Returned home last night/this morning, after another "character building" cross-country train ride. This one actually wasn't quite as bad as some of the others; not surprisingly, the 5.30 Friday afternoon train heading from Bucureşti to places like Ploieşti (commuters), Sinaia/Buşteni (outdoor enthusiasts) and Braşov (cultural enthusiasts) was packed on the first leg, with people filling every available seat and choking the passageways trying to get a breath of fresh air in the newfound spring heat.
But for some reason, during this most recent round trip the only cars hooked up were first class cars, so even those of us with second class tickets got first class seats. I certainly wasn't complaining about this, having been a staunch detractor of the second-class trains ever since my first journey south from site to pick up my repaired laptop, when I got eaten by fleas in my second-class cabin.
So, despite the packed train and the multitude of windows that were jammed shut, drastically reducing the amount of fresh air available, the trip wasn't too bad. I spent the first few hours standing in the passage, taking advantage of every ventilation opportunity I could find. By the time we reached Brasov at about 8.30, the train had emptied out substantially, my six-seat compartment was only inhabited by one other person, and it had cooled down enough that I was able to sit down and doze whilst listening to This American Life.

Fast-forward a few hours, though, and the situation has grown significantly less pleasant. Someone had the bright idea of turning the heat in the cars on, the temperature had subsequently increased to about 32°C, and I was roused from my sleep by the feeling that someone had rolled me up in a fire blanket and wrapped duct tape around my makeshift cocoon. After shedding a layer of clothing and gasping for air at the only open window for about 30 minutes, I went back to the cabin to try to rest, taking my shoes off for maximum coolness before stretching out across the seats.
It would seem that someone decided to turn the heat off again at some point, because after a couple more hours things got a bit more tolerable. We got a third cabinmate for a short time, but I still managed to doze off and on for most of the trip.
A pretty average Romanian train experience, for the most part. Until the end, that is.

During my medical visit I got diagnosed with a developing case of plantar fasciitis--just what I was hoping for, to go along with the knee problems from figure skating, the foot problems from lindy hop, and the shin splints from running. The PC doctor gave me a set of orthoses to wear in my shoes to alleviate some of pain; I put them in before I left and was quite enjoying them, if one can possibly be said to "enjoy" something like an orthosis. Imagine my surprise when I went to pull my shoes on a bit before arrival, and discovered that ... they were gone.
Yup. It would seem that one of my cabinmates noticed their presence in my shoes, and that plus my dozing state apparently spelt "opportunity" in their eyes, and they STOLE THE ORTHOSES FROM MY SHOES. Just yanked a used pair of heel supports out of someone else's stinky hiking shoes. Seriously, who does this kind of thing?
I thought I was beyond being surprised by anything Romania could throw at me, but it would seem this week has proven me thoroughly wrong.