Brasov - not quite so 'Twilight Zone'

Thank you for all your birthday wishes, texts, cards and emails - it is indeed very strange to be 'birthdaying' in such a faraway place as Romania, it just feels like another day!

The weather here is very changeable, one minute the sun is sweltering, the next, black rainclouds appear over the hills and there is an instant downpour, which lasts for the rest of the day. (yes, we wish we'd brought pac-a-macs!) Still, it's a nice city (or 'village' as the Romanians tend to call them), with an amazing central square and church.

Our guesthouse has to be seen to be believed - we are staying in someone's home (Eugene Resinous Jr. and mother) and the decor is very quaint. There are little ornate rugs lining the floors and small tapestries on the walls, of religious scenes and landscapes. When we first arrived, Eugene sat us down at the old antique dining table (with a tartan tablecloth) and fed us apricots on china plates while showing us a map he had drawn of the city, with little symbols of cafes, restaurants, ATMs etc. He is late 30s/early 40s and incredibly hospitable. He studied engineering at college but decided, in order to bring more money in to support himself and his mother, to turn their home into a guesthouse.

His mother is also very sweet, and although looks quite stern and 'motherish', bustles about after us, rushing into our room as soon as we leave and tidying (putting my 'haircare products' onto another little china plate) and heaving our heavy rucksacks around to tidy underneath. If a 60 year old woman can carry them, then we have nothing to complain about!

The city itself is quite small - we are in the residential area, but 10 minutes' walk takes us to the main square. It is surrounded by enormous hills and mountains (Carpathians), which are all covered by trees with thick green foliage - the main one, which dwarfs the others, is called Tampa Massif (and has a cable car running to the top). There is a winding track which goes 960m to the summit, but we were warned not to go in late afternoon/evening as there would be brown bears 'which eat you'. So we won't be doing that.

There is a huge church in the main square, called the 'Black Church'. It dates back to 1385 and is so-called due to a fire which turned the walls black in 1689. We paid 2 lei to go inside, but it wasn't as impressive, having a few German plaques and some moth-eaten oriental rugs. But it dominates the city, and is the main reason tourists visit.

The bear-watching expedition may/may not be going ahead - Eugene informed us that he doesn't tend to take guests bear-watching any more since one of them was unfortunately eaten a few months back. Not really. Apparently, the authorities have decided on a 'clean-up' campaign, where rubbish bins are emptied daily, to reduce the risk of bears venturing near the city. But we may go out anyway, if the weather is good, and fingers crossed we may see one. Might even tame one and bring it back, that would go down well in Customs...

Haven't heard any howling wolves/seen any vampires yet, although could have sworn we saw a Romanian Longhorn dragon circling the mountain-tops on the way to Brasov. Saw a stork yesterday, standing in a field, and plenty of birds of prey soaring above the countryside, including a few enormous eagles. This country seems to be straight out of a fairytale, it's absolutely gorgeous.

Had a look round Brasov this morning, visited a few shops, was followed round and eyed VERY suspiciously by Romanian security guards, we assume because we look particularly dodgy. Still being stared at by the locals, but not on the same scale as Scary Sighisoara - we have learnt to stare back. Lots of gypsies around, pulling carts full of cardboard and rubbish, and children begging for food. There were lots in Scary Sighisoara, especially at the train station - two girls pointed at our bottles of water, so we gave them to them - although one of them wasn't particularly appreciative, and snatched the bottle away and continued to walk with us, repeating 'manja, manja'. They seem to have been taught by their parents how to spot a tourist.

We will be going to a bar this evening to celebrate, there are a few places which serve cocktails (about 1.50 each, not too bad), so we may have a couple then retire to bed! It's been non-stop since we left, so it's starting to catch up with us - these 5 days will be good to refresh ourselves.

Anyway, thanks again for the birthday wishes, hope you're all very well and enjoying the sunshine that we don't have!

So, in true two Ronnie's fashion, it's goodbye from me and it's goodbye from her.

All our love H&M xxx

Entering the back of beyond...

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, two young women embarked upon a great adventure from the distant city of Budapest, in Hungarz. They were excited to be leaving this town as it was distinctly uninspiring and had rotten kezboards, so they prepared to board the 8.15 train to the beautiful country of Romania with much joy and eagerness.

As misfortune would have it, their journey was to be an eventful one... on the 'train to hell'...

They began the day as it was meant to go forth - by consulting a previously-used reservation ticket (for another train) to find their seats, therefore getting on the wrong carriage, as the one they were searching for did not exist. The train began to move - the Romanian folk think nothing of leaving train doors open whilst in transit, so the two young women were almost swept into the pretty Hungarian countryside in htheir search for their seats, but luckily our heroines survived intact.

