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Can click on the larger version for a few notes on the trip.

Buying a Turkish rug

No, I didn't buy a Turkish rug. Anyone that knows me well enough to actually be following this blog, knows I would likely never spend money on such a thing...though I am evolving in my appreciation and willingness to acquire such things. But I'm not there yet.

I didn't go to Istanbul planning to buy a rug, and I did not want to spend my time there shopping for one. But the touts on the street are pretty good at roping you in. The first time I went into a rug shop, I was just doing it for the experience to learn a little about rugs, and check out their sales techniques, which turned out to be mostly cajoling and coercion, at least in the first shop. What surprised is that they thought I would be susceptible to that sort of thing...do I look weak and easily manipulated? Hmm. Furthermore, when I'm traveling alone like this I dress little better than a bum. $6 sunglasses, $8 shorts, a $12 shirt I've been wearing for 5 years, and a beat up pair of sneakers: absolutely nothing about my appearance (other than perhaps my age, race) would give the impression of affluence...but I guess you never know who has money, and the fact of my presence in Istanbul is something of an indicator of wherewithal and worldliness to be interested in such a thing as a rug.

At any rate, after an apple tea (tasty) and a short intro on what makes a good rug, I was offered one I liked for the bargain price of $2400. I can't even remember what the rug was made of, but it looked nice. It was about the size of a twin bed. I thought $2400 was ridiculous and he eventually came down to $1200 before I threw out a single number. When I finally decided to leave and mentioned in my way out the door that I would never spend more than $500 without my "wife's" approval, he then offered it to me for $501. What a scammer.

After that I had no intention of setting foot in another rug shop, but after a strange happenstance political conversation on the street as I stood there eating a kebab with two Turkish-Kurds and an American-Iranian national that ended with the Iranian (who was clearly gay) inviting me to dinner and a Turkish bath later on in the evening, the two Kurds followed me and "warned" me what that guy's real intentions were. I laughed and said not to worry, that despite my curiosity to pick the brain of any person with a connection to Iran, I had no intention of following through on the "date" we made for later in the evening. We all laughed and the Kurds proceeded to give me a tour of the Blue Mosque, in Spanish no less. After 30 minutes of that, I felt a bit obligated to at least see their family store, so in I went into another rug shop.

This experience would turn out to be much more educational and positive, though again, of course, I walked out empty handed. Things I learned: Turkish rugs are double knotted, unlike Afghan and Persians which are single knotted; a rug must be 100 years old or more to be an antique; rugs can be made of silk, wool, cotton, or any mix of these elements; knots per square centimeter can vary considerably; the Chinese are in fact copying these rugs and moving into this market; and lastly, legitimate sales people will probably make their first offer no more than double the actual price they would take.

The rug I was interested in was a silk/cotton mix, about a meter squared in size. Would have looked great and surely lasted a very long time, however, my semi-offer of $500 was not accepted and he would not go below $1350, though if I had put $1000 on the table I'm sure he would have taken it. Probably even $800 but I will never know. His original price was $2200. Nice guy and he devoted nearly two hours of his time to me with no pressure. I almost felt bad not rewarding him for his efforts. Almost.

Milan

I had a single day for Milan and by the time I got there I was a little tired of tourist activities. I did, of course, take the time to go see the Duomo, but didn't really do much else, so for this entry I will simply point out a couple things I noticed walking around the city, the best part of which really was soaking my hot and aching feet in a cool fountain in front of the Castello Sforzesco, a major tourist attraction/museum complex.

Two-wheeled vehicles

In Milan there are lots of two-wheeled conveyances, ridden by businessmen, deliverymen, everyone really. One does not necessarily expect to see so many scooters in a city that seems to be fairly wealthy. Of course, with gas around $8 a gallon and beautiful weather, why not? The motorcycles and motor-scooters on display range from Harleys, to BMWs, scooters with roofs (see picture), you name it. All were pretty nice though; style is important in Milan, so everyone rides a nice looking vehicle...even if it is just a scooter. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many women walking around carrying motorcycle helmets...but mind you, these aren't tattooed, overweight, chain-smoking, leather and jean clad women...the motorcycle babes in Milan were, well, pretty hot.

