I caught a private maxitaxi out of Sibiu headed for Brasov. A maxitaxi is kind of a minibus, with about 17 seats. It is definitely not as comfortable as a train, but it is a lot faster, and the cost is about the same. I immediately perked up arriving in Brasov. I think I tend to prefer the cities that have some geography to them, and Brasov was hemmed in by tall mountains, a river running along the fortress walls, and lots of spires and turrets. I imagine that Sighisuoara gets pretty Disney in the summer, because it is so damn cute and compact and perfect. Small enough and so well preserved that is manageable to really see in a short period of time, ideal for a tour bus group... in and out, checked off the list. But Brasov is a lot bigger. While the downtown is compact, there are a lot of layers to be peeled away... the town is self sufficient, and people are busy enough, without tourism...

Despite the cold, and snow... and snow... and more snow... I found it a great town for strolling. I sort of need to stroll, as Romania hasn’t outlawed smoking in restaurants, and the smokey environs have become kind of unbearable. So I followed the old stone perimeter wall around the medieval quarter and made my way up the mountain overlooking the city to the north, and snow capped and rugged Fagaras mountains to the south. Beyond the mountain range lies the flats and Bucharest to the south. In the evenings I went to the Christmas market where a Romanian version of Lady Gaga performed for what seemed like the entire city, out on the cold on the square, loving every minute of it. I camped out in a bar playing darts with a couple of young Aussies... and I caught the Manchester Debry at a pub with lots of other soccer fans. It was a nice little stay.

On my last day I made the trip out to Bran Castle, or ‘Dracula’s Castle’... It is the legendary home to Count Dracul, Bram Stoker’s mythical character. You tend to hear a lot about Dracula here in Transylvania, so I will attempt to succinctly recap what I’ve learned for you here.. Bram Stoker, an Irishman, never actually set foot in Trasylvania, or in Romania for that matter... He used Slains Castle in Scotland to craft the setting for his novel... The story was based on the real life Romanian ruler Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler, who suffered some tough times as a youngster in a Turkish prison (use your imagination...), and later as a great warrior took to literally skewering his conquests.... While Vlad Tepes was born in Transylvania in Sighisuoara, he never ruled there, his castle being down in Wallachia... Based on all statues and images I’ve seen, he had a sweet porn star ‘stache.

I hired a car out to Bran in the morning, starting a kind of grueling 24 hours. It was negative 13 degrees out there, or about 9 degrees F. So I walked to keep warm, moving from room to room, turret to turret, doing what I could to keep the circulation going in my feet. I left around 2:00 and headed to the train station, where I caught a 4:00 train down to Bucharest. I had intended spending the night in Sinaia, high up in the Bucegi mountains and home of the famous Peles Castle, but it was Monday, and to my dismay, I learned that Peles was closed both Monday and Tuesday... just too long to wait around, so I continued to move south. I arrived in Bucharest at 7:30 and booked a seat on the overnight train down to Sofia in Bulgaria. It was too late to book a couchette, or sleeper car, so I would need to wait until I was on the train and talk to the conductor.

I wandered a half hour into town, inadvertently learning where the ‘women of the night’ ply their trade... I got plenty of opportunity to practice my Romanian, ‘while I am very much flattered, I am afraid I am going to have to pass’... Eventually I found the historic center and walked around the maze like streets. Like many European cities, the historic center has turned into a compact boozy quarter of pubs, clubs and hostels. I stopped into a bar, had a drink, and headed back to the station to catch my train. Unfortunately the conductor only took cash, so I had to settle for a night curled up on the second class cabin seats, trying to find a comfortable position. There were three seats across, but unfortunately the arm rest only went down on one of them. It took some creative and unconventional distorting of the body to find a few minutes of comfort hear and there... but I woke up to a beautiful sunrise winding my way up through the Bulgarian mountains into Sofia.