After much woe, and walking up and down the train looking for the nonexistant carriage, they settled in a compartment with a nice Chinese girl (who was also much perplexed, as the Chinese tend to be) and a helpful Romanian fellow. This train was rather old and tired, and in a humourous way, one of the women commented to the other that it was so old, she wouldn't be surprised if it broke down - how she would laugh at this comment later!

Due to a severe lack of air-conditioning, and a rather pressing heat, the girls were rather uncomfortable. Even more so when the train broke down. There were clanks and groans and loud banging noises, and the train rolled to a stop at the border of the lands of Hungarz and Romania. The train hooted 'SOS' and saviour train-fixers climbed under the train in their hard hats, and within 30 minutes, the train was moving.

The Romanian countryside was beautiful, with tree-covered hills and fields of sunflowers, rushing rivers and quaint white churches nestled in the valleys. It seemed to the girls that Romania was 'the land that time forgot', 60 years behind the rest of the surrounding lands. Farm labourers guided manual ploughs through fields of corn, pulled by sturdy horses under the beating sun. A young boy leaned with all his weight to pull a stubborn cow along to join the rest of the herd. Small hamlets dotted the landscape with horse-drawn carts bouncing along the winding country lanes. Clouds like cotton hung motionless above the far-distant mountains, breaking the azure-blue sky like paint strokes on canvas.

Our heroines passed the time reading their novels, admiring the view and eating bad food like crisps and pretzels - soon enough, after 11 hours, they arrived at their destination of the medievel citadel 'Sighisoara', in the heart of Transylvania.

Off the train they hopped at 7.30pm, with their backpacks and tent, and skipped through the dark, dripping underpass to the hostel, where they were sure hospitality would await. As they entered the reception, a blank gaze met them from behind the desk. A blonde woman stared vacantly at them as they hesitantly stood in the doorway.

'Hello!' They chirped, eager to make a new acquaintance and check in to their abode.
Blank stare.
'We've made a reservation, for tonight?'
'You Andre?'
'No. It's under Amalia'
Much checking of checking-in book.
'You not Andre.'
'No. It's under Amalia. We've booked..'
More checking of checking-in book.
'Amalia Lemp.'
'Yes. Amalia Lempriere.'
'Sit. Fill this in please. Give me passports'

The girls acquiesced and filled in the necessary forms, their excitement slowly melting away. They were told to follow the kind woman up to their room, she opened the door and stood and stared vacantly once again before returning downstairs to her desk. Inside the room, a Belgian man awaited. He was in his forties and rather a creepy man. The room was a four-bed squeezed into a single room, so there was barely a few inches between each bed, three next to each other and one along the bottom next to the bathroom. In which the Belgian resided.

The girls left quickly. They made their way towards the centre of the town, which lay across a wide river. The hills surrounded the citadel, with mist hanging low over the buildings and dusk quickly approaching. The place had a medeival, eerie air, with strange people wandering about, staring at the newcomers with frosty eyes.

On their way to seek out an ATM, they passed a sweet old lady selling flowers. She held the flowers out to the girls, and they shook their heads at the offer. The sweet old lady then growled audibly, menacingly at the girls, as she passed them by. Not so sweet, after all, and possibly the growl was a curse on these sweet young women. Time will tell.

The girls, visibly shaken, found a cash machine and attempted to withdraw money with which to buy food. The cash machine refused. They pleaded with it but it rudely spat out the card and displayed a blank screen.

With aching feet and sore limbs, our young heroines discovered another ATM, which decided to serve them, and proceeded to withdraw money. At which point a group of menacing youths pressed up close behind them, breathing heavily on their necks, giving them the heebie-jeebies, so they hurried up the transaction and found shelter in a nearby cafe for some much-needed nourishment of chicken fried in egg, chipped potatoes and pickled peppers. All around, the town seemed to erupt with members of the Romanian mafia and gangs of youths sporting back-to-front caps and broken teeth. Gang-leaders swaggered along the pavements with their 'girls' hanging off their arms, and odd people with squints and limps emerged into the twilight zone. Doo do do doo, doo do do doo...

As darkness was nearly upon them, the girls hurried back over the bridge and into the hostel, avoiding the girl-gangs hanging out on the nearby corners. They wished to enquire after the internet, as access had been promised, and the vacant receptionist informed them that the reception computer provided the internet. The girls sat down behind the vacant receptionist's desk, preparing to update the online journal they had been keeping and read emails. The vacant receptionist continued to stand behind them and stare vacantly at the computer screen. So the girls decided not to spend too much time with the vacant receptionist, and left promptly. But not before asking whether the hostel offered international calls, as the girls wanted to call their homeland, but the vacant receptionist replied 'No phone.' Right, then.

