All Romanians are Italians

I've been in three Romanian cities so I speak with authority...but maybe not all Italians are Romanians. First of all, there is a gelato stand every three feet and these people buy their first ice cream cones at 9 in the morning. Second, even the traditional restaurants serve pizza and some standard pasta dishes--one of them is carbonara which I ordered once...by bacon, they mean ham. I even had a HLT that they called a BLT. It made me wonder whether the US is the only country that makes real bacon (Canadian doesn't count). I think these people live on pizza.

I haven't been eating the wonderful pastries they have here because I'm not well, but even on my best days, we all know I have never "cleaned my plate" in my life. If we leave food, apparently all the waiters have been trained to say "It is not good?" or "You do not like it?" If I leave one noodle, they say that to me.

Now I live in Brasov on the town square. I like to stay on the town squares because that's where the action is, and more importantly, it makes it harder for me to get lost. Yesterday, was family day on the square and people kept their kids out until late at night. It's like Cincinnati here--doesn't get dark until 9:30. One of Nicole's friends told me he thinks European kids are cuter than American kids but I think it's just he can't understand what they're screaming. It was very noisy all night.

When I was in Bucharest a couple of years ago, there were packs of wild dogs. I noticed this time that the wild dogs all seem to have their ears tagged, probably meaning they've been neutered. These wild dogs tend to hang out near markets and aren't scary at all; I guess they get fed there. There are plenty of dog owners--I've seen a few large dogs like German Shepherds but most people have the same small white dog; about the size of a Shih Tzu but they don't have flat noses. 

Unfotunately, the two most popular things to do in Brasov are both closed on Mondays. The Black Church and riding the tram up to the Brasov sign. Actually, you ride the tram to a restaurant but you can walk to the sign. You can walk up the mountain, too, but it's just too hot. 

Theoretically, I'm going to the castles tomorrow if the travel guy ever gets back to me.