Dogs

It wasn't so much that there were lots of dogs in Milan, it was that they were in the restaurants I went in to. When I stopped at a McDonald's for an ice cream, (I ate at McDonald's more in this three-week trip, than I did in the past year at home...but this is a common phenomenon when I travel.), a man allowed his dog to bark for several minutes as he sat there slowly sipping his coffee alone. Unbelievable. But then, in places like Italy where the fertility rate is so low, dogs are the new children. And it's considered more or less acceptable for a child to cry in public, so why can't a dog bark? Of course, I think it's not only ridiculous that an animal (particularly one that eats its own feces) be allowed into a restaurant, but also amazing that it would be permitted by the management to sit there in bark incessantly. And there was management nearby in a position to have said something...this was Milan: a shirt and tie clad employee was standing at the doorway of the restaurant. Ah well, it guess it was my choice to eat there.

Costs

Of course, I have to point out the fact that I paid the equivalent of $21 for a piece of pizza (it was a large piece however) and a half liter of Coke. This was not at a restaurant on the main drag or anything, just a normal cafe outside my $30 a night hostel, a 30 minute walk from the main sights in town. I'm really not sure how people afford to live in these places. The pizza was excellent.

FCO

I flew to Rome's main international airport, Fiumucino-Leonardo da Vinci for the first time the other day. I flew in from Istanbul around 8am with an hour or so to make my connector to Milan. It would end up being enough time...but only just. Ending up in Italy was not part of the original plan, but due to flight flexibility/costs I decided to go there for a day on my way home.

Exiting the plane, I had to clear security again in order move onward to the next flight. Nothing unusual about that, and I eventually moved through security...very slowly but surely. The funny part came when it was time to clear passport control. They had exactly two windows open for non-EU passport holders, which was hilarious given the huge number of people moshing their way through on a Monday morning at 8am. No lines to speak of, just a crowd of people trying to push their way to the windows. An angry woman would come out and yell at us every 5 minutes or so to make a proper line...or at least that's how I interpreted the Italian she spoke. No one listened...but then many of us probably had no idea what she was saying since anyone that spoke Italian probably had an EU passport and was passing through passport control on the other side without even having to wait. Nothing I could really do other than laugh at it all and try wheedle my way forward.

The whole things makes you wonder why. Why a country like Italy, that depends so much on its tourist industry, would allow such a disgraceful situation to persist. A lot of it you can just sluff off to culture I suppose. But that seems a little too convenient to just blame it on a disorganized, distracted, inefficient, and lazy culture...though those things may all be true. Incidentally, on the subject of culture, I will mention here that Alitalia flights I took were the first flights I have been where the pre-flight safety video warned people to "remove your high heeled shoes before exiting the aircraft in the event of an emergency evacuation".

Anyway, culture aside, I'm thinking that Italy in this situation is comparable to the star quarterback on the football team. When a guy is really good, the powers that be are likely to accept his foibles, whatever they may be, just to keep him on the field. Italy is the star quarterback of the tourism industry. Its sights, history, geography, weather, food, fashion, style, language, and yes, even people, are just that good. You can try to stay away if you want, complaining about the inefficiencies and ineptitude of the public sector workers...but at the end of the day, it's you that is missing out if such things keep you away. So given that people are not going to stay away, there's not a lot of incentive for them to improve I suppose. And what difference do such inconveniences make on peoples' decisions anyway...I mean, when I went through passport control in Helsinki there were more guys on duty checking passports than there were people in line. Now that makes for a quick trip through...but it and other examples of Nordic efficiency are not going to make a difference on whether I come back.

In the end, it's all part of the fun, and I suppose I should thank the Italians for being so disorganized...makes me feel like I've got it together by comparison.

Hagia Sophia vs. Duomo de Milano

I visited these two magnificent structures within a few days of each other. These are two of the largest cathedrals ever constructed...but other than the fact that they both are or were cathedrals, not a lot in common exists between them. For me, the visit to Hagia Sophia was powerful - it's easy to see and feel the history inside its cavernous halls. HS has survived the ages and multiple changes in ownership and use...today it is no longer a church (as it was for 900 years) or a mosque (as it was for nearly 500 years), but rather stands as a museum of Byzantine art. Il Duomo is the new kid on the block in relative terms...having been completed in 1965, though its construction took 6 centuries. HS, in contrast, was completed in only 6 years, in the year 537. 6 years vs. 6 centuries...if that does not illustrate the difference between yesterday's and today's "Romans" I'm not sure what does.