The girls went to bed, trying to stay awake lest the strange Belgian did anything odd, but, in spite of the loud snores emanating from the man from Belgium, fell into an uneasy sleep until the sun rose the next morning. Whereupon our heroines decided to stay no longer and catch the afternoon train to Brasov, another, larger, more normal, town in Transylvania.

They spent that Friday morning exploring the Sighisoara citadel, and birthplace of Vlad Tepes (Dracula) in the safe hours of sunlight. They climbed to the top of the citadel and viewed the miles of trees and hills all around. They took photos, climbed steps and watched two dogs perform a bizarre mating dance. They were still stared at, as they were very 'different' from the locals, and one man on a stall menacingly called 'He-llo, he-llo' as they walked past, but the morning passed without trouble.

They caught the train to Brasov at 13.53 and, as previously organised by phone, were met at the station by a kind man called Eugene who runs a small guesthouse with his mother. Visions of Norman Bates and the Bates' Motel ran through the girls' minds but all was well - Eugene really was a nice man and his mother met the girls at the door (telling them to wipe their feet in Romanian sign language), so she wasn't sitting in a rocking chair upstairs in the attic.

So the story, my friends, ends there. The girls are safe and well, and plan to go bear-watching at the weekend with Eugene. As their plans have changed, they wish to let you all know that they are staying in Brasov for 5 nights, leaving for the capital on 19th July.

(Lots of love to all of you... H&M)
(P.S. It's Helen's birthday tomorrow, in Romania, woohoo!)

Buda..Pest

Hello one and all!

Zesterdaz was a busz daz (do zou know, we forgot about the yás and zás, oh well, think zou have the hang of Hungarian now anzwaz), we must have walked for miles around the citz. Itás split into two halves, Buda and Pest - Buda being made up of onlz 6 districts, while Pest is 16. We walked around Pest. And got verz tired.

Made our waz to the Danube first thing in the morning, having walked through the main shopping street (surprised to see shops like H&M, C&A and Marks and Spencers - there is also a discount store stocking cheap English clothes, with a big Union Jack on the front, selling New Look, Dorothz Perkins etc). We decided not to venture over the river to Buda, as the Danube was verz wide and there isnát much to look at over there (apart from a Palace and a big church). Walked up to the Parliamentarz building further up the river, which has been built in the tzpical Gothic stzle and is 260m long (verz big) and the best view is from across the river. Where we didnát go. But we got some nice pictures anzwaz!

Explored a few more streets on the waz back to the hostel, old buildings and houses. The architecture is, like Prague, prettz amaying (amazing..), the higher zou look at a building, the more impressive the architectural details become.

We have found in Hungarz that restaurants/cafes are prettz non-existant - instead, there are hundreds of drink bars and self-service eateries, which work out a lot cheaper than choosing from a restaurant menu. Also reduces the possibilitz of ordering tripe if zou can actuallz see the food. Meals are cheaper than Prague, costing about 2.50 each for food and two drinks. Havenát zet tried goulash, but if we get a chance before we leave, we will. Have so far eaten American, Chinese and Italian (but thatás all thatás available, so weáre not wimping out!). We did trz true áPolishá dumplings in Poland but found out thezáre not as tastz as thezáre made out to be.. Still, we had to trz! (or try)

Went to the yoo todaz (yoo! zoo..) - Budapest yoo has a verz good reputation, so we decided to spend the afternoon there. Itás about the siye of London yoo, with a butterflz house and aquarium - a great daz out. We patted gayelles (er.. gazelles), went into an enclosure with little tinz monkezs (thez were the siye of zour index finger), saw polar bears being fed underwater (felt sorrz for them in the 30 degree heat). So the yoo was fun.

Going to Sighisoara in Romania tomorrow, an 11 hour train journez, but it will be a nice break from the walking and sightseeing. Hoping we donát get another embarrassing experience like the last train - got our passports out for passport control, the Hungarian policeman took them and flicked open the photo page of one.. there was something inside, we couldnt work out what it could be as he inspected it - he just looked at us with an amused expression, a wrz (wry) smile on his lips as he passed them back to us - found out it was a small packet of plasters. What thez must think of us English... keeping our plasters in our passports... we are an odd race...

