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Jonnys Eastern Delights!
The four days spent in Romania were just really hectic, with Thursday in Bucharest setting the tone. Bex and I arrived not having a clue what the best way to meet Gemma was, and in the end after over an hour of bleary eyed doubling back on ourselves we just had to tell her to get a cab all the way to the station. Finally, the three of us were together after times when it seemed it would never happen!
To be honest, Thursday dragged. We tried to do some sightseeing as the afternoon just seemed to go on and on, but a lot of things we had heard about Bucharest turned out to be true - ugly communist style buildings everywhere that really didn't make a weary backpacker feel welcome. The only thing I can justify writing home about is the massive Palace of Parliament - idiot Ceausescu's "masterpiece" and the 2nd biggest building in the world (I think!). In the evening we caught the train to Brasov and made our way to the hostel we had reserved, but were less than amused when they tried to politely tell us that they had given our beds away since, strictly speaking, because we were arriving after midnight the date of our reservation was wrong. By this point despairing a little at the end of a stressful day, we were grateful to a freindly family who were able to offer us beds for the night.
Brasov was a much nicer place than Bucharest, with some splendid architecture set amongst thick green forest as opposed to a concrete jungle, and just a generally more laid back feel, and so we ahd a casual Friday afternoon doing our thing and then went out for a fantastic meal for Gemmas first proper night. We were all well up for a good night out, but it turned out that Brasov aint that much of a kickin' city, and despite our best efforts asking strangers and polideman to find a club, we had to give up - but the day had still been a massive improvement on Thursday! After the following morning spent doing the now regulatory faffing about with bags and tickets, we headed out for a day trip to Bran Castle. Touristy yes, but still nice enough, with the dark clouds, rain, thunder and lightning that we had obviously adding to the effect. That novelty value soon wore off though by the time we were all wet through and cold, and so we headed back to Brasov and spent the rest of the afternoon killing time until we caught the suprisingly nice train to Sighisoara, where it was welcome to spend the journey chatting to other backpackers Peter, Antti and Sota in our cabin.
Sunday was easily the best day in Romania. I got up early to have a stroll around the old town, and a really nice atmosphere was created along the way by bell ringing and singing coming from the churches. After seeing the house where Dracula was born, I met up with the girls, the Finnish couple from the train, and (unfortunately) a complete idiot called Wen, for a trip right into the heart of rural Transylvania. We drove through a couple of remote villages - the type that you would never get to see yourself - where we were obviously a source of great fascination to the locals, and even went into the hills to visit a farmer and watch him milk his goats! It was a really welcome change from ciy life and meant our brief time spent in Romania finished on a high, at least until we put ourselves through yet another sleepless overnight train to Hungary!
Jonny
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