Bucharest, Romania

I can't believe it's already September. In some aspects, time seems to fly when you are traveling, but it still feels like my trip started eons ago. It's been a fantastic few months so far and I'm hoping the trend will continue.

On my last day in Brasov, I went on a tour to check out three castles in the area. (The so-called original Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, did not live in any of them. Sorry to disappoint.) It was pretty fabulous--letting somebody else made the decisions, buy tickets, and arrange transport. The castles were pretty fabulous too, of course. :) I was completely blow away by the Peles Castle, which is really a palace. It's extremely elaborate, but not overly ostentatious.

Transylvania is surrounded by so much lore, it doesn't seem like it ought to exist. From the train windows, you can see the occasional peasant in a horse-drawn buggy, and craggy mountain peaks enveloped in mist. This scenery coupled with a ripe and overproductive imagination might enable you to hear the whispered stories of untimely and gruesome deaths. :)

Brasov and Bucharest are like most other cities in Eastern Europe, but five million exchange bureaus. (Apparently when Ceausescu was in power, inflation was rampant. Romanians were forced to exchange their wages into foreign currency as soon as it entered their hands. Obviously inflation is no longer a problem, but the bureaus are still on every street corner. Currently the exchange rate to the dollar is 1 to 29,866 lei. This creates a bit of a headache for any foreign traveler, but fortunately they are reworking their currency.)

I caught a train to Bucharest, where I discovered they had messed up my hostel reservation. Fortunately they still had room available, so it wasn't a big deal. Otherwise I might have been forced to become a bit aggressive with the clerk, and we all know how bad I am about asserting myself.

Yesterday I went to the mall and bought some essentials, namely a backup pair of tweezers and soap. (Just because I am traveling, I will not let my personal hygiene slip.) I bought tickets to see The Island, then wandered around and looked at all the things I couldn't buy. The movie was dumbed down too much, but I still found it really enjoyable. After my mall excursion, I headed home and kicked it with some fellow backpackers for a few hours.

Right now I'm shopping on oldnavy.com, as I think I got a bad caught a bad case of shoppingitis yesterday. Maybe this will cure me.