Anzwaz, hope zouáve enjozed our last Hungarian post, back to the regular English kezboards from tomorrow (hopefullz! Although when we get to Bulgaria, with the Czrillic... oo-er)

Will post tomorrow, internet-permitting

Lots of love to all of zou

Helen and Amalia xxxxx

Kutna Hora Ossuary

Kazimierz-Prague

Kazimierz (Krakow Jewish Quarter)



Pretty buildings in Prague, taken from Old Town Hall tower

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Budapesht

Hello!

Wow, MumSue, long post! Well done for getting the hang of the comment-posting, youre getting very adept!

Before I get started, I have to let zou all know that this is a Hungarian kezboard. Therefore, there are certain letters in the wrong place. Like the y. Which, on this is a z. So if there are a few tzpos while we're here, itás because Iám a touch-tzpist and I canát be doing with changing the routine. Also (') is (á). If zou speak the words Iám tzping, zou maz even sound slightlz Hungarian...

Well, we've survived the long, arduous train journez to Budapest. Weáre in a verz odd hostel, itás verz verz cheap but rather... basic. For those of zou with an itinerarz, itás not the hostel we were meant to staz at. We changed as the Grand Hostel was miles awaz from the centre of town. This, however, is much closer. But itás verz small, itás quite grubbz, and feels like someones house. Still, itás onlz for 3 nights.

Zesterdaz (Yesterday), we had a final walk around Prague, visited Wenceslas Square (which is quite famous, apparentlz, but not much to look at) and sat bz the river in the afternoon to read our books (Amalia - Alanás old copz of Eragon, Helen - Wild Swans) and take in the atmosphere. The sun was far too hot to do verz much, inner-citz was baking so sheltering under the trees was the onlz option. Managed to get photos on CD and will trz and post them on here after this post (If weáre allowed, the limit on internet is 25 mins, told zou this place was rather odd...)

Splashed out in the evening on a proper meal (have been living on bread, bread and more bread for the last few dazs, and donát want to get gout), had pasta (enormous plate!) and a big plate of mixed vegetables all for 1ö pounds. Went back to hostel and spent 2 hours trzing to book beds in hostels for tonight, using the phone and speaking to foreigners who spoke little English, which became rather confusing. Kept checking on football score, which was plazing in the bar downstairs, and managed to catch the penalties at the end. Zaz Italia!!!

Had an earlz night, got up at 6am this morning to catch the 7.37 train to Budapest. Rather uneventful journez, had a lovelz elderlz Slovakian man sitting next to us in our compartment who made sure the window was open enough for us to be cool, and pushed our bags under the seats when thez got in the waz of our feet... Also, the joker, I put mz book down to get passports out for border crossing, when I picked it up again, he tried to change the page to confuse me... he was verz sweet.

Cyech (Czech) countrzside is verz similar to English - the same rolling hills and lush green fields with rivers running through - it made us feel at home. Slovakian (we passed through Slovakia to get to Hungarz) countrzside is verz FLAT, but with a few hills/mountains. We spotted a wonderful monasterz on a hill, verz secluded, with trees hiding it from view. Hungarian countrz is much the same as Slovakian, quite flat. Another train would have taken us through Austria, through Wein, so bit disappointed we didnát get to see some snow-capped mountains (although in this weather, I verz much doubt there is anz snow anzwhere.)

Still keeping up with the yás and zás?

Havenát explored much of Budapest, as itás late and itás verz hot and oppressive. It looks big. We will be venturing to the Danube tomorrow morning, as we have to be out of the hostel bz 1öam.

For MumMina - health-wise, weáre doing fine, a few headaches due to the pressure but nothing major. Helenás feet have swollen to twice their siye (size) which feels rather strange, like I am now bigfoot. Backpack-wise, thez are ok, weáre not having to carrz them verz far at the moment, onlz everz few dazs, so itás a pain we can bear. If we couldnát leave them at the hostel, then weád find it hard. Slowlz getting used to the currencies (thank zou MumSue for the info, especiallz for the pound, shillings and pence, it will stand us in good stead for the trip), the denominations seem to grow in each countrz we enter - 1 pound in Hungarz is about 440 Hungarian Florints, so we have just paid 18000 Florints for 3 nights staz (about 44 pounds). We feel like millionaires!

Anzwaz, we are going to go out and find somewhere cheap to eat (Budapest is a lot cheaper than Prague, which was catering solelz for tourists so drasticallz hiked the prices) and will attempt to upload some pictures for zou all to see this evening.

Keep up the comments, itás reallz nice to receive them as we are slightlz in the 'travel hump' stage. The furthest weáve been from home so far!

Lots of love
H%M xxx