What did I get myself into....

That's the first thing I thought when I stepped out of the airport at 11:00 AM. I looked around me and I saw a congested highway, police everywhere, a completely flat terrain, no marked bus stops, and about a hundred people just milling about. I must have stuck out like a sore thumb. I was the only English-speaker on my flight from Rome and when I handed the customs officer my American passport he asked me why I was there. Was I staying with a friend? Nope. Did I know someone? Nope. Why'd you come here? I didn't really know. Haha. At any rate...I embarrassed myself numerous times on the way to the hostel, meeting only one person (a college student) who could speak English and would actually help me. I am still amazed I made it. Ha.

The hostel, however, was nice and a comfort because I would (later that night) meet two Aussies and two Canadians there. We all became friends and hung out for awhile, which was awesome. But during the day I set out to explore the capital of Romania: Bucharest.

Now, I have heard Bucharest be described as "The Unknown Gem of Eastern Europe." Well. It surely is UNKNOWN. Don't know about the gem part though. Granted, the city did have its beautiful parts, and I was REALLY tired/my wisdom tooth was hurting like never before. But still....

My first stop was the art museum, which was actually pretty cool, especially the building it was housed in (and the one across the street).





While I was walking around I found this:


And it gave me some comfort that the Romanians watch Family Guy. :)

I continued exploring and found myself in a park. The park was nice. The islands of grass were encircled with benches (I could only imagine what this place looked like when all the benches were full, because there were definitely hundreds and hundreds in a very small area). I sat next to an old couple and almost fell asleep -- luckily I didn't and I decided to walk around before I did.





Another recommended site was the Palace of the People, a HUGE building where I imagine the NATO summit was held with all of the world leaders. I never walked all the way up to it (I didn't really make it that far) but instead sat/lied down on the grass about halfway.







A friend I made:


Unfortunately, I actually did fall asleep here. I was really nervous cause I thought I would be robbed if I fell asleep. I woke up in a hot, sleepy, tooth-aching daze and I practically ran back to the hostel so I could just lie down, get some non-bubbly water (I had bought it accidentally twice already that day and I HATE bubbly water), and just be cool.

I slept well that night.

But I slept too much, so I couldn't follow my original plan of taking a train deep into Transylvania (YES. TRAN-SYL-VAN-IA!) and visiting the "real" Dracula's castle. Instead, I opted for the not-so-long train ride into Transylvania to a town called Sinaia which boasts a cool church of sorts and a 19th century castle.

The ride there was beautiful...


And when I got there I first bought my overnight train ticket to Budapest and then I began to explore!

The architecture here was so beautiful -- much like I would expect of a mountain Swiss village.

Someone lives here:


I got artsy with some ruined chess boards in the park:




And here is the interesting church:


Very unique architecture.

I continued climbing into the hills of Sinaia, passing a large outdoor market (meant for tourists, which actually relieved me a bit to be around other tourists - I had seen maybe 3 or 4 English-speakers in Bucharest aside from the people at my hostel).

Eventually I turned the bend and this appeared:


Such a beautiful castle!!



Who knew Transylvania had snow-capped mountains?

And rolling meadows:










Unfortunately, the castle was closing just as I reached the front gates, so I wasn't able to go inside, but that's okay because I went back into town, got some dinner, and then people-watched in the park before my overnight train left for Budapest, the capital city of Hungary.

Waiting at the Sinaia train station


Overall, Romania is a beautiful country, but also a very poor one, and one that is definitely not for the vulnerable tourists, if that makes sense. But I am glad I went there, mostly because Sinaia was GORGEOUS and the perfect and I met some really interesting people.