Ana-Maria Brasov

... we got to Bran and we boarded a very interesting bus where it was a dirty, rickety bus with threadbare curtains. Half the people looked like village people (not the band!) and the others were tourists. They had this crazy Romanian (I am assuming) terrible pop music playing on the loudspeaker. It was interesting watching out the window what you would see and there are guys walking their cattle down the street, carts being pulled by ...

... volunteering in Romania and spent some time on the internet where I was pleased to find out the swans had progressed to the next round of finals. We went for a walk into town via the black tower and then the white tower which overlook the town and found a place with a good view of the stage for the evening if necessary. We explored the town some more and eventually squeezed in to a nice pizzeria. Emphasis on the squeezed. After tea and a few beers we left and went to ...

... pork. No no, Mr. Romanian waiter. I want pork with mushrooms and bacon. He said they don't have that so he brought me plain. After a tragic altercation, I got chicken stuffed with cheese, bacon, mushrooms, and peppers. AWESOME. Then we made friends with an British couple who live in Hungary and some friends they made that day - an Irish couple from north of Niagara. We had a great night talking, laughing, and mostly drinking Romanian wine and finally crawled out ...

... suddenly realised that time had quickly passed us by and we were running late for our train back. We were both starving though so we made our way back down from the citadel and managed to find a little pizza joint that did take-out pizza. We got to the train station just in time and then settled into our seats and ate our dinner. 2.5 hours later were back in Brasov. Had a couple of nice cocktails and then headed home early so I could get up early to back for my trip to Bucharest.

... wasnt deported. I got home at around 3am and realised that i probably wouldnt be getting up in time to go to the office to get bingo sorted. I've had problems sleeping all week because there are so many dogs around the neighbourhood which seem to enjoy barking at eachother all through the night. I even tried taking a sleeping pill the previous night to try to get a full nights sleep. Funnily enough, this morning i didnt hear a single dog bark until i woke up to my alarm ...

... years. that was sweet. the monastery was boring. the castle was bran castle, i'd been there before, and it was ok the fortress was pretty sweet. unfortunately, at that point it had started raining and it was windy, so it was good mood weather, but that's it. i'll upload some pictures. it was fun. and then we went back to the hostel, packed, and got ready for a twenty four hour train ride to istanbul.

The train to Romania from Hungary was our best yet. In Hungary, sunflower fields are everywhere. It seems like with each new country that we visit, the train conductors become more unaware of our train pass. They look at it for awhile, shrug their shoulders, smile, and move on. On this train, the conductor was carrying a huge bucket of cherries which he offered to us, along with an English language novel called "Ghosts of Africa". Katie got a ...

Ok I know I have not written in a while but it has been a busy three weeks. When I last left I was leaving for Bucarest in Romania, it was a 26 hour train ride but I figured it was not going to be to bad I had a book and it was an overnight train so I will be sleeping for part of it and it had a dinner car so I wont go hungry. Here is where I was mistaken, when i left Poland I had 30 polish dollars I figured that would get me enough food for the trip, and use up all my ...

... The friends that I have made here are really great and i'm having a wonderful time hanging out with them. My host family is still too cute and I love giving my host dad hell all the time! He is a hoot and loves the banter back and forth, especially when it's in front of the extended family and friends! Okay, so i really just wanted to give you a quick update and upload pictures. I hope you are all doing well...please keep your updates coming..i love em!! take care, amber

Brasov is where all the tourists go in Romania, in the heart of Transylvania, Dracula country. So I spend a day doing that, walking through the old castle and all. But the real attraction for me was just seeing a country in the heart of Europe that is still village-based and peasant-based, with lots of arts and crafts ...