First Impressions

Salut!

I wanted to share my first impressions of Romania. First I should state that in all of these countries it seems like the train stations are the ugliest places. You can see what I like to call the lingering effects of socialism. Cheap buildings, slapped up in a slip shod fashion, which are now rotting away. Abandoned industrial sites. Shacks. Abandoned train cars. If there weren't cute little towns past the ugly outskirts it would be pretty depressing. I often wonder what it was like in say, Stalin's time, on a bleak winter day, when you were having to go to your horrible job, in fear of the secret police, taking a train out of one of these pitiable train stations.

So, the first thing I saw in Transylvania was ugly telephone poles and abandoned train cars.

Bleak Countryside

Abandoned Train Cars in Romania 

More Abandoned Train Cars

This quickly gave way to more interesting sites, however. Here is a funky looking church.

Cool Church in Romania as Seen from Train 

Cool Church Alternate View

These towns quickly gave way to the Transylvanian countryside. By this time the train was moving a little faster and the angle of the sun was such that my photos weren't coming out very good. They tended to reflect the camera in the train window. I did try to take pictures anyway.

Before I show the pics I want to tell you how it felt. I first started to pass train stations that had little grape arbors and fruit trees. Then I started to pass little cottages that had chickens and dogs in the backyard with outhouses, fruit trees, grape arbors, and signs of busy happy life.

I passed a bunch of beehives, which they seem to paint bright colors in Romania. Here is a shot.

Colorful Beehives 

Colorful Beehives Whizzing By

The entire time we were gradually going up, and you could see beautiful mountains in the background. Jimmy could have probably told me how high above sea level we were. I passed some ponds which actually looked a lot cooler than these shots convey.

Romanian Pond with Hut 

Another Shot of the Romanian Pond

Then stuff started to look REALLY cool, and I wish I had better pictures. We started to get into forested areas with patches of fields and crops. We crossed beautiful rivers and I saw people trout fishing. It reminded me of Hemingway in the Sun Also Rises. I saw these huge, beautiful, black and white birds wheeling over the cornfields and sunflower fields, obviously feasting on what was left of the crop. I saw old fashioned haystacks that looked like they were made just for Halloween. The hay was piled around crooked sticks. I saw a real shepherd tending his flock, and I saw a man walking home from work carrying a sickle. He looked timeless, like he could have stepped out of the last century, or the century before that. He most certainly didn't look like somebody from the 21st century. I tried to take pictures but they didn't come out very well.

Romanian Forest

Romanian Hills

More Romanian Hills

Bad View of Hills and Steeple from Train Window

I know this shot of the train window with the curtains looks all Orient Express, but trust me, it wasn't. There was a drunk man behind me who must have drunk at least 3 bottles of whiskey and who kept holing up in the WC to smoke, and a Gypsy boy who kept trying to sell me laminated cards of religious icons. I was a hard sell but boy did he try.

This is a terrible shot of an old fashioned horse cart, but hopefully you'll get the picture.

Romanian Horse Cart

Here is a shot of a Romanian hillside. I don't know if this one has been strip mined or if this is natural. Most likely it's a result of strip mining, considering what the evil Commies did.

Romanian Mountain

Romania Haystacks