Duomo is very gothic and heavy on the style side, with its ornate spires and gables. HS, on the other hand, is much simpler, but considerably more majestic in its end result. Both structures have many persons buried in them...but in HS thankfully they don't actually show the people as is done in Duomo. Whereas Duomo has many large paintings hanging on either side of the nave, HS has its famous mosaics, which have been vandalized by Latin invaders, covered up by Muslim conquerors, and finally now somewhat restored. That they have survived at all is something of a miracle.

In Duomo you have a striving for superficial perfection. HS is far from perfect and has no such pretension with its fading red paint on the exterior. Inside, HS shows its age with its uneven floors upstairs, damaged mosaics, visibly deteriorated walls and ceilings, and graffiti written by unknown Viking invaders from the 9th century. For me, visiting Hagia Sophia was a kind of step back in time. I only wish I could have stayed longer within its walls.

English

If you want to travel, you need English. The level of penetration of English into various parts of the world continues to impress me. Granted, I have been spending my time in heavily touristed areas, but even in the less touristed areas, such as the Asian side of Istanbul, I found the service industry people spoke some English. Other travelers I met all spoke English with a reasonably high level of proficiency (with the notable exception of the Spaniards, not surprised by that), and local young people throughout Eastern Europe all had a basic grasp of the language.

When you hear a guy holding a Turkish-language city guide speaking English to a guy holding an Arabic-language city guide, you know English has really become the world's lingua franca.

Istanbul

It's easy to see why this place was selected as the seat of several empires, and as a result there is much to see on the historical side: churches, mosques, museums, Roman ruins, palaces, etc. However, the Istanbul of today holds just as much of interest with its huge bazaars, winding cobblestone streets, people from all over the world, East Mediterranean cuisine, and of course the spectacular scenery around the Bosphorus that is easily enjoyed from the bridges, ferry boats, or from land as it quickly rises up from the sea. The wonderful weather in September and low costs only add to the charm. Truly this is the land where East meets West, and the setting could not be any better. The city is just hilly enough to make it interesting and allow for beautiful views of the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara, but not so hilly as to make it difficult or taxing to move around in.

Varna

Getting to Varna from Brasov took most of the day. I took a train to Bucharest, which I had considered visiting but decided not to do to lack of time. At the Bucharest train station, I was unsure what to do and had initially planned on taking a bus from there down to Ruse, just on the other side of the Bulgaria-Romania border. That might have been a good option, but I ended up taking the train...a very slow train that took nearly 4 hours to complete the journey of some 45 miles. But since I would have had to take a cab to the bus station and then find a bus from there, it seemed worth it to hop on the next train to Ruse, which it was I did.

Seeing that a train was headed down to Sofia (with a stop in Ruse) but leaving in just a few minutes I decided to enter the train without a ticket and buy one on board. However, the train ticket collector emphatically would not let me on the train without a ticket. So...I waited until he turned his back and got on anyway, a couple of cars down. When he came to collect my ticket later, he gave me a wry smile but was otherwise cool about it. Normally, when I've bought on board they write me up a receipt, but in his case he just charged me a slightly high rate and seemingly pocketed the money without giving me anything.

We crossed the Danube into Bulgaria after awhile. The pics for this entry are from the crossing. Nice nuke plant complex in the background behind the Bulgarian flag. At Ruse, everyone had to remain on board the train until passports had been stamped. Once they took care of mine, off I went to the bus station just next door, having had enough of trains by that point. Ruse, from what I little I saw in the 100 meter expanse between the bus and train stations was a bit of a dump. In the bathroom of a shop in the bus station, I was greeted by a squat toilet, as I saw in Ukraine but never in Romania. Not that I actually used it in that way, but there it was. The bus ride to Varna took about 3 hours from Ruse and went through some nice looking countryside. Plenty of agriculture and nice rolling hills. From the Varna train station it's a 20 minute walk downtown, but a nice one. Varna, at first impression, was a much nicer town that Ruse, and held up to that first impression during my single day there.

