House of memories - Bran

Casa cu amintiri (House of memories) is a small vila in Bran (Romania). It's on the road to Omu mountain peak in Bugeci...the last house on the left side of the road. The place is filled with magic and memories from a lost time. The owner is a former antique store owner, and a Greek descended, from a family which immigrated in Romania many years ago after a strong earthquake shook their village. His grandfather owned a cafeteria, and his entrepreneurial skills definitely lasted in time for generations to come. If you are an antique lover, this is definitely the place to be. You can stare for hours at the walls and the shelves packed with objects from another era.

This is definitely a place to feel like home, relax...and enjoy the vibe of nature.

Bran and around...

As we did not plan an encounter with Dracula, we skipped the castle and focused on the area around it. So, we managed to visit the old village museum near the castle, eat kurtosh...and then enjoy the nature of Bucegi National Park and the view from Bran's monastery site.

My "No Poo" weeks

As a curious cat as I am, I decided to test this experiment everybody's talking about: No Poo...

This means that for at least 6 weeks I should avoid washing my hair with shampoo. Additionally no hair dryer, flat iron or curling iron. No conditioner, no protective serum, no masks...no nothing.

In theory, I should wash my hair with water only, but in the first weeks the quantity of sebum is a bit higher than normal. All these years of shampoo turned my hair into an addict that cannot function normally without its weekly shampoo and conditioner dosage. For this reason I chose to clean my hair with vinegar and baking soda at least for the first couple of weeks just to avoid the risk of being taken as a bum. I can also use egg masks and olive oil for my tops...

I decided to do this manly because my hair started falling pretty bad in the past couple for years, and I have already tried several treatments without success. I also read a lot of interesting things about this experiment. It has not been successful for everyone, but that's not a big surprise....it's worth trying anyway. The most inspiring is this guy who has not been using shampoo in 10 years, and though he is in his 60s he has wonderful hair...I am sure he also has some pretty good genes there :)

Anyway, I am in my week two of no poo...and things seam to work just like everyone describes it. My hair is a bit greasy and messy, but I can already feel it being healthier...it is softer and heavier. Also, I can see my natural curly hair coming back without freeze. It basically looks as if it is constantly wet.

So, here starts week three. I am basically half way through the process, and I have to admit that I have been tempted to use shampoo. I managed to keep myself away, but I did switch from vinegar to baking soda and I can definitely see the difference. What amazes me is the fact that after two weeks of basically not washing my hair, my tips are still pretty dry...considering that they've also been trimmed recently. Regarding my hair fall problem, I can't really see a huge difference. My hair doesn't fall as much when I wash it, but it does fall just as bad when I brush it or just touch it. Depending on how things evolve, even if I will no longer use poo, I think I will go back to my hair treatment with Alopexy 2%.

My experiment ended abruptly at the end of week three. On Thursday and Friday my hair started falling like crazy, so I decided to wash it properly and get it back on track. As much as I like natural remedies in general, the pleasure of putting shampoo in your hair is simply wonderful. The shampoo commercial with the lady imitating an orgasm while washing her hair...well that's the feeling you get after not washing with shampoo for three weeks :)

I can still see some results though, especially in the fact that my hair does not get greasy as fast as it used to. I will try to use organic shampoo only and in very small quantities.

The experiment is worth trying though. Not everybody's scalp reacts the same and nothing really bad can happen.

A new year, a new traveling experience

One week, two new European cities on my map....two Bs, two different cultures but with one common factor: WAR. My trip started in Beograd and continued with Berlin, a cultural loop through Europe.

Belgrade
We went to Serbia to a black metal music festival: Darkness Rising. As I am not a fan, the trip was labeled from the very beginning as an experience that would take me to a new, not very popular touristic capital in Europe.

A country neighboring Romania to South-West, a country that went through war not long ago and was bombed even from Romania...sad but true. Though we stayed next to Belgrade because of the festival  (at hotel Sucevic, a four start hotel that was worse than the worse hostel I ever went to), and were more than tired every morning, we managed to visit Belgrade. We walked for about 4 hours around Belgrade's center. Not much to visit except for a huge Orthodox church and an old fortress right at the other end of the city. The city's vibe is very similar to Bucharest. I am talking about a capital that was recently bombed and is not an EU member. Stray dogs, garbage, street vendors...these are common points between an EU capital and just a regular European capital's city center. Amazing or not...I have not seen as many gypsy as in Bucharest...which basically, in my view, makes us the lords of gypsies in Europe...

We went by car, so we entered Serbia at Portile de Fier and drove along the Danube. The scenery here is absolutely amazingly beautiful. The Danube flows through the mountains before entering Romania, turning from a sea like river to a stream...before heading for the Black Sea. Golubac Fortress is an old Turkish crossing point over the Danube. An old fortress lost into the Danube, unfortunately not very well taken care of.

The festival was the very interesting experience I expected. We had great company and made cool new friends...The cold weather and all organisational issues were nothing to the great time we had in the end. In the first day I was absolutely frozen and literally couldn't feel my toes anymore. The bus back to the hotel was never on time and kept changing schedules without us knowing. It was the first edition, and we were expecting them not to be super organised, but at some point it was just amazing...and it seamed like the organizers stopped caring. Black metal bands singing after sunrise :) I am sure that was something new for them as well.

Berlin

No time to get used to being home as I had to leave for another European B. For me, Germany is the womb  of civilization. The city was a first timer, but the country not. I have not been to Germany since I was 13...when it was the first country I ever visited. A memory that sticks with me because of the sadness I felt when I got back to Romania back then.

I did not like Berlin as much. The city is continuously being built since the '90s, and because of that it's not very inviting for tourists. Everything is just too clean and very well organised, and an obsessive - compulsive like me would go mad in such a place. I found out some interesting facts about the city though: 

• it has 153 museums which I only got to see from the outside, 
• one third of Berlin's citizens are immigrants, first or second generation, 
• there is no minimum wage law and though some would like to have that, others don't.

If I were to describe the city in a few words, the first things that come to my mind are: linear, massive, organized.

Unfortunately, our trip was rather short, but we did manage to see the most important touristic attractions, even if we could not get a real vibe of the city, maybe next time.

My favorite thing about the city was the street art. I didn't get to see much because we were mainly going through the center, but it is something particular about it.