Today (Monday) we had our first success in actually getting a Bucuresti cabbie to drive us somewhere (remember we've been here 10 days). With our packs packed and ourselves booted and spurred, we only had to ask four (4!) cabbies to take us to the central railway station. The trouble is they are paid shockingly. 1.39 lei per kilometre... 30 cents perhaps? So in rebellion they generally sit about all day smoking and refusing fares unless they are more or less heading over international borders. So when the 4th cabbie agreed to take us, we actually had to stop ourselves saying "really?!" - we were so happy. We jumped in for the 6 lei trip to the station and paid him 12 lei in gratitude (which is just under his hourly rate of 13 lei). Win/Win all around. Didn't get got by anything or anyone at the station itself, despite dire (in fact, horrendous) warnings about the likelihood of getting robbed, mobbed and ripped off. James even had a pre-lunch pizza snack and survived. The 3 hour train trip itself was pleasant. Not particularly speedy but pleasant and fascinating wintry scenery to keep us amused. We had our packed sandwiches and arrived in our new destination - Brasov (or as it was in the 1400s when the Germans built it "Kronstadt" or the Crown City). We knew from our AirBnB host that the maximum for a ride from the station to the apartment should be 15 lei. So we laughed in the face of the first cabbie who quoted 50 lei and ended up jumping in with a bloke who had just dropped a fare. Ended up being 11 lei. We were already liking Brasov and the fun continued when we dropped our bags in our cosy new apartment (well the building went up in 1718... but the apartment is warm, snug and freshly furnished and painted), and headed to the info centre. The lady there does not get enough custom as it's a bit off the beaten track. So she sat us down and spent 30 minutes going through every single option for Brasov activities. From there it was a quick stop at a basic supermarket for milk and bread and we were in for the evening and making plans for our time in Brasov (incidentally - "Brah-Shov"). Tuesday was officially boots on the ground day. We started with a trip to the big supermarket - Billa - which is our new fave place as the deli has a huge array of pre cooked gourmet food, roast chickens, salads etc for exceedingly good prices. We bought them out. From there we headed to lunch - likely our only restaurant outing in Brasov. Restaurant Gaura Dulce had a 2 course lunch with wine for 49 lei - that's 10 euro or A$15 for two. It being essentially 'Little Germany' here, it would have been rude not to have the schnitzel! And believe it or not, even with these prices it's still cheaper to eat our gourmet Billa delights prepared in our own kitchen. We scoped the options on Republic Street - the pedestrian shopping area, and sorted out a coffee and a cake to fortify oursleves prior to the 2 hour free walking tour. Very slippery and icy underfoot so it could have been rechristened the Skating tour, but we made it and saw many of Brasov's sights - the Council House (1420), the Black Church and The White Tower (yep - positively Game of Thrones), the first schools, the narrowest street in Brasov (3rd narrowest in Europe at 1.4 ft across), the medieval city walls, Katerina's Gate, the history of Transylvania & Romania and how come Brasov looks so German (refer above - it was and is - they still have a German only high school!) The tour ended down in the old Romanian quarter as only Germans could live and work within the walled city of Kronstadt. The locals lived outside the gates in the Schei district. There we saw the first Romanian Orthodox church, the first Romanian school and so forth. Good walking tour and far too many photos. Big day tomorrow as we have planned two days to take in the "must do" sensations of the Brasov region - Bran Castle and Peles Castle. Just can't resist a good castle or two!