Brasov day 2

these pictures go backwards - my blonde Hungarian friend on the train (playing with a zippo lighter)-  Vivvi, Jake and Megan on our last train- my beverage supply for the last train ride - the driver for our trip - the Sinaia castle, the boys in front of the Sinaia castle, me in front of the Sinaia castle, me trying to get a picture of the horse and buggy driving next to our car, Dracula at Bran castle, Bran castle- (three pics), our driver, the view from the fort, and the fort itself. 

The next day was our last day in Brasov.  We decided to take the Hostel up on their tour of Bran’s castle (the castle that Dracula is associated with- even though he was only there for 4 days) and two other sites.  The tour was supposed to leave at 9:30 – so we were all ready at 9:30 (except David the crazy British guy- he was still drunk I think, and definitely was not feeling up for traveling, but he’s a trooper).  Our tour guide did not show up until 10:10 though (we’re pretty sure he was still hungover/drunk from his Halloween), it was a bit disconcerting, but whatever.  We piled into the hot red mini-van and were off for a day of sightseeing.  It was a nice day out, so we were really lucky in having cooperative weather for this day.  We saw a fortress, Rasnov, that was pretty neat, and allowed you to look over the valley of Brasov and other close-by towns.  The hilly area of Transylvania is very pretty and definitely worth the stop if you are in the area.  After the fort, we went to Bran’s castle – lots of folklore surrounds this castle as a result of the connection to Dracula, but it’s far fetched seeing as he stayed there for a mere four days.  At any rate, it was a cool building and there were some neat displays of furniture and old pieces that fit into the castle well.  There were tons of small winding staircases that seemed to waste a lot of room, but it was still cool.  Vivvi pointed out that the light fixtures were not to be missed, and she was right.  Lots of wrought iron pieces that functioned as lights – very cool.  After touring the castle, we went down to the bazaar of Dracula and other Transylvanian goods.  There were lots of little booths that you could purchase things from, or you could pay to have your picture taken with a Dracula impersonator – who incidentally had blood dripping from his mouth, so I scored an additional 20 points on the Dracula hunt J 

After Bran’s castle, we had a bit of a longer trip to our last stop – the castle at Sinaia.  This is supposedly the inspiration for the Beauty and the Beast castle – or maybe that was just what my group was saying, I don’t remember, but it was an amazing castle.  We decided that even with a time crunch, we would tour the castle, and it could be one of the coolest things I have done in a long time.  I have visited a number of historical homes and mansions, but this castle takes the cake.  Granted, the weapons room was much like mine at home- you know, Asian, Persian, Turkish, German and Indian weaponry – horse and human armor typical weaponry… but other than that this castle was something to be admired.  Unfortunately it cost 30 lei (over 15 dollars) to be able to take pictures inside, so we did not opt for that, but I bought a book about it – so I can share it when I get home.  Keep in mind that the pictures don’t do it justice, but I’ll include some just for fun. 

After this castle, our time with the tour guide (who looked like a Romanian Snoop Dogg and was very funny) was coming to a close.  Thank goodness because he drove that mini-van like his life depended on it, and I have become more and more susceptible to car sickness in my old age- so it was a tough ride.  He dropped us at a Mexican food restaurant and we enjoyed some burritos before heading back to get our stuff and catch our LAST train.  I purchased some water, not remembering that I already had water, to have for the ride home, and I was ridiculed for the amount of beverages that I had.  One needs to remember that in traveling, you get easily dehydrated and can succumb to the symptoms of dehydration sooner than you’d realize.  When we got to the train station, it was a little sketchy.  There were gypsy kids all over the place begging for money – a sad state for sure.  They were persistent to the point that you almost had to raise your voice sternly to get them to go away.  We watched our belongings very closely and protected our valuables from anyone at the train station.  It was a bit of an alarming experience – there were poor people a plenty, it was dirty, there was a child peeing in the drain of the drinking fountain – just not a lovely place to be.  Thankfully there was a group of us to stick together so we had other people watching our things too.  We boarded our train for the last 10 hours of major travel.  I ended up laying across two seats for a while, it’s amazing how comfortable the fetal position can be for that many hours.  At about 3 in the morning, I woke to a cute little blonde Hungarian boy who was sitting behind me.  He started to play with me a bit and ended up calling me “neni” (it’s an affectionate term for aunt).  We shared some pretzels with him and were instant friends forever.  Crossing over back into Hungary was like a breath of fresh air – not literally since we were still operating in the pigpen group stink – but once that border guard came into our car and said “jó reggelt kivánok, az utlevelet legyen szives” I felt a sense of relief.  I knew what he was saying, I could understand the people around me – I was almost home and I felt safe. 

When we arrived back in Budapest, we headed immediately for the McDonald’s across the street for a nice breakfast.  Megan and I still had some hours of travel left to get to our respective towns, so we needed a little sustenance to get us the rest of the way.  We met a very nice Indian woman who had just been thrown off a train in Serbia because she did not have a visa to be there.  She was trying to get to Greece, but apparently even just passing through requires a visa.  We befriended her and told her our recommendations for hostels as she was now traveling via Brasov and Istanbul now – what a coincidence.  She is very gutsy to do it on her own, I don’t know if I would after the experiences we had as a group throughout this trip.