So, remember how I was complaining at the fact that the a/c wasn’t turned down enough in our room in Bucharest?

Well, I talked to the guy at the front and they brought it down from 23° to a whopping whole 21° so, of course, the room was hot again last night.

Since it was just Nathan and I in the room when we turned in just before midnight, I changed to one of the empty beds across from me hoping to get a waft of air from the a/c unit that was stupidly placed directly behind our bunk bed.

We turned out the lights and not even 15 minutes later, I heard the door code being beeped from outside.

Oh crap!

Someone was checking in at this time of night and, of course, they were assigned to the bed I just moved into to.

I just closed my eyes hoping they’d just move him to the bed I came from but, no, they tapped me on the shoulder and made me move everything back to my original bed.

I felt pretty guilty since they now had to remove the sheets and linens in the other bed and remake it for the new guest.

In my defense, I really, really wasn’t expecting anyone to checkin that late at night.

Of course, all this moving back and forth didn’t do wonders for trying to cool off temperature was.

Oh, and that mini battery powered fan I bought yesterday, yeah, it sucked.

Anyway, eventually I did get to sleep and I did sleep better than the previous night, but, still it does have me rethinking our one night booking there in a few days when we come back down from Brasov and head into Veliko Tarnovo.

Wow, what a fun blog to read, eh?

Oh, it’s just Todd whining about being too hot again.   Whoop tee doo!

Anyway, moving on…

Moving on

Yup, we were literally moving on.

Today we checked out of our hostel in Bucharest at 9am in order to catch a 10:00 train heading up north towards Brasov where we’ll be staying the next 3 nights.

We got to the train station and tried to buy a ticket on the machine but the train at 10am we wanted was sold out and the next one wasn’t til 12:30.

Crap!

I dropped the ball on this one.   I really should have booked the train ticket online ahead of time.

Nathan came across a local outside who told us about another train company that also runs the route but does tickets via attendant on the train as opposed to selling them on the ticket machine.

I remember vaguely reading something about two different train companies running so I was somewhat confident we weren’t heading into a total scam.

It’s funny when you travel, your guard goes up all the time and you just assume people are trying to scam you.

Anyway, he led us all the way to where the train was waiting to depart and, sure enough, he asked for a “tip” for helping us.

Now, he actually genuinely helped us, so I had no problem giving him a tip.   Before I could, though, Nathan had given him 100ron ($33) which was a bit more than I would have given seeing as how the train ticket was only 32ron ($11).

Anyway, I paid half and we were soon on our way our of Bucharest.

Sinaia and Peleș Castle

We decided to stop in the town of Sinaia on our way to Brasov to check out Peleș Castle.

I had read up in advance and knew there was a left luggage office at the train station so we were able to store our heavy backpacks there while we got lunch and explored the castle.

I also read there was a $5 taxi option that took you up the hill in just 5 minutes or you could walk uphill for 40 minutes.

Yeah, I think you know which option we chose…

Five minutes later, we were in front of Peleș Castle.   Before going in, we stopped at one a handful of restaurants in front of the castle for lunch.

I had the Royal Platter which was a plate of various meats including chicken and pork along with some pickles and salad.

Time for the castle…

Now, through all my travels I’ve seen quite a few castles so they start to blend into one another and seeing one isn’t as special as the very first time I saw one with my eyes wide open.

We went inside and toured the castle, taking many photos and, luckily, avoided all the tour groups who must have gone through earlier in the day.

At just before 3:00, we grabbed a taxi back to the train station to catch the soon departing train to Brasov.

Of course, the train was sold out.

Of course…

Anyway, we hung out in the train station for a bit over an hour and took the next one.

The nice thing about days like today is that we really didn’t have much planned and we could kind of take it easy and come and go when we wanted.   If there were any delays, no worries, we had all the time in the world.

Hello Brasov!

At around 5:30 we arrived to the small town of Brasov.

As we walked out of the train station, you could feel the difference in the weather.   Sure, it was still hot but the humidity was gone.   There was a nice breeze as we walked down the street.

This was home!

After a nice, long shower and change of clothes, we headed into the town to a high rated eatery I had marked on my map.

So fancy.

I had a couple glasses of Pino Grigio (you know, I like them sweet drinks) and a bottle of Blueberry Juice cause, well, I’ve never had blueberry juice and so I needed to try it.

For dinner I chose the Chef’s Special – Wild Boar medallion in a hazelnut crust with mushrooms, mashed potatoes and a caramelized cranberry sauce.   I mean, listen to the ingredients!   How could I not have it?

I also started with stewed mushrooms with onion and polenta cause, ya know, it sounded like a different thing to start off with.

Overall, the bill between us was about $100, so while it wasn’t cheap, it also wasn’t unreasonably overpriced.

After stopping for a little cup of orange gelato and watching an impromptu jam session on a stage in the main square, we got back to our hostel at 9:30.

A nice easy day without a care in the world.

And we’re here in Brasov!

Tomorrow we go to the infamous Bran Castle where Count Dracula is a legend.

Should be fun!

Balkan Trip 2023, Trip Journal, Brasov, Romania
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