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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No More Overnight Trains with Robbers

I am sure I have your attention now.

Yes, someone actually tried to rob me on the train from Budapest to Sighisoara. But tried is the operative word here.

It was a weird evening. First I couldn’t find my ticket. Then I found I had it in my day pack. Next I read the date 21.06 as the time instead of 23.13 which was the actual departure time, leaving me plenty of time to hang around the train station with no apparent waiting room. Hanging out at train station in the middle the night is not fun, it is spooky.

When I boarded the train, there was an anxious young Romanian woman, who spoke excellent English, already in the cabin, she had been traveling from Vienna. She was very nervous about the train. I remarked that we only had one lock on the door instead of the three I have become accustomed to on this trip. She said she had noticed that also and was concerned as well.

We reassure each other that the rumors regarding train travel are extravagated and go to sleep. Next thing I know (an hour or so later)  all the lights are on in our cabin. Still half asleep I ask my roommate what is going on and she tells me someone unlocked the door and tried to enter and she shoved him out. She was working on a way to barricade our door.

I have to tell you, that I sort of did not believe her. After all she was so anxious before we left Budapest, I just chalked it up to a bad dream. Then when the Hungarian immigration people boarded she went out to talk to our neighbors. It turns out that everyone had a similar story, except two people where robbed and one of the woman’s purses was found in the WC.

Apparently I wasn’t that concerned and fell asleep again, only to woken up by Romanian immigration. For those of you following me on twitter, you know I tweeted about it. Somehow I still managed to go back to sleep, the bed was very comfortable and woke up in time to wash up before arriving.

Perhaps I was not as unaffected as I would like to think. I lost the key to my locker two times within  twenty minutes this afternoon.

Bottom line, I went to the markets and bought food, made a nice lunch and went to sleep.

 

 

 

Now I am drinking this genuine Transylvanian beer: Silva only 7% alcohol (hiccup), typing and chatting with my French roommate underneath the arboretum in the back of the hostel.

I am glad to be out of a big city. The birds are chirping, I can hear not just the hum of the cars, but the clopping of the horses hooves as the carts go by.