The Final Train Ride (for this trip)

I just left Brasov and I am on the train to Bucharest. I am taking the train because I heard the views are spectacular. I am being diverted from this experience by

• Getting on the wrong car (I am on train 347 not car 347, you can see how I could get confused?) and
• A mental challenged and drooling teenager, who also gawks temporarily sitting down across from me.

But now Minnie is all plugged in and I have a windows seat facing the right direction, with my new fav snack “Gusto” (fried corn puffs no additives, all natural, blah, blah, blah) and water to sustain me.

Sighisoara: Bring Your Garlic

My first introduction to Transylvania.

I really enjoyed my stay there. Nathan’s Villa was well kept and the people who stayed there amicable. When it wasn’t raining, I enjoyed sitting outside underneath the arboretum, drinking my a Siva beer and reading or working on my computer.

The town was fairly easy to navigate. I enjoyed running around the small Saxon city, which is birthplace of Vlad Tepes, Count Dracula, shopping at the local markets, meeting people, and visiting various buiildings

My favorite activity there was when I went to mass. The Romanian Orthodox Church service was very interesting. The service was filled with chanting and priest going in and out of a room in front, where he would open and close the doors while praying. Then at the end, the priest took loaves of bread and put candles in them, then he blew them out, but the bread in a bowl and covered it with oil, after that people came and took Holy Communion and left with bags of bread.

I made friends with a few people at Nathan’s Villa. First Neil, a British fellow now living in Sighisoara (he became night manager during our visit) via Berlin. An intelligent, interesting, and kind fellow, he seems a bit lost as to where to place himself in the world. If you ask me, he made a good decision staying on in Sighisoara, he might just decide what he should do next. The, Alison, a sweet young lady from outside of Mexico city – we will be spending more time together in Brasov.

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I liked the small town, easy pace of Sighisoara and even though there wasn’t a lot to see and do, I could have stayed a few more days (most people stay a day or so), after three days it was time to head to Brasov.

A Small Note About Romanian Food

Sausage, cabbage, meat, polenta, and potatoes, it’s fine but no where as good as the food in other countries I have been visiting. I mostly ate what I call the backpacker meal: ramen noodles, fresh vegetables, meat and egg. Backpackers eat a lot of pasta and ramen noodles when cooking in the hostels, we just do.

The Ride Between Sighisoara and Braşov

Getting off the small jitney bus at the rest stop between Sighisoara and Braşov was an experience in and of itself. Just take a look at some of the rest stop pictures. Do check out what they sell at the store, stuff for yo9ur car, weapons, snacks, trinkets….

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