Fall Adventure to Romania (Day One)

Yup. Went to Romania for a few days to visit with my cousin and see some sights. It was good fun and I took some pictures along the way. First up, here is what the Keleti train station in Budapest looks like at 6:30 AM. But there's a story here, because it's not really that interesting of a photo.

You see, I had to get up at 4 AM on my first day of vacation. I had to take the light rail from my little town into Budapest. It's about a half an hour ride and costs 465 FOR, but of course when I get to the station the ticket window is not even open and there is nary a sign of anyone from whom I could buy said ticket. But I thought, screw it, I did not get myself up and out the door by 5 AM just to admit defeat in the first leg of the journey! So i jump on the train when it comes anyway, ticket-less, and wait with bated breath for the entire half hour into Budapest. Generally, the ticket takers don't speak English and I dread the moment when I'll have to try and find someone to help me explain my ticketless state.

Half an hour later we arrive at Nyugati station and I have not seen a single ticket-taker. A relief, perhaps, but already I'm feeling nervous. How did I just do that? Are the 5 AM trains always free as some sort of apology to the passengers awake at that ungodly hour? Am I actually the ghost and all the other passengers are holding a seance to get me to stop haunting this train? What year is it? I need to go back to sleep.

So I'd looked up directions beforehand, knew exactly what metro lines I needed to take to get across town from Nyugati (west) to Keleti (east) station. Get to the metro, and... there's no one to take or from whom to buy a ticket... again. Down the escalator I go, fingers crossed! Waiting on the platform, seeing Metro cops milling around, I keep waiting for someone to stop me and demand I explain myself. Suddenly, every angrily glaring older lady is not your average Eastern European of a Certain Age but actually a Metro secret spy who's onto me, seconds away from having me arrested.... But the train arrives at last and again, nothing!

First half of the metro ride successful. Go to make the transfer, and... there's a cop standing in front of the escalator. Abort, abort!! I take the opposite escalator, rising to street level, hoping perhaps I can buy a ticket and ease this anxiety (which at 6 in the morning I do NOT need). Still no ticket-sellers. But while I'm standing there in front of a ticket machine I've found, attempting to decipher the Hungarian text by sheer force of will, a kindly older man walks up to me and explains very slowly in Hungarian that the second half of my journey is not running due to construction, and I need to go grab the bus. Sweet baby Jesus no. Anything but the bus.

Again, I stand there, waiting for the bus, sweat raining down inside my 6 layers of clothing (packin' light!). I have no ticket for this bus. I have no ticket for this bus. Just to make absolutely sure I'm about to risk a fine for the third time in less than an hour on the right mode of transport, I go pester a lady with a clipboard who looks like she might work for the bus line. Yes, she says (well actually she says igen but you get it). This bus to Keleti. Go get on it you dumb American. Leave me alone. Is what I imagine she is saying in her mind.

The sweat, oh god, the sweat. 20 minutes of riding the bus, torn between bus ticket anxiety and "where the fuck am I" anxiety, I can't even tell which is worse. Finally I see a giant glass structure that can't be anything else but Keleti station and I hop off, thankful for the cold October morning air. And sure enough I am here, with ample time to spare. And that is why this, though not in any way a sumptuous visual delight, is one of my favorite pictures from my trip. It is the acknowledgment of relief. Of success. Of victory over the adverse forces that do their best to ruin your brain and nervous system when you've woken up before sunrise to catch your 7 AM train.

 Perfection.

 The town we sat at for an hour after crossing the border, where we also sat for an hour after the hour we sat at the last town we stopped in before we crossed. No wonder this train ride took 14 hours.

 Even though this photo is pretty janky I love it. At one point in the ride we were up pretty high in the hills and kept crossing over rivers and highways. It was scenic.

 Greenified.

 After the sun set the trip was less interesting, obviously. Then I had to make my own amusement, mostly by watching movies and also by watching the man sitting two rows behind me, opposite me (so he was facing me) plow through a GIANT bag of sunflower seeds while he watched something on his laptop. Seriously, for the last two hours he was just snacking away contentedly. Early on I took a photo of his little sunflower seed shell mountain, finding it hilarious. Unfortunately I didn't think to document the final stack but trust that it was about three times the size of this one. First photo is my feelings on returning to the land of the sunflower seed obsessed and their messy, ubiquitous leavings.

The sunflower king himself.

My relief at finally getting off that God-forsaken train (only cost me $40!) translated into having an immature, giddy sense of humor. By the time I got into Bucharest I was so ravenous I was on the verge of chewing my own arm off so after dropping my stuff at Keary's place we went to an outrageously delicious gyro place around the corner and then headed to Old Town for a couple beers. When we stepped out of the cab I saw this out of the corner of my eye and obviously misread it. But, I mean... come on.

 So immature. Sorry mom.

 Beer O'Clock, a delightful delicious nirvana within Old Town.

 Keary and her Draak. (At least I think that's what it was.)

 Lest I end the first day's remembrances on a mature or tasteful note, this is a club entrance we walked past on our way home...