Tirgu Mures and Piatra Neamt
Firstly, I wanted to start this post by reassuring you that I am now absolutely fine. My homesickness yesterday was jut a blip and I'm now totally back in the swing of things. 
Unfortunately photos weren't allowed in much of the palace and so the selection above were from the areas where they were. In one of the rooms, the 'hall of mirrors' there were large mirrors at each end and 12 stained glass windows, each of which told a story, and were stunning. The following link shows some of them: https://www.palatulculturiimures.ro/salile3_en.html
It has a multicoloured flashing nightlight in it and was the only decoration available! I write this post actually on Halloween and so I brought it with me this far in order to get my money's worth!
And that was pretty much the end of my time in Tirgu Mures.
However, by the time I arrived at the gondola station it was stationary and going nowhere
And all I got from the lady was 'closed' and a shrug when I asked if she knew when it was going to open again. This was incredibly disappointing with it being a nice day and so I did the only other thing open to me in town which was to mooch around the main square...
As I was doing so I noticed the gondola was moving again, so still needing to eat by this point, I attempted to get breakfast (if you read my last post you know the outcome of that!) and whilst I was drinking my awful cappuccino I noticed that it had stopped again. Something just put me off going on a gondola that seemed so temperamental and so I decided to give it a miss! It was just after this that I had my meltdown that led to yesterday's post and I had a long walk back to my hotel from the shopping centre so I did take the opportunity to go and see the lake that was in the view from my balcony...
This morning I woke up feeling so much better. Which is a good thing as my alarm this morning was the rustling of a mouse that had got into my room and was looking for the crackers in my bag I think it could smell! I must say that the hotel was very clean though and I'm pretty certain it was only there to come in from the cold! He/she got me breakfast on the house as compensation as well so not all bad!
I've not yet told you about Tirgu Mures and because I've also been to Piatra Neamt since then I'm going to combine the two into one post. There wasn't a huge amount doing in each place so it's probably for the best to be honest!
I arrived in Tirgu Mures in the middle of a downpour, so bad that an umbrella was necessary, there was no way my waterproof was up to the challenge without some assistance! Coordinating two rucksacks, my phone for the map and a brolly is no mean feat let me tell you. But I achieved it 😊.
After check-in, the rain had abated a little and so I did my usual recce. And it quickly became clear that it would be challenging to fill two days in Piatra Neamt. Checking the weather, it was definitely only due to be good my first day there so I decided to do outdoor things that day and leave the indoor things the second day. However, it turned out the only outdoor activity was the citadel which had been really well restored...
And Orthodox Cathedals
Which were next to each other.
The synagogue...
And some random statue which appealed to me...
Basically all the usual suspects! There was a service in the Orthodox cathedral and it felt disrespectful to take photos whilst it was going on so I didn't. I must say though, watching the service, it felt like the most inaccessible church service I'd ever seen. Orthodox cathedrals don't have seats (I discovered this in Cluj Napoca) and it bore absolutely no resemblance to any church service I've ever attended and I've been to a few in my time! I guess it's what you're used to...
Anyway, having done that little tour by 1pm I decided to bring forward Sunday's dry inside activities and went to the Cultural Palace in the afternoon. This was stunning!
That night, my friends Andrew and Amanda were hosting their usual Halloween fancy dress party. This is one of my favourite nights of the year and is pretty much the only time I ever make any fancy dress effort. Knowing that they were going to FaceTime me from the party I did try to find a costume but despite being in Transylvania, there was virtually no evidence that it was Halloween. This was the best I could manage...
Anyway, the next day, I'd initially decided to go to Praida Salt Mine but after reading a number of less than complimentary reviews I changed my mind and decided to give it a miss (you got my SIghisoara post instead!). I did go for a walk into town in the morning and there was a chrysanthemum/dahlia sale on. I have never seen so many chrysanthemums/dahlias in one place in my life ever before!
These were my favourites...
From there I went to Piatra Neamts, the journey warrants its own blog post which I'll do!
I had only booked one day at Piatra Neamt and unfortunately very bad planning made that a Monday when of course, everything is closed in Romania, other than the gondola! So I made my way into town with the express intention of going on said gondola. It was a really windy day and so I wasn't too sure if it would be running but as I made my way into town I saw it moving through the sky!
Which involved a precarious crossing of a train line...
I'm now in Iasi which was a recommendation from Manuela, a friend of my lovely friend Kerry. From this afternoon's recce, it was a good one too!
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