January, and it is Winter. Precisely the moment I dislike the most in a year. I look around me and I see everything immersed in a state of numbness. Every day I am hunting for a glimpse of a lost sunbeam, just one beam enough to put in motion my frozen brain by now…

I could describe my state using thousands of words but no amount of words could have changed the state I was confronting with. So, since I can’t run away from Winter, and she definitely is not going to miraculously disappear either, I decided to confront her and see what is going to happen. To have a real confrontation with her, I chose my battlefield, somewhere in the mountains of Romania.

As usually, totally unprepared for the cold I went to the mountains seeking some solace in the arms of a nature sleeping soundly under a white cover. As much as I dislike Winter, I have to admit, she is so damn beautiful! And I was thinking that maybe is not really too late to try and reconcile. A reconciliation which is unlikely to happen in the moment when my whole body freezes and I start to shiver and I say to myself “Hell no! When is the next train? Which part of the globe is now in full sun?“. Despite my dying wish to return home, I am staying and start walking in this kingdom of ice. Walking through snow accompanied by the sound of my steps I have the eerie sensation that I am walking in a world on which I am the only one awake. Everything seems so still and almost lifeless, at every step I am waiting to see shadows coming out from behind the trees, there is no sound or breath except my breath, it feels like being completely alone…

Probably these feelings were so overwhelming that the moment I reached for Rasnov  Castle up on the hill and I looked from above at the plain of Transylvania unfolding before my eyes for a moment I had the sensation of being  in one of the scenes of “The Hobbit “ or “ The Lord of the Rings“. I was in the middle of the castle`s ruins and down at the foothill the mist was lingering over the frozen fields and over the rooftops. There was no smoke from the chimneys although I should have seen some, the village bellow looked so deserted and somewhere behind the mountains the sun was setting. I was witnessing my first sunset of the year and for me is always fascinating to see one.

Did not expect though to have such a spectacular sunset when after being still hidden behind the mountains the sky seemed to be caught by fire. It was cold and I could feel the cold all over my body which was telling me that is time to go back and have a hot cup of tea but still I could not take my eyes from the sky.Felt like being bewitched by that fantastic sunset and the feeling of a close danger inserted into my heart, although it wasn`t anything that I should have been concerned of. Probably my imagination was still working and I was looking eagerly to see if any orcs will come from the mountain and attack the castle. Did felt like a damsel in distress for a second, and it felt good..but then I had to return to reality and admire that beautiful sunset.

I wasn`t in a scene from “The Lord of the Rings “ nor did I was a damsel in distress, and did not even stepped into a winter story,  it was my first amazing sunset from this year , and I knew then that there will be more to come ..because, every sunset has a story to tell…and this is my story..

Rasnov Castle, Transylvania, Romania