Bran Castle, from my sister in law, house.

My husband family is from Bran, a little town up, up, in the Carpathian Mountains.
In Transylvania, Romania, the vacation home that my sister in law has became a home all way from home. She is spending a good part of the year there, in the mountains, in the nature…grasshopper and flours all summer long, apple and potatoes in the fall, the pottery sale near the winter, raspberries pick up in the woods, mushrooms, cows and chickens….
From their house (a new log house, replacing the old vacation home they had before) you can see the castle.It is what tourists know today as ‘DRACULA CASTLE”. This is not true for us, Rumanians who live in the little town at the foot of the castle.It is a fighting castle, a castle for guarding one of the most important pass in the mountain in between the south (MUNTENIA) and the north of Romania, (TRANSYLVANIA).

“Long before Germans/Austrians came to claim this part as theirs (Austrian-Hungarian Empire), the Turks were a huge peril for the people who were living peacefully here. The danger of Turks coming was so big that nowadays, 500 years after, we still have a saying “why you are in such a hurry, are the Turks coming?”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bran_Castle.jpg

This castle is build for fight, on top of rocks, cold rooms, solid walls, small windows…..

“Bran Castle was originally a stronghold built by the Knights of the Teutonic Order in 1212. At that time it was called Dietrichstein. By the late 1200′s the castle had been overtaken by the Saxons who had used the castle to protect Brasov, an important trade center. In 1370 the fortress was used against invading Turks. It remained an important feudal fortress through out the middle ages, its role was the defence against invasion. From 1920 the castle was inhabited by Queen Marie. Bran Castle remained a summer royal residence until forced abdication of King Michael in 1947.”
http://www.hauntedcastlesandhotels.com/Romania/Bran.htm

The castle has a central position in the Romania “round map” and VLAD DRACUL, the king after who’s the name DRACULA came up, was the first one who unified the 3 small countries (Muntenia, Moldova and Transylvania) into a big country: the Romanian Country, 500 YEARS AGO. This act put the king Vlad Dracul into the middle of the territory, in Bran’s castle, so this is why it is named today as “Dracula Castle”.
For my husband family, the old house was the place to go in summer vacation and this little town is very dear to them.

My sister in low is living there all the time, in a brand new house. She found in the basement of the old house few pieces of old furniture and she is bringing to life…..new paint; she decided that is the time to bring a new face, new color.
Painting the furniture was a very characteristic thing for much generation of Germans that are inhabited this part of the world, for quite a while. The last frontier of Austria Hungarian Empire, Transylvania has much German family living there. They brought the food, the songs, the painted furniture, the painted plates and specific furniture to display them (blidar).
Old chairs, old design……