traveling: week 1

all the traveling from conil to bucharest to chisinau went well. i met levi at the bucharest airport, we hoped in a taxi, got on the train, and rode 13 hrs to chisinau -- the train was definitely a soviet area beauty. and we actually had to switch wheels when we got to the moldovian border to fit the different tracks -- this consisted of unhooking the wheels, hydraulically lifting the train cars, putting the new wheels on the track, hooking them back up, and continuing on our way. we then spent 2 days in chisinau with pat, exploring the city, and after that took a mini-bus to brasov, romania. brasov is a fairly touristy city, being in the transylvania region with lots of historic churches and castles. our plan was to spend a night there and then go on the to bucegi mountains, which happened, although the 2 nights we were planning to camp in the mountains didn't so much happen.

the morning we set out it in bran was drizzling and uber foggy. by the time we got to 2700-ish meters there was snow on the ground, and snowing, and foggier than when we started. at that point we were about 3 hours into the 5 hour hike, daylight was not on our side, and conditions were getting worse. we had contemplated turning around a couple times, but kept thinking it would get better, but it didn't, so we finally decided it was the smart decision to turn around. turning around sucks, but we didn't so much want to be caught in the mountains. so we went back to bran for the night, and after waking up with almost worse weather, decided we would take the extra day weren't hiking in romania, since we abandoned the hike, and add it in somewhere along the way. we left that morning for bucharest, where would catch an overnight train to sofia, bulgaria.

we arrived in sofia at 6am yesterday morning, found our hostel, and then set out exploring the city. turns out that sofia is sweet! we hit a few markets, tasted the local cuisine, and mainly tried to get a bit of a feel of the city -- which we feel like we did. this morning we took a bus out of the city into the rila mountain; our extra day gained from leaving romania early will likely be used here. weather permitting, we'll spend 2 nights in the mountains around the fish lakes, and then head to mt. olympus in greece. but who knows what will happen.


and here are just a few pix i'll throw on here:

chisinau, moldova


brasov, romania


the dirtbags


foggy drizzle


pat not impressed with the decision to turn around


sofia, bulgaria