A Vacation Complete
Its 3:00pm on June 10 in London. My flight to Los Angeles leaves at 4:05pm. I finished my first book sometime last week between Cluj-Napoca and Brasov; so today I picked up some mindless Dan Brown novel. Angels and Demons reads like The Code, and that is not a compliment. At least it keeps me busy in the air.
I decided to fly back to Budapest from Bucarest. It saved me a day. So this morning I woke up at 3am so I could get to the airport by 5:15am. My flight was just 1hr. I couldn't check in to my afternoon flight to London; it was way too early. So instead I found a bench and took a nap. My flight here was nice - British Airways is always nice.
Bucarest was my last city. The weather was bad the whole week. It rained just about every day. I can't say I did much sightseeing. I think I ran out of gas last week. Seven weeks of starting fresh in a city a week is a hard pace. So really I ventured around the city just enough to eat and see a few sights.
As far as my vacation goes, I would say it was a success - all of what I expected. Right now though I am looking forward to a Starbucks Venti Traditional and a night in my bed. See you all soon.
Next Stop - Bucarest
I've just now boarded what I hope is the last train of my trip. I leave behind me Brasov, home of Count Dracula's castle: Bran Castle. This ostensibly means I have been surrounded by other tourists since I arrived. No worries - I'm now off to Bucarest, Romania's largest city.
You'll be glad to know that my wounds are healing. Today I shaved my face for the first time since going to the hospital. I couldn't shave too close to my stitches, so I have a one inch square patch of hair, offcenter, between my lip and chin. Funny huh? The swelling and bruise on my temple is just about back to normal.
When I jumped off the train here, I was immediately assaulted by those who make their living supplying us transients accomadations. So I agreed to let this random romanian guy drive me to a couple places before I settled on an apartment in the center, walking distance from the shopping and important sites.
I'M A TOURIST My time in Brasov was dutifully devoted to visiting the tourist stops. Yesterday I saw the summer home of Romania's
short-lived monarchy. Late in the 19th century the parliment invited a number of european royal relatives to act as Romania's head of state. Many rejected the offer, but a German guy accepted and built these castles/homes. They seemed more like movie-star homes from the 19-teens. Cool, but not castles. Anyway, this guy and his heirs ruled until World War II ended. Not long.
VLAD OR DRACULA Today I went to Bran to see Vladimir the Impaler's home. I'm not quite sure how this place inspired the Dracula charcter and legend; it is anything but spooky. Still, it is 700 years old - pretty cool.
RAINING AGAIN?!?! I haven't been especially lucky with the weather. It started to cloud up yesterday, and it has been raining continuously since last night. Now I have been told to expect it to continue until I go home. No problem - I will just try to find some indoor activities in Bucarest.
CAN'T TRUST ANYONE So, today I checked out of my apartment before going to Bran Castle. The lady who owns the place let me leave my large backpack there while I was off
sightseeing. She and I agreed that I would pick it up at 4pm.
When I got there this afternoon, she asked if I wanted a ride to the train. I said yes, knowing it was not a free ride, but also knowing I would need to pay a taxi as anyway. Her friend jumped up. She is a 65 or 70 year old woman; she looked like anyone's grandmother.
We made smalltalk on the way to the station, and when I got there she opened her trunk. I put on my bags, and then she made the international sign for money, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together. I asked how much, thinking it would be around 30,000 Lei. I've been back and forth to the station a couple of times, and that was the average. She asked for 100,000. That's highway robbery!! But its only the equivelant of $3; so I paid it, laughing as I walked from the car to the station. You can't even trust a grandmother here.
ROMANIAN SALZBURG Overall Brasov is one of the more quaint towns I have visited. I might be inclined to call it Romania's equivelant to Salzburg. But now I'm starting to miss the feeling of a big city. Bucarest is my last stop before heading to Budapest from which I fly home. I expect to find a city there.
Emergency in Cluj-Napoca
Well, I was starting to think nothing overly exciting would happen on this trip. Quite a letdown compared to last year, huh? You know the adage: "be careful what you wish for..."
Right now I'm crowded into a romanian train from Cluj-Napoca to Brasov, near the home of Bran castle fabled in Bram Stoker's Dracula. But I won't get there until tomorrow; so let's get to the story.
My last newsletter left off with me on the train to Cluj. I hadn't eaten, and the train ride was 8 hours long. I was hoping that I might jump off if it stopped for any length in time.
