5:30am came pretty quickly. We were packed already so we got dressed, loaded up and down to the taxis stand for a trip to the train station. At the taxi line, all the cars were tiny and as I asked each one, they appeared disinterested in dealing with our luggage. Finally, a guy pulls up and puts one case in the trunk, one in the back seat with me and Mom rides up front. Problem solved. Like I said before, in this area the people have a hard time dealing with any challenges and prefer to ignore them.

We got to the station and bought our reservations for 6 leu, that $2. The train was on time and we arrived in Bucuresti by 10am as planned, just less than 3 hours. Following the directions of the conductor from the previous day, we went right to the international ticket booth and bought our reservations for the "Bosphorus Express" or the overnight train to Istanbul. It was 180 lei or about $60 for the two of us. The train showed up at noon and we boarded. I boarded first to see where our assigned space was while Mom waited on the platform. I verify our location with the conductor and head back to Mom when I see our luggage coming aboard. A "nice man" was helping her again. I took the luggage from him, telling him I don't need any help. Now he wants money for the poor kids. I give him a euro and he's mad. Karen brings out more money but I make sure he's not getting that. Finally he makes his way off the train, mumbling in Romanian. These people are too much. While trying to cram all Mom's luggage in our tiny room, the conductor offered us an adjoining care for €20 more and we took it. Now we each had a room and space for the luggage. I'm sure he keeps that money but who cares.

We pull at at 12:30pm and head towards Sofia. These trains are old. I think France and Germany sell them their old train cars because half of the stuff doesn't work on them. The track is old and we bang along the rails, going 20-40mph much of the time and stopping in little dump towns for half an hour while the conductors have a smoke. With separate rooms, we are able to relax and get some sleep during the afternoon. Around 6 o'clock we have another border crossing so we get to meet the Romanian guards followed by the Bulgarian guards, all so very pleasant. I work on the blog, charge batteries and Mom sleeps to pass the time. The scenery is about the same along the route. Lots of abandoned buildings everywhere. They don't remodel or tear down buildings here, they just move out and leave it.

Well, it's getting close to midnight and I hear we have to pass into Turkey about 2 in the morning with an arrival time of 7:30am in Istanbul so I'll sign off for now.