Welcome to Transylvania!

Sorry about the lack of photos... The last couple places we've found email have old computers, so I haven't been able to upload any. I'll try to get this done soon. Perhaps tomorrow? Perhaps not....

We're in Brasov, Romania now. What a beautiful city! We've been enjoying walking the streets and the nice, forested paths around town. We're going to a free orchestra concert tonight. So cultured!

The train ride from Istanbul was great -- having our own space made all the difference. It was a small space, but it had two full-size beds, a table/washbasin, and a mirror. We bought groceries in Istanbul, so we were set for the ride (including having a bottle of Turkish wine!). The biggest irritation of that ride was the 4 hours it took to do immigration and passport stuff between Turkey and Bulgaria. They woke us up for this at 3am, and we didn't get moving (or sleeping) on the train again until it was getting light. The Bulgarian officials harrassed other passengers a bit (at least they did with the Romanians in the room next to us), but they left us alone for the most part. In contrast, the crossing from Bulgaria to Romania took 5 minutes, and we didn't even have to get off the train! The scenery was stunning in southern Bulgaria, with wooded hills in full fall color. Northern Bulgaria flattened out into vast fields, and we could have been in South Dakota! We crossed over the Danube River at the border of Romania and stayed in the flats until Bucharest, the capitol city.

We arrived there late (around 8pm), so we decided to stay the night and then continue on to Brasov in the morning (so as not to repeat our 3am wandering in Pushkar). Little did we know that we as we wandered the dark streets of Bucharest with our packs that all the hotels and hostels in the city were booked full (though we did find one for 280 Euro; about $400). A cold front was also in the works, so it was freezing cold and really windy. I don't even have a jacket! I pulled my rainjacket out (for warmth... it has certainly rained plenty since China, but the umbrella has been the rain tool of choice) for the first time since China. After 3 frustrating hours of trying to find a place to stay, we got some help from a girl who worked at a hostel, and she ended up calling a place in Brasov to make a reservation. So three hours after we left the Bucharest train station we ended up at it again to catch the last train that night at midnight. Long story short, we got back to the train station to find that there wasn't a last train of the night.... So we sat around in McDonald's until it closed at midnight, then moved to the train station waiting room (where at least it was warm). Sarah actually slept some (and looked pretty cute bundled up and sleeping on the bench), but I stayed awake and guarded the bags until 4:30am, when they kicked everyone out for some bizzare reason. Luckily, McDonald's opened back up at that time, so we moved back over there and waited until our 6:30am train. What a night...

The train ride to Brasov was beautiful. The forested mountains were cloaked in thick fog and drizzily rain and full of small, cute towns. Exactly what I thought Transylvania would look like! We arrived in Brasov without any problems and eventually found the cheapest accomodation in town (about $30). We have a great little room overlooking a side street in the old town, with the church clock tower visible from the window. We've spent the last day and a half wandering the streets and finding the best espresso and pastries in town. What else are you supposed to do in Europe? =) Tomorrow we're going to take the tram to the top of the hill above town and maybe take a bus out to a fortress nearby. There's also a castle here that for a brief time housed Vlad Tepes (Count Dracula), but it's aparrently touristy and not really worth seeing.

The vegetation here is interesting in that it is very reminisent of Juneau (and northern North America in general). There's maple, alder, pine, Sycamore, and cottonwood amongst the trees, and the shrub layer includes blackberry, blueberry, twisted stalk, high bush cranberry, red osher dogwood, and various saxifrages. It feels very familiar; a feeling we haven't had much of in the last few months. The birding has been surprisingly good for the little I'm doing of it. Around Brasov I've seen European Roller, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Syrian Woodpecker, Eurasian Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Willow Tit, Chaffinch, Common Buzzard, European Robin, Eurasian Jay, Red-breasted Flycatcher, and Song Thrush. The train ride up here produced a couple surprise species: two Black Storks and (most surprisingly) a Great Bustard in a vast area of plains or fallow fields north of the Danube River. The train had stopped to let another pass, and I was able to see this large, rhea-like bird quite well. They are considered a species in danger, so I certainly didn't expect to see one, let alone from the train!

We're going to Sighisoara next, where the Count was born, so perhaps we'll see more of the Dracula hype at the next destination.

Later! M!