Varna is essentially a Black Sea resort town and has plenty of nightlife. The beach and water were pretty good, if a little cool, but overall very refreshing. I took a quick visit to the old Roman Baths not far from the south end of the beach, which is worth the $2 entry just to poke around for a half hour. Costs in Varna were about average for this trip, which is to say, pretty low. I wish I had had more time to visit other towns or stay longer in Varna, but when you're traveling alone, you tend not to linger and I had no time to linger in any case. Much of this trip was like that - acknowledge and move on - type of mindset.

From Varna it was an overnight bus to Istanbul, which was fairly costly as I recall, maybe $40 for the 9-hour trip with a middle of the night crossing of the Turkish border, which cost me $20 as an American. I arrived early in the morning in Istanbul, linked up with a connector bus (offered from the same company for no charge) and was shortly in Taksim Square in the center of Istanbul, with a full day of sightseeing ahead of me.

Brasov

I made the stop in Brasov as I needed somewhere to stay in route to Bulgaria. The only thing of note I did was visit nearby Bran Castle. The day trip out from Brasov is easy enough to do, and the castle is a bit more along the line of what one thinks of when thinking of Dracula's Castle: lots of nooks in crannies in that place, hidden staircases, etc. Not really a very scary place though, at least not on a sunny day in early September. "Dracula" never really spent any time there, and the Castle is now owned by American heirs of the former royal owerns.

Drive to Poenari Fortress

I'd always wanted to see the "real" Dracula's castle, which is located at Poeinari in Transylvania. Poenari Fortress (as it's known, which makes more sense than calling it a castle) is located a ways off the beaten path, not too far from the high ridgeline that divides Transylvania and Wallachia. I'd thought about trying to combine buses with hitching a ride to get out there, as hitching a ride is very common here, but decided with the limited time I had I would rather rent a car, which would enable me to stop and see other things, as well as experience driving in Romania.

Starting from Sibiu, it took me a good three hours to get out to Poenari. The road I chose leads up the Carpathians, across the divide, and then down. I passed an alpine lake, Lac Barea, as well as the man-made Lake Vidra, driving across the dam that made it (built in the early 1960s).

Poenari Fortress is located on a promontory overlooking the pass below. It's about 200 meters up from the road, in vertical terms. In terms of walking it was about 25 minutes to cover the 1480 steps. I had an image of sheer steps leading up to a difficult to reach castle...it was not like that at all. It was a fairly simple and safe walk up a hill to arrive at an open air relic of a fortress. (Though constructing a stone and brick structure at that location and above the flat ground surely was backbreaking work.) Arriving at the top, I was alone up there but for a scraggly dog (omnipresent in Romania) for a few minutes before a large group showed up, which gave me time to reflect on the age of the structure (originally under construction in the 1300s), as well as notice the fact that it is surrounded on all sides, save the south, by higher ground. The "castle" itself does not have a lot about it that makes it interesting, other than its association with Vlad Tepes, who ordered it built by a group of individuals for the dual purposes of punishing those people for their support of a different leader (saying they would build the fortress until their clothes disintegrated), as well as to provide a fortress that could protect the pass and hopefully help fight off invasions by the Turks. Apparently, the fortress's north wall was destroyed by the Turks, shooting artillery from a higher hill nearby, and was abandoned in subsequent years.

To some up the effectiveness of Poenari, as a punishment for those disloyal boyars, I'm sure it was excellent. However, as a successful and sustainable military base, not so much.

On the way back, I did an hour-long hike around Lake Barea, up to a high point with a nice view down into the adjacent valley. I had wanted to do the hike up over the ridgeline to see Lake Capra...but that hike looked like a little more than I was prepared to do as the trail went up fairly steeply, and for a long way too. As for Lake Barea...pond would be a better word. The scenery and hiking around the lake makes going to see it worthwhile though.

As for the driving, it turned out to be pretty tame. In a country where motor vehicles still oftentimes share the road with horse-drawn carts, and the roads often look like they've been cluster bombed, I expected a little more chaos, but everyone obeys the rules for the most part and acts pretty civil toward other drivers. The drive up and back was spectacular for sure. I had planned on doing a loop and returning by way of a highway, but enjoying the drive so much the first time, I decided to return the way that I came. While the road was alternately new and severely pockmarked, I enjoyed the twists and turns and avoiding all those potholes with my little Renault they rented me, as I drove by the lakes, through various tunnels, and high up into the mountains on the many switchbacks. The drive around Lake Vidra reminded me a bit of driving around Lake Tahoe, as I did a year ago at this time, though there's no comparison between Vidra and Tahoe.

