Last night we left Budapest and took a night train to Brasov, Romania. I didn't expect things to be so different here, but they really are. The night train was alright, kind of cramped but the bunk beds were better than any of the hostels we've stayed at. Jessica and I were watching a movie on her mini-computer when the cabin door flung open and a train attendant sharply demanded something in another language. Everyone gave him their passports and tickets for inspection so we did too. About an hour later the door flung open again and another train attendant asked [View Full Entry]

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Until a few weeks ago we had been riding through countries so massive that border crossings, when they so seldom happened, seemed interestingly quirky at worst. When we met with our dear friends in the Crimean, we knew that one way or the other we would be crossing several international boundaries in only a few days. We thought this quite irksome as Julie and JP had to be in Bucharest for a flight by the morning of the eleventh and delays were not needed. We planned to take a ferry from the Crimean to Odessa in order to skip the few [View Full Entry]

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Varna to Bucharest was an absolute mission!! I went to the train station in the day to get a seat reservation for the 10pm train. I was told by two people this wasn't necessary so went on my merry way to the beach. However, when I came back at 9 I tried to get on and was told I did in fact need a reservation... However, as it is during high season, all of these had gone as Romanians and Bulgarians headed home from their holidays. I was told by the conductor, who said he didnt know was interrail was, was [View Full Entry]

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Budapest - Brasov So, to finish up Budapest first: After a Sunday night of beers and Palinka at the hostel, we stumbled out into the bright daylight of Budapest for a final exploration before taking the train away. Lunch was definitely order of the day, oversized portions of Schnitzel and Chicken Kiev was deeeelicious. We then attempted to visit the Terror House (Museum) in order to take advantage of its potential air conditioning, but, closed on Mondays. So we walked for ever and ever up to Hero's Square. Thinking we were clever we decided to take an alternative route back to [View Full Entry]

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7/26/09 Austin: It has been awhile since we last blogged, and we have a lot to update on. We have been traveling through Romania for the last two weeks. We went to the Transylvania Alps, near Sinaia, and braved the weather to hike to the top in very windy conditions. We also spent a night in a freezing cold Cabana at the top of the mountain. The views are beyond words in the beauty of flat topped mountains at about one mile high. ----- We saw the most extravagant castle so far called Peles Castle. It use to be owned by [View Full Entry]

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Way back in the 80's, Steph (as a little girl in love with gymnastics) watched a movie called Nadia about the famous Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci. So when we first moved to Europe and made our hit list of 'must-see' countries, Steph put Romania on (out of a Dracula curiosity I seconded it). I've been to Bucharest a bunch of times for work, and since this time I was going on a Thursday/Friday it was perfect for the girls to meet me for the weekend. Steph was extremely brave attempting her first flight alone with Dahlia but totally survived with the [View Full Entry]

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I have to admit that the only reason I was interested in visiting Transylvania was because of the Dracula movies. But Ill have you know that it wasn't because of Dracula, but rather the castles and the mountainous scenery the movies showed. And although it wasn't quite like what I had imagined, I certainly was not disappointed. The train ride through the Carpathian mountains was jaw-dropping; mountains that were over 2500m high, lush forest all around, following a beautiful stream and every now and then a beautiful castle. After arriving in the city of Brasov, I once again followed a backpacke [View Full Entry]

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Brasov is said to be the most visited area in all of Romania, but you would never know. The town is tiny and is easily explored on foot. The train ride from Bucharest to Brasov is pleasurable; you wind in and out of mountain villages in the Carpathian Mountain Range. The mountains, like back home, are covered with trees but are relatively low, because of their age. But there were still ice cream coatings on some of the peaks. Unfortunately the rivers are used as a secondary trash bin, so every now and then when some water gets caught, you can [View Full Entry]

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OK I think we left you in Krakow on last blog and it was a short one - sorry about that but time and interenet access wait for no-one. From Krakow we caught the overnight train to Budapest in Hungary - we got lucky and had a 4 berth cabin to ourselves so great sleep. We stayed at a lovely hostel - the Budapest Bubble (google it) with a lovely girl called Olga in charge. We had a great time at the thermal pools - spent a few hours in there and it was nice and relaxing though we probably broke [View Full Entry]

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Greetings! From Istanbul we caught a night train north to Bulgaria. We nursed a bottle of Raki (Turkish Ouzo) with our cabin mates before nodding off, only to be woken by border guards at 3 a.m. and told we needed to walk to the far end of the station to have our passports stamped. As we exited, the conductor pulled Jub aside, stuffed 15 Euros in his pocket, and asked for three cartons of cigarettes from the duty free store. So after getting his stamp, Jub headed to the store, but realized the conductor hadn't specified a brand. No big deal; [View Full Entry]

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