NEW FRIENDAfter I finished writing my newsletter and transmitted it here, I headed for the hallway to scope out food opportunities. I saw it was dusk, and I randomly met this woman from Berlin. I told her my sad story, and she offered me some of her snacks. I didn't want to take them, thinking I still had a chance to snag something at a stop. She told me that there was a film festival in Cluj-Napoca, and her girlfriend was one of the organizers. We bullshitted a bit while I waited for my opportunity to eat.
Then the train stopped near Romania to let on the hungarian border guards - it was a long stop, so I threw on my shoes and grabbed my camera bag. I jumped off the train just to be rejected by a border guard. I asked if I could get some food, and he just pointed his finger back at the train. So I climbed back on. About 20 minutes later the hungarian passport control finished checking all the passengers on the train. I looked out the window to see if I could make a run for the cafe - no dice. According to my new friend from Berlin, my border guard asked another officer if I could get off, and he was rejected.
My new, but very eccentric german friend gave me a few snacks which I gobbled gladly. We spoke a bit - then she went off to sleep a bit. I read my novel.
At about 11:30pm the train stopped. We were scheduled to arrive at 5 past midnight, so I didn't think it was our station. I walked into the hallway to find my german friend - she assured me it couldn't be Cluj-Napoca, since it was so early. Then her girlfriend came up to her and they hugged. She said, "Adam!! Let's go. This is it." Neither of us realized we changed time zones on the way.
I saddled up - remember my 175lbs of junk - and exited the train. Her friend asked if I needed a ride, and I reluctantly went with it. She had a romanian guy she must have hired to drive and translate, and he helped me with my bag. He offered to help me find a hotel; I accepted; and he did. He drove me to Hotel Belvedere, high on a hill overlooking the town. He ran in and confirmed that they had an available room.
So I ran in with my bags and got a room. They didn't ask for a credit card or any cash. Strange huh? After a quick change of shoes and shirt, I headed down to a cab.
YOUR NOT IN KANSAS, DOROTHYI wanted to go dancing, but I didn't have any Lei, local currency. I'm in a country where very few foreigners go - so the cab driver had no idea what I said when I asked for a currency exchange. I used every word I knew to describe it, both english and russian. He randomly drove me to some strip club, probably because most foreigners ask to go there. Nice thinking, but I would definitely need currency there anyway.
He drove up to the nearest hotel, and we ran in to find an interpreter. After some back and forth he took me into town. We found an exchange - and I was a millionaire. 30,000 Lei for one dollar. I must have gotten 8 million Lei. Nice. Then I went back to the cab, and my method of cummunication included shaking my ass and saying "dance" or "disco". Before you know it I was in a club.
FORESHADOWINGI had a good time. The music was good. And I managed to dance until 3am. There was a bar brawl about 2am, after which everyone went back to dancing. Hmmm.
FIRST DAY IN CLUJ-NAPOCAI woke up to a wonderful day. I walked around my first Romanian town, taking pictures. I was happily surpised by the quaintness of this place. And after a good nap I was again ready for some clubbing.
I grabbed a cab back to town, and went to the same place I was the night before. It was completely dead. I had a gin-tonic and contemplated my next move. After a quick conversation with the bartender, I found out that the place to be tonight is called Euphoria. She gave me somewhat comprehensible directions; I finished my cocktail, and I took off.
NOT QUITE EUPHORIAI cruised in, grabbed a cocktail, and started dancing. Just like the night before, the bar was packed. You touched 6 people at a time wherever you went. And I was having a fantastic time. About an hour after getting there I felt some pushing from behind. I started to turn around and some guy slammed me in the face. I'm not quite sure if I was hit once or twice, but I looked down and saw blood on my chest.
When I went to the bathroom, I inspected my face. I wasn't happy to find a half-inch gash between my lip and chin. I knew I needed stitches just looking at it. I grabbed two paper towels, of course the most sterile things on earth, and pressed them to my wound.
When I got back to the dance floor it was remarkably empty. A couple nice college students took an interest in my bleeding face, and one of them took me to the hospital. The doctor was asleep, but the night guard woke him up so he could sow my face back together.
Not the most clean hospital - I was not exactly thrilled to be operated on there. And I forgot to bribe him before he worked on me, but after a quick cleaning and sowing, I was as good as new.
CHANGED PLANSI originally intended to go straight to Bucharest the next day, but I wanted to stay where I was for a bit to make sure my face was ok. My head around my temple is swolen and bruised, and my stitches are frankenteinian. So I delayed a couple nights. Mostly I just frequented a few coffee shops and kept a low profile.
OFF TO BRASOVI meant to go to this city a little later in the trip, but it seems a little better than Bucharest right now. Bran castle is there, and hopefully the weather will be good for photography. Right now I'm about an hour away. I'll keep you posted though. Let's hope I can stay out of the hospital for another week.
