BootsnAll Travel Network



Caves, Baths, and Dracula

Our day of caving turned out to be so much fun in Budapest. We nearly missed the trip, though, when we realized that the meeting point was at a different train station than we originally thought. We had to sprint (as always) to the tram and jump on without a ticket and hope that we wouldn’t get stopped. It turned out all right in the end though, and we met up with the group and went by bus to the caves. We got to wear these incredibly sexy caving jumpsuits that were caked in about an inch of dried mud. The cave expedition was so much fun. It was pretty tough at times, and more than once I looked at a hole that I was supposed to go through and I thought to myself, you want me to do what? All of us made it through, a bit bruised about the knees, but we had a great time and met some really nice people.

After all that hard, dirty work in the caves we were ready for our day at the thermal baths. It was well worth the wait. We finally had a really beautiful day! The sky was blue and the sun was shining as we swam around in the outside pools. The place we went was so pretty; it was located in this park in the city and it was palatial and had a beautiful facade. There were so many pools to choose from–there was a minty one, some green ones, some clear ones, some that smelled like urine. There was also a sauna that was about a million degrees inside. I had to cover my eyes as I walked in and out because the heat was hurting them. When I breathed it felt like my nose was on fire! Straight after we left the sauna we got into a 60 degree plunge pool, though, and that was nice. One of the massive pools outside was called the weight pool, and we couldn’t figure out why it was called that. There was a sign near it that said there was a recommended maximum of 20 minutes in that particular pool, and we couldn’t figure that out. Then, when I got out of the pool, my whole body felt like it was about twenty pounds heavier! I said something to Kerry and Kelly about it and they said they felt the same thing. The purpose for that? I have no idea, but it was really odd.

We took a night train out of Budapest yesterday evening. I had taken one from Paris to Venice when I was traveling with my mom last year, and that one was total crap, so I was expecting about the same this time around. The sleeper car we had last night was so nice! There were three beds, so we had the place to ourselves, and it was complete with a sink, a mirror, and our beds were really nice and comfy (maybe barring Kerry’s, which was at the very tip top and was about 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the cabin). The 11-hour ride went really quick. I had my first experience of showering on a train, and I would have to say that I don’t really recommend it. Kerry tried to have one too, but the border patrol decided to check passports at that time and she had to get out with soap still in her hair. But she got her stamp, so it was all good.

We arrived in Brasov, Romania early this morning and had to take a taxi to our hostel. This city is exactly what I expected to see in Bratislava…really poor and rundown. There are stray dogs everywhere, and we saw the city’s effort to control the problem this morning. We were walking along, and then a car slows down next to a dog who is trotting along, and then we see this guy hanging out of the car with a gun. Kelly cried, “Oh my god, he’s going to shoot the dog,” and then the guy shot. I couldn’t believe what I had seen. I had to turn around and walk the other way, but then I heard Kelly say, “it was only a tranquilizer.” We had to watch as the dog staggered around, disoriented, until he finally fell over and the men picked him up by his ears and tail and threw him in a cage in the back of the car. It was horrible.

After that incident, we took a bus out to Bran to see Bran Castle, also known as Dracula’s Castle. We were so tired from not sleeping enough on the train, and I completely zonked out for the whole ride. When we got to Bran the weather was beginning to clear up from the rain we had early this morning. The castle itself was not what I expected at all. It was not very big, not very scary, and not very interesting in any way. I’ve been to my fair share of castles, and I’d have to say that this was probably one of the least impressive. What was impressive was the incredible amount of tacky tourist crap in the area in front of the castle’s entrance. There were Dracula masks, vampire fangs, t-shirts, mugs, you-name-it, EVERYWHERE. That one little area would give I-Drive a run for its money for useless tourist stuff. It is truly a kitsch-lovers paradise.

This afternoon we are taking it easy. There’s really not that much to do in Brasov, and we are too tired to do much anyway. So we’ll head back after this, play some Mario Kart on the hostel’s N64, and maybe take a nap before we cook dinner. Tomorrow we have some more traveling to do as we make our way to Varna on the Black Sea in Bulgaria. We don’t know what to expect there, but we’re hoping we’ll have some good weather and some good beach time.



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