14 August 2017 - Week 19

Monday each week is Preparation day.  A day to do needful things. Preparation day is very important to our district leader, Elder Gore.  He feels that going to see historical sites is a useful way to spend the day, so with permission from President Hettinger, Brent loaded in the Elders and Soras early on Monday morning and headed to Corvin castle in Hunedoara near Deva.  A 3-hour drive that winds through little towns with speed limits that vary from 15 to 70 and change in the blink of an eye. 

The two girls in skirts in the picture below are Sister Castaneda and Sister Folsom and the guy in the green shirt is Elder Paul.

The Corvin Castle was built in the middle 1200's and was let go and rebuilt many times.  It is a castle that is being restored back to what it may have been like in old days.  You do not find plush red rugs and such because that is a recent thing.  The bridge that you are seeing is the main entrance to the castle.  It should be noted that the picture below is taken from a tower that would allow you to shoot anybody that you felt was a hazard to you. On that bridge, you would be in easy Bow And Arrow range.

Interesting features on all the towers.  I liked the tile roofs and windows that remind of bay windows.

The picture below is the courtyard.  We could get to most of the things to see at the castle from the courtyard.

The picture below is a small chapel.  We were only allowed to see it from a balcony.  I wondered if the serfs were only allowed on the balcony too.

I don't know if the bed original if it was brought in to spruce the place up, but it reminds me of beds seen in the "movies".  I can see Long Shanks waiting to die when his daughter in law tells him that she will give birth to Wallace's child.

The picture below is the Hall of the Knights.

The picture above and below this text show an arched ceiling with a hole cut in the ceiling so you can see the framing of the roof.

This picture shows more framing.  I assume that the framing is more recent.

This is black smithing tools.

The picture below is a very interesting example because you can see how the wall was collapsed, then when building higher, they just went over the collapsed part and continued up.

A trophy room.  Had lots of horns and antlers.

Hall of Knights

The armor seems to be for a short guy.  Some of the doorways seemed short too.

This is the well.  The story is that it was dug by 3 slaves that were told that they would be freed when they got to water.  When they got done they were not freed.

This shows three different walls that were built at different times.  The story here is that they would throw enemies down the pit to wild animals like bears. They called it "the bear pit."

"The rack" used to stretch people into giving out information.

Here is a guy hung from the ceiling by his arms behind his back - it's a dummy.

This winch made it easier to lift the above guy up.

On the left side of the stairs is Sister (Sora) Folsom in front and Elder Paul behind her.  On the right is Me, Sora Castaneda, and Elder Gore.  He says he is not related to the famous, Al Gore.

The bit of history that is neat about this castle is that "Vlad the Impaler" was held prisoner here for three years until he was released do to some treaty.

Here are a few pictures from our forest walks this week.

A picture of a banana with a Del Monte symbol on it.  Crazy!! We love seeing things that remind us of home.

On Saturday we usually visit a local floral shop and purchase a few stems of cut flowers, like daisy mums or something cheap like that, that we can take to the branch building for Sunday.  The Romanians love flowers.  They have flower decorations on everything.  

This week in the floral shop, Brent fell in love.  This picture shows him with his new friend, a very beautiful, and unusual orchid. If we can keep it alive we will give it away when we return home. 

The lady at the shop speaks a little English and we speak a little Romanian, so we trade words and it all works out.