I got into Bucharest in the morning and was happily surprised that I could read everything. All the signs, even the ones that weren't in English, made sense. I followed them to the bus, and tried to buy tickets to Gara de Nord. Even though I could read everything, I couldn't understand a word the woman at the counter was saying, so we switched to English. I made it to the station, and had just missed a train to Brașov, so I bought a sandwich and sat, waiting for the train. The train station was all over the place, and felt like what you'd imagine finding in a much poorer country. I got on the train, and arrived in Brasov about two and a half hours later. The hostel seemed pretty nice, and it had a dog, Zara, which was a plus. I started chatting with a couple girls from Denmark and a girl from India, and we went out to dinner with a couple other people they had met that day. I met a guy from Knoxville who had been in Macedonia working with the Peace Corps (he didn't know Mile). At first he seemed a bit pretentious, as though he thought his experience with the Peace Corps gave him some understanding of the world that everyone else lacked, but as the dinner went on he relaxed a bit, and ended up being pretty cool. It took us almost two hours to get the food, but they brought out free appetizers to make up for it. One person refused to pay because their food came out last. After, we all got ice cream and walked back to the hostel and took advantage of the daily free drink. We hung out in the kitchen and all chatted. One of the Danish girls made a fortune teller and some people wrote truth or dares inside. We took turns and I got "tell an embarrassing story," so I told the story from the train in Vienna. There were a bunch of French high-schoolers who had left cut up melon in the kitchen, and one girl got "eat all melon." She made a valiant effort, but in the interest of her own survival, she didn't finish it.

The next morning I slept in, and was woken up around eleven by Mary calling to make sure I was still alive. It was great to finally get a full night's sleep after early days to catch the train to the ice caves, the bus to Bratislava, and my plane. I walked into the old town, and after not finding any of the restaurants the woman at the hostel desk had recommended, I sat down at the terrace of a Hungarian restaurant. I got chicken paprikás with spaetzle and mint lemonade, which was delicious. Paprikás struck me as something that would be very easy to make at home. I'm definitely going to learn how to make it when I get home. Then I bought a bottle of water, walked back to the hostel, and headed out to Mt Tâmpa. The path up was smooth at first, but got rockier and steeper as I climbed up. At the top, I walked around the Brașov sign and then climbed up to the very top. The view across Brașov was beautiful. The mountain was steep enough that much of the old town itself was obscured by trees, but the view over the countryside and the mountains was marvelous. I hiked back down the switchbacks to the city walls, and walked around the old town. I walked through Catherine's Gate past the old Synagogue, which was closed, to the Black Church, which was closed, and onto the square to the history museum, which was closed. Monday seems to be the day of rest in Romania. I ate a simit on the square and listened to a podcast, waiting for the free walking tour. The tour was led by Alin, who I will always remember as Romanian Dylan Marron. He took us to the Black Church, the Strada Sforii, through the city walls to St Nicolae's church and the first Romanian school. At the end he had us all do the horah. I ran into Erika and Andy, a Canadian couple who we had all met at ice cream the night before, and who were going on the castle tour from the hostel. I also met Norm and Chris, a couple from Wellesley who were traveling around the world to celebrate their thirty-fifth anniversary. After the walking tour, I went back to the hostel, but since everyone there had already eaten, I walked back into town to get food. I was going to go to La Ceaun, but they were about to close, so I got a kebab from Dabo Döner, which was easily the best kebab I've had outside of Germany. For 15 lei, which is less than four bucks. Back at the hostel, I hung out with Nick (basically Aussie Jake Grist), Parm from Canada, Naomi and Frank from the Netherlands, and a couple other people. We talked about everything from traveling to euthanasia law in our respective countries.

I got up earlier the next morning to take the castle tour with Parm, Nick, Erika, Andy, Juan, and two people from another hostel, Jeppe and Klara. The first stop on the tour was Peleș Palace in Sinaia. We waited in line for around an hour because they only let people in on tours every twenty minutes. Our tour was in English but it was shared with a Slovakian tour group whose guide repeated everything in Slovak. The English-speaking guide spoke softly, usually to the other your guide, but the Slovak tour guide enunciated and projected. For a lot of the tour I felt like I understood more from her than from the English-speaking guide. Despite the crowds, Peleș was cool. I especially enjoyed the themed rooms on the inside, which were designed in styles of other cities. We toured the Venetian, Florentine, Moorish, and Turkish rooms, and all of them looked like they had been stolen from around the Mediterranean and whisked up to Romania. Next we went to Bran Castle. Before going in to the castle, we all grabbed a bite to eat. I got bean soup and a couple mici. We walked up to Bran castle, which was pretty from the outside, but not too interesting on the inside. It was packed with tourists, but wasn't pretty, historical, or informative enough to feel worth it. The views from up in the castle were nice though. The last stop on the tour was Râșnov Castle, which was mostly in ruins. We took the tourist train up the hill, past the Dino park, to the castle. We walked into the castle and climbed up the first tower. Inside was a display about the castle and about World War One. Then we all climbed up the hill to the top of the castle complex, where there were shops selling small souvenirs. From the top of the castle ruins, there was a beautiful view over Cristian, the village between Râșnov and Brașov. After the tour we went out to La Ceaun on the square. I split an appetizer platter with Klara, and split a meat platter with Nick. The appetizers had bean dip, tarama, and eggplant salad. The meat platter had grilled chicken, beef, sausage, and pork belly, with veggies, potatoes, and polenta. Nick used to work in wine, so he picked out a local wine for us, and we split a bottle. I was on the fence about it. It was fruity, with sour cherry, and at first very nice, but had a touch of a Tylenol aftertaste. Other than that, everything was delicious. They kicked us out when they closed at eleven, so we walked around a bit and sat down at an Irish pub. I kept chatting with Klara and Naomi for a while. I was amazed by how much they've traveled and how much they're planning to travel. Klara has lived in five countries and been to many more, and Naomi and Frank are planning a trip around the world next year. Nick is traveling around and is thinking about looking for work in Berlin or London, but has no solid plans yet. At first I thought that my full month of straight traveling was a lot, but now I feel like I have nothing on them. Now that I can see that it's possible, I have new goals to set.

My last morning, I decided I would try to go into all the places that had been closed on Monday. I went into the Black Church, which was cool to have seen, but not the most impressive. Ditto for the Synagogue. St Nicolae's church was small, but more impressive to me, since I had never been inside an Orthodox Church before. The first Romanian school was also interesting. I saw some original bibles there as well as the first document to use the Latin script for Romanian. Between the Black Church and the Synagogue, I went to La Ceaun again. I needed to have the plum dumplings before I left. I ordered goulash and a drink called "Hugo" with prosecco, elderflower liqueur, and mint. The goulash was delicious and hearty; I'm definitely going to start making Hungarian food at home. The drink was light and refreshing. The plum dumplings were basically knödel with plum sauce. They were good, but a bit heavy and not as delicious as the hype made them out to be. On my way back to the hostel, I walked past the Brașov Psychiatric and Neurological hospital, which I realized is probably where Noonoo worked when she lived here. I went back to the hostel, said goodbye to Zara, and caught the bus to the train.