Upon return, I got lost for a little while in Sibiu before I finally located a place to park the car nearby and then walk to the rental place, but I managed to get it returned that night and was off to Brasov early the next morning.

Traveling with a smartphone

It's a whole new world traveling with a smartphone. Gone are the days I traveled Europe with no more knowledge than could be gleaned from an out of date "Let's Go" tour book.

In addition to normal things one uses a smartphone for like reading the WSJ, checking bank/credit card accounts for any possible discrepancies, checking email, taking pictures, emailing pictures, etc., here are a few other things I have used my Iphone for during this trip:
- logging on to TripAdvisor to find out about and sometimes book the best hostels (most all of which have been excellent)
- using the google maps function to navigate in Ukraine when I could not read street signs or communicate effectively
- daily calls home using Skype and the wifi connections that every hostel/hotel makes available, and
- using google translate to enter words, have them translated, and then let whomever (from Polish train passengers to Ukrainian border agents) read the translation in their native language

Most of the countries I have been traveling in are covered by my phone's international plan, which makes things easier, as a 3G network is obviously needed in some situation like the translate and gps functions...can't always rely on wifi being available. I have to be careful to choose the right carrier, as not all are covered, but after that it's simple to use the local network without having to buy/exchange sim cards. Getting sim cards would be a pain, as I'm traveling through so many different places so fast that it just would not be feasible all the time. Of course, I only get so much data and it is a little expensive, but so long as I'm only using the 3G sparingly I can make the MB's I have paid for last.

In short, the Iphone has never been more of a help than now and I continue to be amazed at the things one can do with it.

Sibiu

After Sighosoara I continued scissoring my way across Romania with a three-hour train ride to Sibiu, the 2007 cultural capital of Europe. I did not experience much of that culture though, as I have had enough of quaint "old towns" in the city-center of these old places. The Baltic capitals, Krakow, and L'viv really gave me my fill of those types of attractions. I really came to Sibiu as a jumping off point for tomorrow's adventure, when I will rent a car and drive to the "real" Dracula's castle at Poeinari, which is virtually inaccessible by public transport. The drive there will give me the chance to drive along Romania's highest road and see a couple of well-known alpine lakes.

Sighisoara

Sighisoara is best known as the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler, whom Stoker's Dracula story is based upon. However, the town has more to offer...it is a medieval citadel town built on a sizable hill, complete with an exhibit-filled 500-year old clock tower you can climb and peer out from the balcony.

As for Vlad's birthplace...it's now a restaurant/museum/bar type of place. The building itself looks to have been recently painted a bright yellow color, which seems a bit incongruous. The "museum" inside had a few interesting items, including an old set of armor, but the place as a whole was uninteresting. More interesting was the clock tower, which displays a different wooden figurine next to the clock itself depending on the day of the week. The clock tower historical museum was full of Middle Ages gear, instruments, and artifacts. The surgical display had an ancient drawing/cartoon of a guy with a handsaw going to work on a guy's leg. Not for the weak medieval times.

I would not want to complete this entry without at least a brief mention of the Middle Ages show that was put on in the town square that Saturday I was there. Ok, the show was in Romanian language so I clearly was not following everything that happened. However, the two dominant themes were apparent to anyone: 1) the phrase "Semper Vincit Amor" (which I know enough to know means something to the effect of "Love Conquers All"), which was repeated often throughout the 1.5 hour long show, and 2) the martial aspect of the show, as the whole production consisted of various battle/fighting scenes including: axe tosses, sword fights, wrestling matches, and other martial training. And so I was left wondering about the juxtaposition of those two themes. I won't call it a grand production, but it was entertaining and we all appreciated the effort put forth by the 8 or so cast members.

Sighisoara was a cool little town, but I cannot imagine spending more than a night there while traveling alone, as there simply was not a whole lot to it. Great for a night though.

