Brasov

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July 31, 2015 - (afternoon) - I took the 3:30pm train to Brasov, and it took an hour. At the train station I had to get a bus to town, and when I arrived in town, I met Markus, a Swedish guy also trying to find our location on the map. We found it and walked together to my hostel. He had nowhere to stay yet, so he tried my place. It was just starting to rain. The woman told him there were no places left so he headed out. She also told me she had no record of my reservation and that there were no beds free. I showed her the emails I had from her colleague to the contrary. It was the first of many disappointments in Boemia hostel. She talked to her boss and eventually gave me a 5^th bed in a 4 person room, which seems to normally be used as a couch. I normally don’t stay in dorms anymore, but this place had such good reviews and it seemed that a hostel staff could help me with transit details, so I decided to give it a try. I should have just stayed at someone’s house again. This place really just wasn’t good for me. And three nights! As soon as I was in the hostel, it started to pour outside. Good timing. But the streets were flooding – it was a crazy amount of water in a very short time.



After I checked in, I had to rush out to make the free walking tour at 6pm. I’m glad I did. It had stopped raining and was quite nice out. This tour guide was also a girl – like every other one this summer – and she was also funny. One of the girls from the hostel was there, and a few other people I talked to on and off. We walked around some of the old town as well as some parts outside of the city walls. Around 7:30pm or so, it started to rain again, but nothing quite like what we had earlier. I stuck it out until the end, and ended up going for dinner with Erick, a South African guy living in England. We headed to a restaurant the guide recommended with Romanian food. When we got there, it was already 9pm (I had been expecting to be back at the hostel by then) and there was a line. But I saw two Scottish girls from our tour about to be seated, and I told them to make it four – so we all sat together. It was really nice actually, just really late. It took ages to get served. I didn’t get home until 10:30pm and I had missed my skype date. No one was in the room, so I took a shower and got ready for bed (like a hostel loser). Went to bed at 11:45pm or so, and still no one in sight. I woke up at 4:30 when someone came back and never really slept well again after that. I hate dorms.Plus, my earplugs are crap. Lesson learned – do not buy earplugs at the dollar store. And there is no time to change hostels since I’m leaving early tomorrow morning to meet Eric to go to Bran castle.

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