A church in Romania.

I needed a visa to enter Romania (the only one on the trip). Near the border, I very reluctantly relinquished my passport and some money to the train conductor who disappeared for what seemed like an eternity. Years later, I read a woman's first hand account of being forced to briefly leave her train without her luggage at the Romanian border, only to find all of her luggage missing once she reboarded. Fortunately, the conductor returned with my passport and visa. Also, train tickets in Romania are very strange, being about the size of a movie ticket. I received two different colored tickets for each trip - maybe one for the seat assignment and one for the trip itself.

On Saturday morning I arrived about an hour before dawn. There was a cab driver at the train station. I showed him a map my penpal had made for me of how to get to her apartment. He had trouble finding the apartment, but finally did. We climbed the stairs and I knocked on the door. A woman answered. It wasn't her. She verified that the address was correct, but did not know her. It was a very confusing situation.

Maybe, given some time, once it got light, I might have located her, but I wasn't sure. I was in the only country where my rail pass was not valid. I had purchased a separate train ticket to get to Deva. If I could not find her, I would have to fend for myself and I could not speak Romanian. All the other cities I visited, I could just step onto a train because of my rail pass. What if I was robbed? What if I was assaulted? If I died there, it would be without a trace, because nobody knew where I was. No one else knew about Gina and I wasn't even sure if Gina understood where I was going. Gina was hundreds of miles away and my brother Brad in England was two time zones away.

We had to cut through a huge goat herd which was strolling down the road. The roads were surprisingly decent.

I decided to be careful. I asked the taxi driver to take me back to the train station. Then, he said he could catch up with the train in Arad, on the Hungarian border, but it would cost me the equivalent of about $100. I don't remember the exact figure. I felt it was probably outrageous, but I had about that much in Romanian money with me which I didn't feel I could convert back in to dollars. You can buy lei, the Romanian currency, outside of Romania, but I don't think I could have sold it. I decided to go ahead with the cab ride.

As we started to go to Arad, the sun was rising and I could finally see the countryside. Deva, itself, had looked interesting. I would like to have spent some time there. I saw the countryside with rolling hills and all the haystacks. They were different then in other countries. I think there were three poles which formed a tripod and, then, the hay was stacked over it. The haystacks were high and pointy. The apartment houses were not very attractive, but the homes looked nice. Most were nicely painted, more colorful than in America. In America, homes are painted one color, with the trim possibly in a contrasting color. In eastern Europe they were painted in three or four colors. I think they had nice tile roofs. In America, most roofs are made of thin asphalt shingles. The homes had the type of shutters which I saw throughout eastern Europe. Operated from a strap in the house, they were pulled down at night down over the outside of the window. This is a system which I think America would be smart to imitate.

A typical Romanian house. The shutters are pulled down over the windows. The homes seemed well cared for. I was expecting conditions to be worse, but I didn't stay very long in Romania. A few years later, I read about a woman author who went to Romania after the revolution. She was forced off the train at the border, supposedly for passport inspection, or something like that. Her bag, which she was forced to leave on the train, was gone when she got back on.

In the rest of Europe it looked like winter, but in Romania it looked like fall. There were still leaves on the trees (please ignore the picture). Outside of Romania, the skies were always cloudy, but in Romania it was sunny. It seemed like the warmest place on my entire trip.

The cab driver dropped me off at the train station. It was hard getting a ticket. I did not find anyone working at the station who spoke English. Eventually I was able to get back on the train. In my compartment, there were two other people; one young man who spoke fair English and one young woman who spoke a little English. The taxi driver spoke English, also. On the train to Deva, the attendant for the train car spoke English. I was surprised, in my few encounters, how many Romanians did speak English. The taxi driver said that it has been taught in the schools for many years, even back during communism.

There were some bad things about Romania as well. It was the only country in Europe which required a visa. It cost over $30. Then there were the long waits at the border. There were lots of armed soldiers outside the train. One would come in the train car and look at my passport, then a few minutes later, another one would, then another. Even my luggage was searched, the only place on the whole trip.

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