10/2/07
Giuriu, Romania

Well, we're finally on the train on our way to Budapest. We left yesterday after a curious and somewhat frustrating day. After going for a morning run, we rushed to the train station at 10 a.m, then discovered that our train didn't leave until 10 PM! We were told twice that our train left in the morning, but obviously something was lost in the translation. So, we had an extra day in Istanbul, which was nice, but sort of funny because we said goodbye and were ready to leave.

We walked Sinan to his old university and wandered the city for the day. It was nice, because we got really nice views of the Bosphorus, got a baked potato (something Emmett has had his eyes on ever sinse arriving in Istanbul), and stopped by an art gallery. We had a big salad for dinner and said sad goodbyes again.

At the train station, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had a six person sleeper car all to ourselves!! Sinan chased after our train as we pulled out the station just like a movie. We slept okay on the train, but we were woken up in the middle of the night multiple times to get our passport stamped. The worst was exiting Turkey because, at 2 a.m., they made us get off the train and wait in line for over half an hour in the cold. Later, passing into Bulgaria at about 4 a.m., I got really paranoid because the border police took our passports to stamp them, and I was worried it was some kind of scam. Of course, it was just procedure, but it made for an adventurous night.

Now, we are starting another full day on the train. It's nice to see the mountain scenery of Bulgaria and Romania as the train speeds past.