on the road again, finally

It's been a fairytale wonderful stay here in Debrecen, Hungary.  When I arrived in Hungary, after only one day crossing Europe from Germany, I settled quickly in the Baha'i Centre in Debrecen.  I unloaded all my stuff, moved in, and got all cozy here. It has been my home base for exactly 90 days.  From here I've been on a few adventures within Hungary, but nothing over a few days long.

finally all packed up, almost

As my blog has described, through about 70 posts so far, I've had an incredibly rich experience here.  I've made an unbelievable number of friends, and really now feel that this town is my home.  I'm very, very sad to leave, but excited to adventure east.  It hasn't sunk in yet, but I imagine it will as I cross the border into Romania soon.

Tomorrow, since my visa expires, I must exit the European Union.  Also, my ultimate plan is to meet Dharlene in Istanbul in one week.  So in the morning I catch a train to Oradea, Romania.  I've been couch-surfing, which is an excellent travelers resource, "changing the world one couch at a time!"

Couch Surfing website

So I have couches lined up where I can crash all across eastern Europe.  Here's a brief itinerary:

*Oradea, Romania

*Cluj, Romania

*Sinaia, Romania (where I'll see Queen Marie's castle, who was a Baha'i!  This is apparently the most beautiful castle in Romania, and some say in all of Europe.  It's way up high in the Carpathian mountains, so may be a bit difficult to get to!)

*Bucharest, Romania

*Sofia, Bulgaria (where I'll visit Marion Jack's grave; I'm very excited about this!  The Baha'i World News Service has an interesting story about this spot: Baha'i group pays homage to a heroine.  Thanks to Charlotte Dubec for this excellent idea!)

*Edirne, Turkey (where I'll visit a Baha'i shrine: a house where Baha'u'llah stayed during one of His many exiles.)

*Istanbul, Turkey (where I'll finally meet up with Dharlene at long last!)

So I've got a week to get to Istanbul, with some long train rides along the way.  This'll probably be my first Christmas spent entirely in a train, from Bucharest to Sofia.

After a nice 2nd or 3rd or 4th honeymoon in Istanbul, Dharlene and I will continue to Egypt and then ultimately to the Haifa, Israel which is the spiritual and administrative centre of the Baha'i Faith.  It would be impossible for me to adequately describe my joy to be approaching this resplendent Spot, which contains the sacred Remains of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith.

It's very late now, and I have a big day tomorrow; so I better wrap up.  I expect internet access to be very limited, and opportunities to upload photos rare.  But I will try to keep you all posted as much as possible.  Viszontlatasra!