Dave and Josh are…
In Brasov, Transylvania.
My biggest regret from last night is not taking a picture of Josh. The man passed out face down the instant he stretched out on the train bench (a truly uncomfortable creation). The jetlag was working in his favor as no matter how many times (4) that assholes (customs agents) woke us up in the middle of the night (2-4am) he would instantly fall back asleep. I meanwhile struggled a little more before finally finding some bizarre comfort in lying with my face in the crack where the seat meets the seatback. This is I think my 4th overnight train this trip and my 9th all time and each one is a new and uncomfortable experience.
The train didn’t reach Brasov till 11am which was good because we are now in Transylvania, the heart of evil, the home turf of the soulless undead who feed on the blood of the unwary. And who wants to arrive here afterdark with the werewolves bloodthirsty howls carried by the wind and the beat of the vampire bats around your head?
We barely made it off the train before we met Maria. She is not a vampire. (Whew) Maria is apparently something of an institution in Romania and she overwhelmed us in a high speed stream of conscious storm that saw us in a cab to our hostel, with Josh’s return ticket established and us in debt a half a candy bar before we even had a chance to respond to her opening pleasantries. It took us most the cab ride to reconstruct all that just happened. This must be how some people feel meeting me for the first time when I am already worked up and in mid-rant.
We got no respite at the hostel as Maria’s understudy did a decent imitation as she rattled off all the amenities of the place as well as diagramming everything that anyone could possibly do in the town of Brasov. We fear we may have stumbled into a very friendly house full of speed addicts.
Maybe it was a contact high but we soon felt invigorated enough to not only go out and wander the town but in fact hike to the top of the hill behind it. The goal was the Hollywood style “Brasov” sign at the crest.
The hike was excellent; it felt very much like hiking in Colorado. Beautiful green trees, little undergrowth, a great view over the town.
The only downside was the weather had turned so cold there were occasional moments of snowy ice.
That wasn’t problematic till we reached the crest when without the protection of the trees the brief flurries of snow packed more of a punch.
But they came in waves so we could watch the snow come and go which was quite cool against the striking backdrop of the mountains. The view over the valley was even better. It was like looking over Sim City. It was large enough to see all the details of houses, stores, streets etc, and small enough to clearly see it in its entirety and past it to the fields and mountains beyond. Transylvania is simply beautiful from on high.
The Hollywood sign is awesome too. I don’t quite understand why they have one but I’ve grown used to not really understanding Eastern European motivations.
Its ok though cause I’d just make idiot hand gestures anyway.
The trip down involved more slipping than the trip up but more of the high quality of conversation that Josh inevitably brings, ranging from our predictions for the future of Russia’s relations with the West to barrels of snakes in the sky and the to be expected discussion of vampires.
Starving by the time we returned to town we got food at a strange little courtyard restaurant and it was there that again one of those moments that makes you question everything you knew as fact. DID YOU KNOW SCHNITZEL ISNT A SAUSAGE?!?! Are you kidding me??? I’ve never heard of something that sounded more like a sausage as schnitzel. Its like finding out Budweiser is actually a milkshake, or that Betty Crocker is actually malt liquor. Despite my shock and disappointment it was quite good.
So were the beers and therein lay the problem. A full stomach of food and beer after a sleepless night in transit and multi-hour hike hit us hard and somehow our “lets sit down and relax for a little while” turned into a three hour nap and it was all I could do to stagger up for a few hours to watch some atrocious Romanian soccer on TV and silently castigate this group of Italian backpackers in the common room for sucking at life.
I shouldve castigated them more thoroughly as one of those bastards snored louder than any human has ever snored before. He kept Josh from sleeping and me wishing a vampire would come and bite this guy, there is no way the undead would snore like this.
These catch up sessions are exhausting!! Very cool that Mormon Mom is following you! Pound for pound the most amazing snorer I’ve ever run across was Michelle (yes, your cousin) as a preschooler. Windows would rattle. Love you more than socialist amphibians