A right Royal cottage

I hate the end of the holidays, don't you? And this was no exception. It had been such a wonderful place to visit; we had the chance to see a tiny corner of Romania; we met some lovely warm, hospitable people; we ate and drank FAR too much of course (Note to self - the diet begins...erm...soon?)

But as ever, all good things must come to an end and so we woke on the final day of our Romanian adventure. But, as ever plans for a great day out had been prepared and a small group of us decided to go to see a little village called Viseri. Yes, I know we've seen lots but this is different. For a start it's UNESCO listed, and even more interesting - the Prince of Wales has his little pad there! Which to be honest we wanted to see. So there you are. We knew before we went that him an' her weren't in residence - but it was the village we were after - not the Royals!

First up - this is place where.like all villages, COWS RULE! And ... the only way to travel was by horse and cart. It began to feel that Transylvania was trying to give us all some warm memories to take away - and it was working.

So we braved the deep freeze - it was about -18, and we went to see the fortified church. Now this one had a great view cross the countryside - but it was sooooooo cold that freezing fog prevented us from seeing too far. Never mind. It was worth climbing around and inside etc. the church was interesting too as the pews were set out so that, for example all the widows sat in a certain place, the young girls, the young men, and so on.

We did get a view across the fields and the village itself and the colours of the houses were all traditional. For some reason Romanians LOVE either pastels or really BRIGHT GARISH colours - like LIME GREEN. It is just fantastic and long may that side of things last. Anyway, having climbed right up the rather shaky and narrow tower we descended to the museum room and then had a wander round the streets.

It was unfortunate that the Royal cottage couldn't be opened - apparently the woman who holds the keys had not returned from the next village after the previous night's party! Ah well - no matter. We still had a great time.

By now you will not be surprised to read that lunch ... was...a... picnic! What as it about us lot that we loved outdoor, freezing cold picnics???? No I don't know either, but we did! And so to a field where we stood in the freezing cold, enjoying our last picnic together. We didn't really want to leave as this was the last day together, but time waits for no-one especially people with a mission - to finish off our gin and tonic, to eat a great last dinner and to enjoy ourselves thoroughly!

The evening wasn't perhaps as rowdy as previous ones had been - but we still had a great time, ate and drank - and noted that the wined cellar had run out of our favoutite red! Tsk! tsk! And really we had nothing more to add except to say we wanted to keep in touch and that we all wanted to meet up again in a couple of years. This would allow our livers to recover, waistlines to shrink a tad and appetites to be sharpened. There would be one final farewell the next morning - but until then it was Goodnight!