Trains

On the train between Zagreb and Sarajevo, a man with white hair, dressed in a black suit and black shiny shoes, carrying a black leather zip-up folder ran past my compartment and jumped from the train while it was still moving.

On the same train, I spent the last three hours of the trip forcibly removing a drunk man's hands from my legs.

Ljubljana Wins!

I'm not entirely sure what, but it wins something.

On one hand it is a picturesque little town, riverside cafes, bridges decorated with crystals and glass. On the other hand it has amazing street-art, one well known artist's squat (Metelkova) and another one, hidden in an abandoned warehouse.

No one locks their bikes up and the locals I encountered were incredibly friendly.

Some new friends, Jo and Mimo, and I were lucky enough to be invited, at 3 in the morning, to go see the abandoned warehouse. A group of artists have taken over three floors of it and have turned it into a living/working/performance space. It was interesting talking to the people who hang out there; some of them want it to be a completely public space, others want to keep it more exclusive, and one guy thought no one should be allowed to live there (even though he just goes and hangs out and people are angry with him for not doing any work).

I want to move to Ljubljana. I would ride around, in fabulous clothes, on a sweet old-school bike. I would spend all my time sitting at cafes by the river and working on cool art projects. And I would never lock my bike up.

It seems I may be heading west...

...no sightings of old East German cars in either Zagreb or Lublijana. Thankfully Euro-mullet sightings are down significantly also. (Which means cute boys with good style.) I'm paying about 20 euro/night (Germany prices) for accomodation, and food and beer are creeping up in price also.

Two Months on the Road

Frankfurt. Trier. Munich. Nuremburg. Dusseldorf. Berlin. Krakow. Prague. Cesky Krumlov. Vienna. Bratislava. Budapest. Cluj Napoca. Brasov. Sighisoara. Budapest. Zagreb. Lublijana.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what the next step is. Either head south as originally planned, or head north and try to visit some people before flying home in July. Or extend my ticket for a while. But I'm having a bit of a hard time being on my own right now. I know, I know, it's a rough life I lead.

Phototos

I'm back in Budapest after ten days in Romania. It was wonderful stepping off the train yesterday into a city I barely know, but somehow feels like home. I got rid of the sketchy 50 year old men I had the company of for 10 hours from Romania and escaped the train station unharrased, something that is unheard of in Romania. As beautiful as the country is, and as friendly as the people are, the train rides made me nervous. And spending any time in train stations was not fun as Roma (gypsy) people are the most persistent beggers I have met in my life; they don't take no for an answer.

But Romania was great. Read the phrase, "the Romanian countryside is one-hundred of shades of vibrant green," and multiply the image you get by 100 and you have what it looks like. (Quite possibly because it rains so bloody much.)

And I'm getting fat; the Romanians know to do baked goods.

And I went to the birthplace of Vlad the Imapler aka Count Dracula...hahaha.

And I met a lot of really wonderful people.

Budapest the second time round has been great. I like this city a lot.

Tomorrow I go to Zagreb.

For anyone who actually reads this...

...I'm in Brasov, Romania. Brasov is a great town in Transylvania. This morning I went out to Bran Castle, the castle that Dracula was supposed to have lived in, but of course that is a complete myth. There is no evidence that Vlad Tepes ever set foot in it.

Romania is great. The people are very friendly and the countryside is incredibly beautiful. I spent three nights in Cluj Napoca, a university town in northern Transylvania, then took the train south to Brasov. In a couple of days I'm heading to Sighisora, a small town north of here, and then back to Budapest.