawn carriages and quaint little towns.

Hungary...

I set the alarm for 5:00am but turned it off promptly. I woke again at 6:00 and we packed up Angelina in the beautiful morning light. I loaded the front seat with snacks and goodies that I let the kids pick out the day before at the supermarket. Gavin choose dark chocolate covered cookies and pretzels and Elijah choose a bag of pistachios and some strawberry pirate cookies (which he hated). I bought a huge stack of used french kids magazines and some mini sketch pads and markers for the back seat. After a few set backs we finally left the house and hit the road. The kids colored a bit before drifting back off to sleep. We drove through Germany, Austria and finally made it to Hungary. We stayed one night in Pannonhalma and visited the Benedictine abbey that is 1000 years old. It was magical. The library there was incredible, it houses over 350 thousand books. We did an audio tour and I loved watching Elijah walk around with his headphones on looking at everything so intensely. On the grounds there was an beautiful herb garden and a distillery for making essential oils, it was the most amazing smell ever. After our lovely afternoon at the abbey we got back in the car and drove a few more hours till we reached Debrecen. We booked a farm stay there but the GPS coordinates we were given were incorrect and we ended up at a house with razor wire fence and scary dogs. After driving way too long on a crappy dirt road we decided to call it a night and we found a motel. It was brightly colored with neon lights and had rows of ice cream trucks and limos in the parking lot. I had a feeling that it was a bit seedy, but the man welcomed us and fed the kids chicken and big fluffy pieces of white bread...and they had free breakfast. Somehow the owners of the farm stay found us there but we had already booked a room so they came back to get us in the morning. As soon as we arrived at the farm a lovely Hungarian grandmother fed us heaping plates of scrambled farm eggs and sweet tea. She showed the kids around the farm, they ran through the cornfields and picked dried corn off the cobs and fed it to the animals. They rolled old tires down a hill and spent the next few hours packing mud and grass onto their tire sculptures. After they were done playing she called us in for lunch and fed us amazing cabbage rolls and stuffed peppers, for dessert she served a beautiful rolled apricot cake. Gavin made friends with a poor little kitten that he drug around everywhere that afternoon, somehow despite his roughness she seemed to enjoy it. Elijah tinkered away with the screws and bolts and old egg cartons for quite some time. We went to an awesome swimming pool that evening with caves and bridges and waterslides and we all slept very soundly that night in our wood heated farm house.