Train to Brosov

We took an Uber to the train station ($1.84) about an hour ahead of our scheduled departure at 13:07. Had some hot tea in 90 degree weather. When Alisa gets a hankering for something it's best to just let her run with it. She comes to learn things on her own time. Finally we saw our train arrive. Got on and noticed our seats weren't together. No biggie. Then a family of five gets on and the argument ensues. The train company must have messed up, it couldn't have been us. The guy we are arguing with goes and gets a worker. The woman in uniform huffs and puffs up the stairs and into our carriage looking for blood from anyone disrupting her standing around time. She looks at our tickets and starts yelling loud enough to wake the dead, in Romanian, right in Alisa's face. Turns out not only were we not in the right carriage, we were on the wrong train. Got off and noticed they switched terminals on us. It's now five minutes past our departure time. Ran down to linea 9 and got in carriage number two, thinking it was close to one and we'd just walk. Found our seats, which were occupied. A little boy with his grandma was in mine and a young family had a screaming baby sitting in Alisa's. We took the two seats right next to ours. It wasn't long before two more people came and said we were in their seats. I showed them our tickets and they said we were in the wrong carriage. Right train, wrong carriage. We were in five, even though it said 2 and we were supposed to be in one. So we walked from carriage five all the way to carriage one bumping everyone along the way and leaving a wake of grumbles, mumbles and psst's. Sweating like pigs we finally found our seats and sat down, me on one side of the aisle and Alisa on the other.

An old woman noticed we were together and asked if we wanted to sit together. When I said yes she asked me to put her bag up in the hold. Nothing's free.. especially ketchup packets at McDonald's. $2.00 for three btw, more than the hash browns they went with. So here I am sitting, sweating and enjoying this amazing window seat view looking out into the countryside of beautiful Romania, while going backwards.

Not much of a view really. Bring it on Brashov!

Thirty minutes on board and I'm still drenched and sweating even more. Went to grab my headphones out of my backpack and realized my bag had been blocking the AC vent this whole time. Moved it, still hot. If you can't smell the stinky person on a European train it's either because you have a sinus infection or because it's you. Sure explains why people moved seats shortly after we sat down. 

A passenger borrowed the key from the ticket checker and started unlocking and opening windows. He came up to mine and handed me the key. The key was a three prong device. Of course I tried the two wrong ones before finally finding the right one, hearing a "No" only after I tried each time. And just like that cool air came blowing through the carriage. All the people in front/back of me were getting blasted with the cool air from outside. I wasn't getting any of it, but I'm glad I was able to figure out through trial and error how to open a window on an old Romanian train and put a few smiles on people's faces in the process. And with the curtains open I finally got a glimpse of what I'd been missing. 

The miles and miles of sunflowers, cows and chickens literally 2 feet from the train were soon replaced by smoking chimneys as we climbed up into the mountains. Chugging through tunnels and switchbacks, the air cooled as it started to rain. We closed the windows that were now leaking inside. The sky turned dark and the air crisp, almost biting. A perfect welcome into the heart of Transylvania.

We were greeted by our host and found the place above expectations. 

The place was huge. I hopped in the shower then Alisa showed me this…

But a man has to eat right? Lightning, hail or snow wasn't keeping me from trying these bad boys. The ribs were devoured. Turned out to be a great find, just a few blocks from our place.  

We started the washer before we left, not sure if it was a washer/dryer combo. Got back and guessed at what knob would make the clothes become dry. Instead I started another wash cycle, and it locked shut. In the meantime I contacted our host to ask where the dryer was. After a few back and forths, I found it. 

Technically, yes it's a dryer… 

 Looking forward to tomorrow and exploring the old town. It never rained, not a drop. We got this… Now excuse me while I try to figure out how to use the bidet..