Ukraine to Romania (L'viv to Cluj-Napoca via Chernivtsi-Suceava crossing)

After a day and a half in L'viv, I decided it was time to get to the major objective for this entire trip - Romania. I've wanted to go to Romania for years. I think this desire dates back to my favorite video game series growing up - Castlevania, which is based around the legend of Dracula and the Belmont clan of vampire hunters. Yes, I just admitted that a video game helped drive me to visit a country on the other side of the world. I also was looking forward to being able to halfway communicate again, as Romanian is a Romance language.

In any case, I took the night train from L'viv to Chernivtsi, which turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant and cheap experience. The nine-hour train ride only ran me about $9, and the compartment I shared with a middle-aged Ukrainian woman was spacious enough for the two of us (could have been 4 of us in there). I was given a nice set of sheets and slept reasonably well, though for some reason the lights were on all night and would not turn off. The other thing of interest on the train was the bathrooms were locked. I went to several and they were all locked...with apparently no one inside. I'm pretty sure I had found the right place as it certainly smelled like a bathroom in that vicinity. In any case, having to go to the bathroom and not having access to one, I...got creative. Let's just leave it at that.

Upon arrival in Chernivtsi (about 50km from the Ukraine-Romania border), I attempted to find a minibus or shared cab to the border area. No such luck and no other travelers appeared to be headed that way. Generally I have luck in these types of situations, as services usually exist, but not this time. Communicating with the couple of bus drivers I talked to was getting me nowhere, as I had not a word of Ukrainian at my disposal and they appeared to have no English. This is not uncommon among older Ukrainians; they typically speak only Russian if they have a foreign language. Younger folks tended to have some measure of basic English. Luckily, I stumbled across a nice cab driver that spoke Portuguese due to spending some years there working. Thanks to last year's trip to Brazil and my Spanish skills, I can at least get around in that language. And surprisingly, some useful phrases came back to me pretty quickly. After a discussion in which I learned finding a shared cab or bus to the border would be best done from the bus station rather than the train station, we headed off in that direction for a few dollar (30 hyrv) charge.

We had a nice talk on the way as we rattled along the cobblestone streets in his 35-year old Lada. At the bus station he was able to quickly help me find a local bus that would end up dropping me off about 2km from the border, and even paid the 1.5 hyrvna (about 20 cents) charge for me to use the filthy fly-filled bathroom with squat toilets. The bus to the border area was old and banged up like most of the vehicles I saw in Ukraine. The only notable thing about the bus ride was I was nearly the only male on board, besides the driver and what looked to be the invalid caretakee of a tall, big-boned, sturdy, nurse-type woman that sat in front of me and repeatedly glanced my way. The bus dropped me a couple clicks from the border, and I stepped off in a light rain down the side of the four lane road leading directly to the border, hoping it would not start raining harder. (It didn't and soon stopped.) I considered trying to hitch a ride from one of the numerous cars headed past me to the border, but decided I would keep my options open on hitching a ride until I had crossed both borders on foot. On foot I have learned is often a quicker way through a border zone than the inevitable delays and searches that plague motor traffic. I almost re-considered though when an ancient motorcycle went puttering past...complete with open sidecar!!

At the Ukrainian border I was initially denied the ability to cross. The border guards made walking motions with their fingers and told me "Nyet" or "No" or some such negative indication. I accepted that for about 30 seconds before I went up to them and gave them a questioning-annoyed-frustrated expression, at which point they took my passport, ogled the different stamps and visas in it for a few minutes, and then let me on my way with a piece of paper of some import. I got my exit stamp from the Ukraine side, approached the Romanian side by passing what looked to be about an hour-long line of motor vehicles, and went straight up to a border agent standing on the side walk. He spoke good English, asked me a few questions, laughed when I said I was headed for the Dracula-trail, and said he would help me find a ride to the nearest major town in Romania, Suceava. He then had another agent stamp my passport and off he went.

A minute later I was sitting in a van with what turned out to be a Ukrainian police officer who spoke almost no English. He was a gruff and irritable guy that seemed to resent being corralled into taking me down to Suceava, but we managed to share a couple of laughs when he stated he only drank "a little" vodka nowadays...a little being a liter for a Ukrainian. After a 30-minute ride I was unceremoniously dumped off at a bus stop on what I thought to be the outskirts of town. (We were actually farther into town than I needed to be.) I had offered to pay him to drive me further to another larger city on down the road, but nothing doing. I gave him about a buck anyway, but if I had known what a useless place he had left me in I would have kept that too. The nearby train station I went to looked the part of a train station...complete with tracks populated by antique-looking coaches, and so forth. However, the station had broken windows and looked completely abandoned. Only one person was working one counter, and she quickly made the point that I needed the other station. Not sure what the deal was with that place.

