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Transylvania - In search of Dracula on Valentines.
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The morning in Romania arriving by train in the darkness of the night at the capital, Bucharest, Go and I went out in the big city to catch breakfast together before we part ways and formally say our goodbyes. Before I know it, I am off to Brasov in the center of Romania. I arrived in Brasov and took a bus to the old part of town within the old city gates that was designed in the medieval days. I found my hostel immediately, dropped all my crap off and made the obligatory phone calls to the most wonderful ladies in my life, My mother and my sister, as today is Valentines day - and I am in Transylvania! I spent the first day touring around the medieval town before having to meet with what was left of my friends from Poland. I took a gander into the 'Black Church' as it was scorched over a hundred of years ago in a fire, it was typical to any other church at this point of my journeys. After the church, I walked outside the cities fortress walls where the mote once was hundreds of years ago and then climbed up to the watch towers where scouts could once look at all the land from being tightly nestled in the hills of Transylvania.
After meeting up with the crew yet again we reunited for a cup of hot chocolate in a local bar, and found some affordable pizzas at a café nearby. Everyone in the past few days have been dropping off like flies and we were once again saying goodbye to another friend who was leaving, all that there was left was 3 of us total. I took them for the pretty walk around the outside of the city walls and up to the watch towers before we went back to our own hostels. I met another fellow dorm mate who is from Canada and the next day we took a bus to a town called Bran, where in lied the infamous Dracula Castle! The bus was about forty minutes there and forty minutes back. The visit to what turned to be a very small castle took all but 20 minutes to tour inside and out and we were back on our way. The castle had no mention of feeding the myth on the inside, only those who once resided in the castle over the lands hundreds of years ago. Dracula, the myth, lived there - not the real Dracula. That's right, there is a real Dracula. A soldier who said as a torture mechanism knew how to drive a steak through ones spine without tapping the central nerve which keeps the victim alive and in agony for 2+ days until their death. Dracula the name was a derivative of his and his father's name combined.
It was snowing very heavily throughout all of Transylvania at this point. I met up with Sarah, the last standing friend from Poland and took here and Alex, my Canadian friend, up a funicular up to the nearby hill that overlooked the city, on the hill had a Hollywood sign that said Brasov. The view was beautiful and we decided to hike down the snowy mountain rather then take the funicular back down. It was on the way down that all of us were slipping and sliding on our asses as every bend of the path - I later decided to climb some trees and was feeling free. At the bottom of the footpath there is a very large ice patch covering the stretch of a very steep and long staircase, rather then slipping on the stairs down I convinced my friends to follow me down the slide. After they seen how much fun I had down the slide, they didn't hesitate to scoot down the hill bottoms up. Sarah was on her way out that evening as well as I. We said our goodbyes over a beer and I packed my home back into my backpack and off to the pub I was going to meet some other backpackers from the hostel for a pint before I split to Hungary. Right as I get to the pub I realized that I don't have my check card on me. I had to of dropped the card while hiking, slipping, sliding, or hanging from trees. So in the middle of the night, I made one last ditch effort to find my card. I hiked all the way up that slippery snowy hill by myself and where I though I might have dropped the card, got on my hands and knees and pushed the snow and dirt aside in hopes of finding that card - instead on that hill I found nothing but a path of empty dreams. It looks like I wont by catching my train after all, I have no money. On the bottom of the hill, I slid down the slide... twice, to raise my spirits.
I headed back to my hostel with my packs and plead to stay several nights if needed on the honor system until I have this money situation sorted out. I had completely empty pockets and my only means to get cash was on that hill somewhere. Credit cards are not accepted in eastern Europe without a pin number, unlike the states - therefore I could not qualify for a cash advance. Within the next two days I was in non stop communication with my mother via email who stayed in contact with my bank and my father to do what could be done to get me some cash. I found a torn 20 Euro bill in one of my pockets that I taped up and had payed the hostel for another night and enough to get me to the train station to hop on the train. All I had was 2 eggs I snuck in my bag from the breakfast, 2 Euros from the torn bill, and two days to go - Life sure has a funny way testing oneself and never lets you forget what you take for granted. For 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.
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| 19. | Transylvania - In search of Dracula on Valentines. - Brasov, Romania Feb 14, 2008 (  86 ) |
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