Sleeping on a train, or trying to, is a whole new experience for us. We get settled in and I lay there for an hour before I start to get used to the crickets-clack, the rocking and all the other sounds trains make. But we dozed off until about 2am when the Hungarian police boarded the train to greet us. Passports please. We had them now. We're in bed with our cabin door open while they compare our faces with those on the passport. Can you see the difference? The one in the passport is "smiling". Then, "What is the purpose of your visit?". Just like the movies. So these guys finally leave the train after wasting a half hour of good sleep time and we finally get back to sleep when the train stops again within minutes and we repeat this whole ordeal with the Romanian border guards. Enough said.

The staterooms on the train had definitely seen better days. 6'x7' in size, one bed above the other, with a sink, power and some lights working. The indoor-outdoor carpeting was funk but the beds were clean and comfortable. We kept the window open all night to keep fresh air.

We sleep as much as possible but by 7 we're up and peering out the dirty windows at the same dreary scenery we've been watching earlier. My day of relaxation in Brasov has already been compromised significantly by the 4 hour train delay. 1:30 arrival will blow the entire morning and some afternoon. It gets around 1 and I ask the conductor for assurance that we will be arriving shortly in Brasov whereby he tells me that we're running late by 1 1/2 hours. That means 3 o'clock when we should have been there at 9:10am. It could have been the 25 mph he was going most of the time.

We get there and I have to do the stair thing again at the station. A taxi ride to the hotel, quick check in and we're ready by 4. A shower and wardrobe change is in order. Not much day left but we set to explore the old town. It's pretty cool. We get some Romanian lei to spend. It's 3 lei per $1. Mom checks out the stores and we stop for dinner. Spaghetti and beer. $1 beer! Romanian that is. We were going to see the Black Church which we saw from a distance but ate instead. Now the thunderstorm hits and its really raining, chasing off all the shoppers and diners in the street. A hit a couple of stores to dry off in, kiss off the Black Church and we return to the hotel.

We have to be up at 5:30am to catch the train to Bucuresti at 7:10am so Mom packs, I watch TV for an hour, check out, get our free "breakfast to go" and go to bed. This was the first time we had American TV shows in English.

Tomorrow we will be on the longest as well as our final train ride. 24 hours to Istanbul. Just like the Orient Express.