Nothing at all exciting today, Sat all by myself on a train ride to Varna Bulgaria which is right on the Black Sea. I had one stop in Ruse which was a dead town. Got into Varna around 7 pm. Caught a cab to the apartment I was staying at. Had no idea where I was and these two ladies that ran a shop next to the building called the number I had to get the guy to come down and get me. haha. It was frezzzing outside too. Walking into the apartment made me a little home sick since it was a home and cozy. But then the guy and I started talking and we watched the University of Michigan Vs Michigan State game. He told me he use to work on cruise ships for ... read more

Bucharest....Not my favorite place I have been too. Its not bad or anything just not my favorite. I think this place is a diamond in the rough because It has so much potential to be a really great tourist spot but it just has so much construction going on. Started the walk off through a really nice park though and it did set a good mood. First walked to the tourist office to get a good map of the city so I wouldn't get lost with all the construction going on. Headed to the Stavropoleos Church next to the plaza where the president Nicolae Ceausescu gave his last speech trying to calm the people down before the revolution but that didn't go well and him and his wife had to be rescued by a helicopter and ... read more

If you never watched Sesame street then you wont understand the title. Its Count Dracula on Sesame Street and he counts like that. It made me laugh when I wrote it so thats all that matters. Its VAMPIRE day... little cloudy but no rain...been looking forward to this day trip for a while now. Woke up ready to go.. grabbed food and caught the bus to Bran Castle known more for Dracula's Castle. It is situated in the city of Bran about 45 min bus ride from Brasov. Dracula is based on Prince Vlad Tepes also known as Vlad the Impaler. (Prince of Wallachia) His fathers nickname was Dracul and traded is two sons one being Vlad to the Ottoman Turks. Vlad was always beaten and abused since he was apparently a stubborn child. Then finally ... read more

I got to the hostel around 8 am from the night train and I was exhausted I luckily got to check in early and I took a nice long nap till about noon. It was a rainy day in Brasov and very cloudy so I grabbed my umbrella and started to explore the little city. It was going to be hard to compete with Budapest. Budapest was just an amazing city and definitely one of my top 3. Ok back to Brasov. Something I didnt know is that Transilvania is a county not just a city in Romania. I always thought it was a city and that's where Dracula was based out of. Well anyways Brasov is a city in Transilvania which is pretty much in the valley of two mountains, one very large one and ... read more

Woke up around 9 am, packed, ate and started my walking of the city. First up was the Massive 4 story market right off the Danube and Green Bridge...yes the river is Green and looks amazing at night. The Market was like a huge warehouse with tons of shops and food. I just walked through to the back and back around just to get a glance and I bought a patch of the country flag. I then took the street tram to the Jewish Quarters where there was an amazing memorial for Hungarian Jews. It was a willow tree that was all silver metal and the hanging leaves were like dog tags with all the Hungarian Jews that were killed. I walked to the Opera House next and just took a few pictures of the Lobby ... read more

Day to explore. Well I learned first thing that Buda and Pest were two different cities at one point. The side I was on for the Hostel was on the Pest side. I started off with some good Hungarian Breakfast....Eggs with cheese and meat. I then walked to the train station the get my ticket for the night train to Brasov, Romania for Tuesday night. I took the metro straight to the Castle on the Buda side and started the walk around. It had some fabulous views of the city and the Danube River (which separated the Buda side from the Pest side). I started the personal walking tour at the Vienna Gate.. walked my way around seeing the huge National Archives... Small prison where Lajos Kossuth ( led the war of independence) was held.....a Hilton ... read more

Im exhausted. I woke up, packed really quick and hoped on the tram to the train station. I didn't feel press for time until they came on the announcement on the tram saying that we had to take a detour to the train station because of the Marathon that was starting. Got to the train station about ten minutes before departure time. I like when I first ask a question and the lady says "Sorry no english" Then I sit down and say beautiful day outside, in hand gestures, ha, and then they start talking in English and we have a full conversation. I guess people are just scared of me cause I'm an Intimidating American. haha. Well she explains to me that there is work on the railway so we have to get off at ... read more

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day.... Checked a few emails..ate some breakfast and then off to explore. Took the tram into the center of the city. This plaza splits the upper town (old part) from the lower town (new area). I went to the tourist office and got a self guided walk tour. I decided to walk the old town part first. I have seen tons of cities and dont care to much for all the modern buildings so I wanted to make sure that I see the old part at least. First up was a nice little hike up to a beautiful cathedral that was surrounded buy huge castle like walls. Walked around that area for a little then went to the open market. AWESOME. They tore down all the houses on Dolac to ... read more

Couldn't sleep last night cause the rain woke me up and I ended up watching some show on my laptop. I finally went to sleep around 3:30 am....woke up at 1130 with my Aussie friend checking into my hostel. It was Raining so hard...all day ...rain...rain...rain. We were planning to go out to a club tonight so we just chilled to see how the weather would turn out at the night. We went into town and he got his bus ticket and I was going to reserve my seat for the train to Budapest, but it turned out I didnt even need too. So i pretty much just got rained on for no reason. When we got back we went to the grocery store for a few snack. I bought a bottle of wine and some ... read more

I woke up around 10 am.... grabbed the free buffet breakfast...and checked out. I hung around the hostel for a little while and uploaded tons of photos onto facebook. I walked around the hostel and took pics of all the graffiti on the walls of this little sub city. Caught the 2 pm train to Zagreb and Ran into and Aussie friend and we hung out on the train with two Croatian girls. One of them were about 7 feet tall. They told us some good places to go to and see. The train stopped twice for boarder patrol. I got my first two stamps in my passport traveling on train. YAY. Got into Zagreb about 530, Nice evening. The hostel is a like a town home, very comfy. Its about 15 minute tram ride out ... read more