Pensiunea Italiana Brasov

Two things you must know if you travel by train in Romania: 1) take only the R (rapid) or the IC (inter-city). Never try the P (personal) train, which takes forever to reach its destination because it stops at every village on the way, and 2) even so, take a pillow or a thick book with you because the ride is likely to take a long while.

It took 9 hours for the R train to cover 300km, from Timisoara to Brasov in Transylvania, so essentially one day is gone. But I ...

... the villagers a quick buck. Yet the best bit of the village was almost completely ignored by the tourist. At the edge of the gardens was what was called the "village" museum, a collection of real peasant homes collected from around the region, with a note explaining where each was from, the occupation (shepherd, woodsman etc) of the "owner" and how each room was used. This was a fascinating little oasis in a sea of tack.

... help yes? Y*u want change m*ney? I change m*ney, v**y g**d rate." N*, we d* n*t want change m*ney. We wand** *utside and mic buys a c*ke f*r 3,300 d*llars. Wants t* be a ****en g**d c*ke. Turns *ut thats ab*ut a buck US. We g* t* the cab rank. The first cabby tells us 20,000. I tell him I w*n't pay m*re than 7,000. He tells me t* have a g**d day, slams his d**r and tries t* run me *v**. The next cabbie turns up. He tells us he thinks it's ab*ut 8, depending *n traffic. We ...

... The volunteer project is run by a romanian guy called Daniel. He speaks english very well. He has pretty much devoted his life to helping people and organises a lot of different projects. He showed us around the village and told us a little about how they live. At the moment they usually have a few families packed into these tiny houses. Because they are all living so closely they tend to fight a lot and its not a very pleasant place to be. The children don't go to school much ...

... for the meeting but nobody seemed to care. Life is very much more relaxed here. I kept thinking.... but theres a meeting at 4 we cant be late. but we were, by about 40 mins and no one cared. Its been weird getting used to the laid back attitude here. Im supposed to be working at a childrens home today. They are not called orphanges. The orphanages are the old big public ones that everyone heard about in the 80's. They have since moved them all out into smaller childrens ...

... to set. Even better, when we finally had to land, John told me not to try to run this time (normally what they tell you to run when you land) and landed so smoothly that we were just set down on our feet. No falling this time! I am completely addicted to Paragliding now, I thought I was after Slovenia, but now so much more so! With the sun starting to come down, we made our way back to the station and the train was delayed so I caught a mini bus to Sinaia. Julien put me in the ...

... what is around the next curve, and wonder just how far we will be going on foot. Around each corner is another staggering view of the gorges, until finally we reach a stretch of road that is lined with stalls where people are selling every manner of touristy junk. I purchase a funny gift for someone who is having his birthday tomorrow and a wooden mask for our own collection. We drive to the top, stopping for photos at a huge rock outcropping and again at the summit ...

We have entered another world now. If you ever come to this part of the world, put Romania high on your list. We didn't go to Bucharest, heard that it was unimpressive and depressing more than anything, but stayed the entire time in Brasov (Romania's second city). At the train station we had a very odd feeling. Erin was a little freaked ...

... in Romania, according to Lonely Planet, and it seems to me that half of them use the train every day. Today was the first time we took a local train, which means we didn't have reserved seating, but it wasn't too crowded. When we were on the train coming back from Gura Humorului, our seat reservations weren't even all the way back to Cluj, they were up to some other town. When we boarded, we had to kick out two men who were in ...

... There is a Dracula Market, a Dracula Bazaar, even a Dracula Erotic Show! They also sell Vampire wine, and there were lots of stalls outside the castle selling scary masks and little ghosts. Tacky, but fun. On the way back to Brasov, we went to see the ruins of Rasnov Castle, which is located at the top of the mountain. It is quite a hike to get there, but our book said that "everyone who makes the trip to Rasnov agrees that it is more interesting than Bran." They need to ...