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There’s More to Romania than Transylvania, Dracula and Ghostly Carpathian Forests

Romania conjures mysterious and sinister images of Count Dracula and the Transylvanian forests. The foreboding Bran Castle high in the Carpathian Mountains certainly looks like the location of Irish writer Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker’s story of vampires rising from their coffins is an invented tale. But in autumn when twilight comes early it’s easy to imagine ghostly spirits of the undead lurking in the shadows.

Yet the Bucharest I saw was a bustling metropolis with museums and traffic jams, wide boulevards and cobblestone streets, good restaurants and late-night clubs. And a handful of lakes and gardens.

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Oklahoma’s Indian Nations Grow Prosperous Businesses

Oklahoma is Indian Country. The US Census Bureau says 523,360 Oklahomans – about 13% of the state’s population – are Native Americans. This mainly results from the forced relocation in 1830 of 30 tribes from neighboring states. Their journey on foot commonly is referred to as the Trail of Tears. Today, the areas considered barren lands 194 years ago are oil-rich counties studded with entrepreneurial boomtowns.