Romania = Meh.

After a great 2 weeks in Austria at the end of July, Mike and I got on a train and headed into deepest, darkest Romania. It was a 20 hour train ride from Salzburg to Brasov (pronounced bra-shoff), with a 3-hour stop-off in Budapest. Mike and I were in separate sleeping compartments, and he was with a heavy metal family on their way to a music festival, and I had a nice German family on their way to 2 weeks hiking in the Transylvanian Alps. There were 3 little kids and they made me play games with them and listen to stories they were reading. The littlest girl kept calling me "hübsche frau" which made me feel really old

We found a man at the train station in Brasov offering accommodation, and it sounded like a better deal than hotels in Lonely Planet, so we went along with him. We got our own private accommodation with living room, satellite TV, breakfast, bathroom, and comfy bed. It was worth it, even for 25 euros per night. We definitely aren't in Central Asia anymore! Prices are much more expensive than Eastern Europe in 2007 too. Pretty soon Moldova will be just as expensive as Paris!

We spent the first day just wandering around central Brasov. They have a Hollywood-type sign on the top of the city's hill, so we took a cable car up to the top and found the "Panoramic Lookout" right next to the Brasov sign. There was a great view of the old architecture and all the red roofs, and we had a peaceful walk down the mountain on a leafy green path.

I found Mountain Dew in the shop which I hadn't seen since America and of course bought it, but was disappointed to find that it had a completely different taste. We spent all afternoon and evening watching satellite TV, because it was the first time in months that we'd had access to good English languages programs. TV is so much better without bad Russian playing over the English track.

The next day we caught a bus to Bran Castle, which is THE tourist place in Transylvania, and also where people believe that the inspiration for Dracula, Vlad the Impalor, lived. The castle was set up for tourists with lots of placards explaining history of royal families, the history of the area, and of course a lot information about Bram Stoker, Vlad, and Dracula. It was a pretty castle with some nice views of the countryside, but not really worth the entrance fee. I guess I've seen so many castles in Western Europe that it was more of the same.

When we tried to catch a minibus from Brasov to Bucharest, we learned that Kyrgyzstan is far more organized and advanced when it comes to transport. It's never good when Europe fails horribly in comparison to Central Asia! We waited at a parking space that had a sign for Bucharest, with times listed. Every time a minibus pulled in, we asked the driver if he was going to Bucharest and he said no. We asked where buses to Bucharest stopped, and they pointed to the spot we were standing at. When we asked when the next minibus was leaving they said "in a moment," but every bus that came "in a moment" was going somewhere else. We ended up waiting 2 hours and seeing more than 6 minibuses come and go, none of which would take us to Bucharest. We finally ended up taking a train for more money because no one was helpful in any way. Had it been Kyrgyzstan, upon arrival at least 10 men would have come to us, offering their services as the best. We would have had our choice of bus, minibus, shared taxi, or private taxi, all for much less than what we paid in Romania. Prices would have been haggled down because each driver wanted us more than the other, and we would have been on our way in less than 10 minutes. Romania, you have a thing or two to learn!

We hope to get a night bus to Istanbul so we wouldn't have to overnight in Bucharest, but all buses bound for Turkey left in the afternoon. We tried to get a train, but it meant going overnight to Sofia and then waiting there for ages to get another train to Istanbul, so that would have been twice as expensive and no faster. We went to the bus station just to see if there was a non-advertised bus leaving, but there was nothing until the next afternoon. Luckily there was a cheapish hostel just across the intersection from the bus station, and they had a great room with satellite, bathroom and great bed, so we didn't mind staying the night. We bought tickets for the coach bus, but when we got to the station the next afternoon, they piled us into a minibus full of Romanians. We weren't really sure what was going on, but the ticket seller assured us that we would be getting to Istanbul.

The drive back was mostly uneventful. There was bad weather in Bulgaria so it was rainy and gloomy, and our driver was a jerk and kept rolling his window down, even though we repeatedly asked him to put it up because it was cold. We arrived back in Istanbul at around 3:30 am, and sat in a park in front of the Blue Mosque until the first tram came around 5:30. We got back to Maggie's house in one piece and had long naps to make up for a sleepless night.

Overall, Romania was not what I expected. Muriel reminded me that Romania used to be my dream country, but to me it didn't really seem to have much to offer. My experience in Bulgaria was that the people were much nicer and things were a bit more organized, and now that it's not all that much cheaper than Western and Central Europe, there are other places to go with more things to see. Maybe we'll go back sometime since we do live so close, but I have to say that I was quite disappointed.

With Dracula

Mike and I have spent an amazing 2 weeks in Salzburg. We've seen all the relatives, gone second-hand shopping and found some great things, spent time going through my grandma's apartment and taking things we liked (old Salzburg postcards, complete with Hitler Deutsches Reich stamps; a great hat that can be seen in my current facebook picture; some traditional Austrian jackets with goat-horn buttons, etc...) and of course eaten delicious food to the brim. We've probably each gained at least 5 kilos. But it was worth it! Schnitzel, Marillenknoedel, Eis, Kasnockl, Zwiebelrostbraten, Mohr im Hemd, the list goes on... yum! We haven't done much in terms of real touristy sightseeing, but Mike has gotten a good sense of what Salzburg is like. The weather hasn't been that great either. We definitely didn't pack right for the weather we've had. Every other day has rained and been freezing. Blah. Typical Austrian summer. We should have expected it.

On Saturday morning my parents and my sister Susi are taking a train to Freiburg to visit my sister Nici, and Mike and I are taking an afternoon bus to Brasov (25 hours from Salzburg), located in Transylvania in Romania. We'll explore for a few days, then spend a day or two in Bucharest, and then catch either a bus or a train back to Istanbul and back to real life. Mike got the EF job we wanted, I didn't, so he's set. I'm still searching for one, there aren't many options on the internet. I'll have to start going to language centers with my CV, or start finding private students. Not looking forward to that! There's a part-time job that I got, but I'm still looking for something else. Still apartment hunting too... we found the perfect one on craigslist, but it's a bit out of our price range.

Not much else new- I got a haircut with bangs and Mike got a cavity filled today after 4 hours in the dentist waiting room (and learned that he needs a wisdom tooth pulled ASAP). Hopefully he'll be able to enjoy our adventures in Romania even with a toothache!

I finally got all my Central Asian pictures posted on facebook. Hopefully that's the last you'll have to see of me in Central Asia for a long, long, long time.