Transylvania and a Crazy Bus Ride

Today Luiggi and I woke up around 6:45 am to get an early start to our day because we only had until 16:00 to see Bran (Dracula's) Castle and get back to the train station...

Walkway Leading up to the Castle...

Inside Court

Spectacular Views!  The castle was built on a hill so that it could see its enemies coming from miles away...

Dracula's castle was pretty cool. There was a lot of history about the region of Transylvania inside; but, I enjoyed reading about vampires and the story of Dracula the most. Although it was a cool place, I couldn't help but wish that I were that at night and that it was more erie and vampire-like.

After we got back to Brasov, we visited a small museum that was kind of boring. Afterwards, we rushed back to the hostel to grab our bags and head to the train station where we were supposed to grab a train to Bucharest... BUT... The train was late and we needed to get to Bucharest before 8 so we could catch another train to Sofia, Bulgaria. So we scrambled and found a bus to Bucharest in the nick of time.

So far the bus ride has been crazy! We held it up so I could pull money out of the ATM. Then, we forgot to lock the back of the bus, so the bus driver had to stop and make sure nothing fell out. And just now, Luiggi's seat broke so he had to switch seats... I am pretty sure everyone is making fun of us in Romanian :)

Hopefully we make our train at 20:00 in Bucharest! The amazing race continues!

Brasov, Romania

BRASOV!!!

Brasov was a really good experience. Upon arriving at our hostel (at three in the morning), we were greeted by a friendly staff and a wide variety of travelers. There was a woman from Uruguay, two Australian guys, and a Norwegian hippie-like guy who is thinking about dodging the draft in his country. Apparently he just got called in for service. Anyways, after a night of hanging out and talking, I went to bed and got about four hours of sleep before heading out to see the city this morning.

The city was really beautiful. It looks medieval. There were several beautiful churches and scenic views so I'll have plenty of pictures to upload. For lunch we went to this Romanian restaurant where we ate Salmare (I think) which is pork covered in sour cabbage; a specialty here.

Tonight was spent looking for ways to get to Istanbul, we might have to take a train back to Bucharest, then to Sofia, and then on to Turkey. I'm hoping we find a cheap rental car place. It'd be much easier...

Adding Photos!  I think that this will help you understand how unique the city was...

The Church outside of our hostel...

The narrowest street in Brasov (String Street)

Me in the City Center

The Black Church

View of the City...

Different Views of the Black Church...

Me in an Old Cemetery!  Spooky!

A really cool white church inside of a cemetery...

Another Cemetery...

A Day In Bucharest

Today was a great day. Luiggi and I tried to wake up early, but couldn't because of our night out. At 13:00 we left the hostel and started wandering around the city. We had printed wikipedia articles about Bucharest, so we decided to go to a few places that were mentioned. First, we went to the Parliament Building. Apparently it is the largest building in Europe and the second largest in the world.

Afterwards we met some locals who proceeded to show us all of the rest of the tourist spots on our list. They were very nice people.

Bucharest was fun, but you can tell it is very poor. There is a lot of graffiti, homeless people, and stray dogs. A stray dog actually followed us for a few blocks, barking at us until we fed him some of the Kabob's we were eating.

Not the same dog as in our story... This one was actually nice

As you can see, there is a lot of poverty...

We did see a few interesting and entertaining things along the way.  The following pictures are kind of a recap of everything we saw in Bucharest:

I thought that this building looked like one of the castles after Tetris!

Probably one of the cooler things I have ever seen made out of plants :)

Statue of Vlad the Impaler - Getting us ready for Dracula's Castle in Transylvania!

And finally... This dog is a little too curious!

The day ended on a train to Brasov. We sat in a cabin with a junior figure skater from Romania. All in all, it was a good day...

KFC

Just had to say I'm at KFC! Soooo American :)

Bucharest

Last night we arrived in Bucharest, Romania's capital city. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Luiggi's friends who showed us a great hostel to stay at. After getting settled in, Luiggi and I spent a few hours talking with the lady at the front desk who gave us advice on where to go and taught us basic Romanian phrases. Communication here hasn't been too hard. We have gotten lucky and found a few people who speak English or Italian (which Luiggi and I pretend we know - we just give our Spanish an Italian flare). We have also used our Spanish here quite a bit. Anyways, I just find it really cool that one can communicate in many different parts of the world.

Last night we took Alexandra's (the lady at the front desk) advice and went to El Gran Comandante, a local hangout. It was this really cool bar that was plastered with pictures, especially ones with Che Guevarra. We spent a majority of the time wandering around and just observing (since it is hard to communicate). Overall, it was a very interesting experience. What I have been learning is that people are people. No matter where you are, people, for the most part, do and act the same way. We all enjoy the company of others, we sing, and we dance :)

Today we didn't wake up for breakfast, so we are off to get some food and do a little site seeing!

My First True Italian Meal!

I had a layover in Bergamo, Italy, so Luiggi and I decided to check out the city and grab a bite to eat. The town was called Citta Alta. It is an old city on top of a hill. In fact, to get there, we had to take a cable car!

A picture of me in the city

Cable Car

Anyways, the restaurant we went to was amazing... We split a bottle of wine and goat cheese and liver ravioli. Normally I'm picky, but I tried to enjoy the culture :)

Me at the awesome restaurant!

Right now I'm on a bus heading back to the airport, so its off to Bucharest!!!

Amazing Race with Ryan Air: Part II

I'm on the plane with only 5 minutes to spare... on my way to Milan! Why do I always cut it so close?