17 Jun 2014 Sighisoara to Brasov

17 Jun 2014 Sighisoara to Brasov
Our pensiune has a fully furnished kitchen, but does not serve breakfast.  We have been invited to use the kitchen, so at apx 7 am, we go there and proceed to work down our food bag.  The kitchen has a few tsp of ground coffee, filters, and a drip machine, so we make 2 cups of coffee. Nothing like home brew with leftovers.
Finally, we are off to town, this time to climb the Citadel.
Sighisoara is a little town (26000) visited primarily because of its hilltop citadel.  As a citadel town, in Mike's opinion, it pales in comparison to other citadel towns (e.g., Carcassone).  But it is a big Romanian tourist destination, and has a "Vlad Tepes slept here" draw.
Because we are climbing in at 8:45 am, not a creature is stirring in Tourist Central, except the snails, Fromans, and a large group of Japanese tourists.  Nothing is yet open, including the Tourist Info place.  It is quiet, except for dozens and dozens of students hurriedly climbing up to high school, conveniently located at the top of the highest point on the Citadel.  There is a covered stairway for inclement weather (and all winter?).  Otherwise, you can walk the curving cobblestone road up to the high point.
Our plan of attack is to go up to the high point first, then gradually come down.  We are at the high school as the bell rings, but for the next half hour we see stragglers climbing up.  Not many kids can say they have to climb 400 ft up to school every morning.
Next to the school is the old Church on the Hill.  It is not clear what the denomination of the church is, but even though it is locked, it has probably been evangelical or reformed at some time or other.  The cemetery next door has a large evangelical section.
As we come down, the tourists are waking up, and shops are beginning to open.  By 9:50 am we are at the famous Clock Tower, with a clock that is supposed to do fancy things as it strikes the hour.  A crowd has gathered.  We are all set for filming, but nothing much happens as it turns 10:00, 10:01, and 10:02, . . .
There are big lines to climb the tower, so we go down into town.  We have already been uphill of this point, so we don't need the vista.  We still need to reserve a room for tonight, and we still have not found internet. But we are in trouble.  So far, we have been doing our best to avoid Dracula on this trip. And now, we walk past Casa Vlad Dracul, where he lived from 1431 to 1435.  Can´t avoid dark forces!
The tourist info place is now open, with a fine agent.  He is kind enough to let us use his computer free for 10 min.  We log onto the booking.com site, and find info for the big city of Brasov.  We find an listing for an apartment near the train station: SynConcepts Apts for 127 lei (a very reasonable price), and book it for arrival that afternoon.
(A note about booking.com.  They have managed to convince most hotels and pensions that they need to list at least a couple of rooms, usually at a discount.  If the room is taken, the hotel pays a 15% commission to booking.com.  This is partly why we find that although the booking states "Breakfast included," it is often not included.  Still, the site provides a selection is often 5 times what you get find in Lonely Planet or other guidebooks.)
Mike is now beat.  All he wants is to sit in a cafe over a cappuccino until noon, when he will order a pizza. He finds a nice eatery where he can chill out, and orders a spectacular Cafe Viennese, with a huge dollop of whipped cream on top.  Worth the price.
Meanwhile, Carol goes out wandering.  On the recommendation of some guys at a laptop store, she walks over to Hotel Binderbubi, a 5* hotel (yup, that is really its name), and sees an unused computer in the lobby.
In English, she asks: Please, please, and they say: Of course.  So she retrieves Mike, depriving him of his much anticipated pizza.
We get in a good hour+ of posting.  Then back quickly to the pensiune room, with a 5 min stop to look inside the beautiful cathedral (where their has just been a special service. Wedding? Funeral? Can't tell.). We retrieve our backpacks from our room and walk the 5 minutes to the train station.
We are in plenty of time. However, because we are taking the same Cluj-Brasov line (where there was rail construction), of course the train is posted as 40 minutes delayed.  While we are waiting, we spot a station restaurant loaded with people.  One guy, with his cigarettes and beer, has claimed a whole table.  Several folks are on their 2nd (or 5th) beer of the day.  We order a yogurt drink.  The guy claiming a whole table had to make room for us, as we all wait.
Finally, the train comes in, maybe an hour late.  We are in a compartment of 4.  Across sit three elderly folks - one of whom speaks excellent English.  She was a retired engineer.  She had done a lot of travelling - including working in Iraq.  She also has lots of opinions - on Hungarians, Gypsies, Communists, etc.  When I asked if she were Romanian or Hungarian, she answered Romanian (of course!), as if the alternative was unthinkable.  She went into a long discussion about how unfortunate it was that the Gypsies were called Rom, thus confusing the whole word about their non-relationship to Romanians, the true inheritor of that name.  When asked about what was happening in the Ukraine, with the Russians posturing to invade eastern Ukraine, at the very least, she said what we had heard numerous times before, that all Romanians were very afraid at what was happening to the East.  Still, she was a charming lady, and we had a wonderful conversation.
We were supposed to get in to Brasov a little after 1600.  We got in to the busy Brasov train station around 1700.  Outside are many local buses.  We try to buy senior citizen bus tickets, with no luck. "Only for locals."  A young man with excellent English helps us to orient: "Be careful."
We took a bus to the address for the SynConcepts Apt., quite near the train station.  It is an ordinary 5 story apartment building.  It appears to be partially business and partly residential.  We see SynConcepts listed for Unit 16.  We try to buzz in, but no response.  A resident enters and we follow:  Apt 16 is locked.  When we knock, a dog barks, but that is all.  We give up.  (Addendum:  A few days later, we are assessed a 29 euro penalty by booking.com for being a No Show.  We complain vehemently, and SynConcepts withdraws the penalty request.) We give up, call a "more expensive" hotel in Lonely Planet, ascertain that they have rooms, and take a bus there.  That hotel, Hotel Coroana, is listed as 220 lei.  When we get there, to a prime center city location, it is only ** (not ***) and it is charging 135 lei per room.  The rooms are faded, but were once fairly spectacular.  We luck out! We have a spacious room, with comfortable beds, lots of TV channels, and high ceilings.  If you wait 5 minutes running the water, it gets hot.
It is 7:30 pm and time to walk 1.5 km to a highly regarded restaurant in Piata Unirii, Cafe Romaneasca.  It has started raining, HARD. We order a tochitura of the region, a sarmaluta (both dishes come with mamaliguta), an eggplant salad (zesty and garlicky), and an Ursus black beer.  For dessert we get one order of a doughnut like dessert.  56 lei total.  Delicious.
Dinner is over.  The rain is now down to a hard drizzle. We walk back to our hotel and some TV.  Some of our papers and maps are wet, and we spread them out to dry. Long day.