Training to Brasov

We spent most of the day on trains today. In true Eastern European train fashion, our train was absurdly late. We were supposed to get in at 6:30 and we got in at almost 10. That means that the 7 am train to Brasov I planned to take and the 8:30 backup train were both shot.  Driving into Bucharest was kind of scary. I hope that a walking tour shows me a bit more of the city's charm, but the train ride into the station felt like that scene from Eurotrip when they first go to Bratislava.

We didn't spend much time in Bucharest because we found a train leaaving to Brasov around 10:50 and almost immediately boarded the train. It was a pretty train ride. It took about three and a half hours to get there and we got to see a lot of the Translyvanian mountains. They kind of reminded me of fhte drive through Oregon. A lot of trees. Pretty trees, but trees.

We got into Brasov around 2:30, got some Romanian lei, bought lunch, and then made our way to the hostel. We hung out at the hostel for a couple of hours before making our way into town. We got some food to make sandwiches with for our Translyvanian castle tour tomorrow. We also got Romanian Chinese food, which was surprisingly good.

That's about all we did today. We were pretty tired from having survived our third and final overnight train and tomorrow we're doing several tours (castle tour and a walking tour of Brasov after we get back). Mia and I uncovered the hostel's stash of Apatow movies so we've been having a bit of a marathon.

What we've seen of Brasov is kind of cute, though. The bits of it we've seen so far remind me of a mountainy Sabaudia.

On a train from Brussels to Amsterdam

And before I do my Paris post or anything else, I'd like to tell the story of our morning.
I should get this done fast before we possibly get kicked out of our seats in Antwerp.

Anyway, we are traveling to Amsterdam today. Our train was at 850 so we left the hotel at the crack of dawn to get to the Brussels MIDI train station.  We had to carry a lot of luggage over and while trying to board one of the Metro trains, Ummas backpack got caught in the door. We had to pull her out before it left the station. If you want a visual, you should think of that famous Winnie the Pooh scene. Yeah...

In any case, we got to the station and collapsed in the food court. Umma quickly announced that we were on the 950 train and consider it was just before 8, we collectively groaned and mourned the loss of one hour of sleep. It didn't occur to any of us to check our tickets. We all kicked back and relaxed in the food court.

One minute before 850, Umma runs to us having realized that our tickets actually were for an 850 train. We grabbed our bags and ran to the platform just as our train was leaving the station. This wasn't an easy feat either, considering that the food court was at platform 16/17 and our train was at platform 4 and two stories up.

By some stroke of travel luck, we managed to switch our tickets to the 950 train, but with no guarantees of a seat. We bought first class tickets though, so were currently lounging away like stoaways in first class. We get free internet and food...yay. a Paris post and a final Brussels post are to come.