It ended up taking me about an hour to get to the main train station in Suceava, by means of two local buses I boarded without paying, not yet having a dime of Romania lei. (I will mention that getting directions and catching two local buses would have been very difficult for me to accomplish in Ukraine, but in Romania I can communicate enough by speaking a Spanish-Portuguese-Italian jargon that what I am asking for is comprehensible...and I understand just enough that receiving simple directions even from an older person with no English is doable. Speaking that same Romance-language garble with a young person usually results in a patient expression and a subsequent reply in fairly good English.) I offered the fare takers on the buses Ukrainian hyrvna, US dollars, and Euros, but they were having none of it. They didn't ask me to get off though. By this time it was around 1300 and upon arrival at the station, I quickly saw a train was leaving for Cluj-Napoca, which I figured would be a nice ride through the Carpathians and leave me in a good place from which to explore Transylvania. I had no firm plan coming in to the day on where I wanted to end the day...I just wanted to see how far into Transylvania I could get.

The ride to Cluj ended up costing about $30 for a seat in "first class" which was more than I expected to pay. Turned out to be a beautiful 7-hour ride though. The northern branch of the Carpathians has some mountains that really go up quite high and mostly covered with tall pines. The whole area reminded me of a drive through British Columbia my dad and I did in 2007, only not quite that spectacular. Impressive it was though, and BC doesn't have the quaint looking medieval-type architecture (Yes, despite all I have seen, this trip particularly, that's as good a description I can come up with.) in the foreground that is so prominent here.

During the first couple of hours of the train ride, while I was still sharing my cabin with a few people, I was repeatedly warned to keep an eye on my things on the trains. These warnings were made to me by an old man using gestures and Romanian, an old woman using gestures and facial expressions, and a young lady speaking fairly good English. I got the point and after they had left I went so far as to remove my flash light from my bag...to turn on and shine out the compartment when the train went through the many tunnels. I will mention the train had no lights and the interior was completely dark every time the train went into a tunnel...good time to be robbed according to my cabin mates. The train had a fair number of gypsies on board, attempting to sell things and asking for money. All the warnings made me unable to relax...and so I kept vigilant and avoided having anything stolen. I've been pretty alert throughout the trip as I have had multiple things stolen from me in my life in many different circumstances and would like to avoid another such event. Here in Romania I will turn the vigilance up a notch, however, as this country is well renown for thieves - everything from cyber thieves to gypsy pickpockets. I try not to let the paranoia detract from the enjoyment of the trip, though I do find myself patting myself down for my belongings pretty frequently and after every time anyone physically touches me under any circumstances.

The train finally rolled into Cluj around 8pm; I found a hotel near the station and crashed for some much needed rest.

L'viv

Unfortunately, I was only able to visit one place in Ukraine, the great city of L'viv, but at least I made it to that one place. Traveling in Ukraine has its difficulties: you can't read the Cyrillic alphabet and Ukraine had the lowest level of English language penetration of any place I visited on my trip. However, if you can overcome the communication difficulties, the rewards are many: it's extremely cheap, the sights and people are beautiful, and the nightlife (at least according to what I heard) is incredible. And really, the communication problems just add to the adventure.

At any rate, L'viv is cheap and has some unique foods. I paid about $2 for a potato pizza at a restaurant, which was large and filled me up. Potato pizza, as you can imagine, replace the bread part of a pizza with potato. It's not bad. I also ate snack bars made of sunflower seeds and some type of oil (sunflower oil?) holding them together. Not the tastiest snack, but again, it gets the job done.

As for the city, never have I seen so many statues...in plazas, and parks, on the side of buildings, at the top of buildings, underneath balconies, everywhere. L'viv is a very beautiful town, in a kind of rundown sort of way way. Not too rundown, but the city could use a bit of a facelift, or maybe remove that grungy outer layer. Nah, never mind. It's perfect the way it is.