Montclaire Brasov

... closed, though the rest of their berth-mates were visibly hot and sweaty throughout most of the four hour trip. Surely they must have been amused by my sighs of misery and ineffectual hand fanning.<br><br>Brasov is a lovely old Anglo-Saxon town. Our rubbish guide book said that everyone holidays there; however, it was not at all crowded in early June. We enjoyed just wandering around and relaxing in the old town ...

... to that the sight of a dead dog in the road every mile or so (stray dogs are more common than sparrows here) and the absolute chaos in each town we passed, we are not much impressed. So far we have seen a few lovely villages and hundreds of depressed shabby ones. We had absolutely splendid views of the Southern Carpathians, when we could spare a millisecond to snatch our eyes away from bumps, potholes, traffic lights ...

... my second nights sleep would be free if I slept on the train to hungry that I put some Euro aside for, so I bought myself some sleep, time and ... the eggs just aren't lasting long. I eventually got money wired to me waiting to be picked up in Hungary thanks to my wonderful mother, and my father taking what time he could to chase around for my cause as well. It's a wonderful feeling to have the comforts of relying on loved ones to be there for you when you really need them.

... electricity and satellite tv. Although we're sure they're actually paying the subscription. ;-) There was a boy running up the dirt track trying to hold onto a donkey. Chickens and dogs passed us by. In the middle of all of this was a nice new half built house and 6 police cadets from Newcastle in the UK building them. We had a look at the first one and it's a small two floor home with heating and electricity. Then they took us to see the family who were still living in their home ...

... around the house. Im not sure whether she thinks its because i'll get cold or she finds it offensive. Apparently they are all the same thoguh, the other girls sasid they had to start wearing shoes to. So anyway, as i left the office yesterday after writing up yesterdays blog entry, i had my first laugh about it all. Which is half the reason that i wrote it all down, i knew at some stage i would read back over my first day and laugh. Things are getting better. :-)

... had a pint with some of the others. Julien got another call saying later they were going again off a smaller hill and, fingers crossed, I may be able to fly on my own! Met the rest of the group and went to the train station with them, but as they got ready to leave I put my bag in left luggage and told them I would catch a later train or bus. I couldn't turn down the Paragliding! The other 2 guys from earlier in the day came back to pick the two of us up and took us to the ...

Thursday, September 7, 2006 Scenic Mountain Drive to Brasov Midnight Brasov Time Dear Readers: Today is our major long-haul day, so we drag out of bed early and hit the road at 8:00am. We head in a westerly direction from Roman, through beautiful village after beautiful village. This is obviously one of the hay harvesting seasons, and strapping young men are out in the fields swinging their scythes to cut the hay, raking it up, and then piling it into haystacks or onto the ...

... 5 mins to spare, raced around and found what I wanted, paid and literally ran back to the bus (I did't want to be late again). And waited. And waited. And waited. I was furious... we waited another 15-20 mins for several people to meander back to the bus. I could have gone to the haunted house in that time! Pretty much all of us back at the bus on time were angry... especially after Nev's rant a week or so ago. All through the tour, Katie wants us to give ...

... off the bus on our way back to Brasov. After a wander through the town and climbing up to the ridge about the town we arrived at the castle - it has a few indoor bits to look at but is generally like a little village inside although many of the buildings are falling to bits. On the road back to Brasov you can make out this massive cloud of smog over the city - lovely!

... island in the middle of Lake Bled. I learned that rowing a boat with three people in it is a little tougher than rowing a canoe with just you inside. From Bled, we returned to Ljubljana, where we found the first good Mexican food of our entire trip. Hooray! It gives us renewed hope to keep trying. From Ljubljana, we took a train to Budapest, where we switched train stations, then immediately got on another train to Brasov, Romania. In all, we were on trains for about 23 ...