Hi, today we are in Brasov which the Lonely Planet guide has dubbed the new Prague, but to be honest whilst its pretty and full of character I'm not so sure about the comparrison.

On Thursday night we went out in Cluj and had a lovely traditional meal and Rich was particularly amused by the fact that Romanians seem to eat raw chillies with their soup. The restaurant was particularly traditional and rustic, ironically we decided afterwards to go for a drink in a nearby bar. The only one with any life in it was called the Fashion Bar and honestly it would have looked pretentious in Clifton. The best way to describe it was a passage way between two buildings draped with fabric to look like a marque with night heaters, leather loungers and plasma TVs everywhere and for the locals this was 'the place to be seen'.

The next day we headed towards a Gorge called Cheile Turzii which was absolutely stunning and surrounded by beautiful limestone mountains. We hope to get a card reader soon and when we do will post some photos on this site. We took a 4 hour trek through and around the gorge (good preparation for me for trekking in Nepal but also our first real exercise since travelling) and at the end of the Gorge we got chatting to three local students. We continued the walk with them and helped the finish off their sandwiches in return for a beer. They had hitch hiked there and originally we planned to camp there but as the light was fading and it was getting cold, we offered them a lift back to Cluji and in return they offered to put us up in their student digs for the night. There were only two rules about guests in the dorms - no foreigners and no girls !!! but they managed to pursuade the security guard to let us stay in return for a small bribe of two packets of cigarettes. The guys room was OK considering it was student accomodation less said the better about the showers and toilets. We were also fed a Romanian traditional dish which comprised of rice and mince rolled in cabbage, baked and then served with thick cream - it was really nice and very similar to a Polish dish my gran used to cook. The guys room was filled with computers and through a student computer network they were able to download the latests movies and music in seconds - this was piracy central it seemed.

On Saturday we left Cluj and drove to the Fagaras Mountains - the students told us about a very scenic road which takes you straight through the mountains but was closed from Mid-October onwards. However thankfully for us it was still open and its the sort of road and scenery that only the Swiss Alps can rival. We climbed to over 2034 metres and navigated 31 hairpins to get to the top. Countless Top Gear style programmes and car adverts must have been filmed here. The problem was that we didn't get to the top until late Saturday afternoon and by the time we did it was very foggy and dark - we couldn't seem more than 20ft in front of the car, so came back Sunday morning to really appreciate the scenery - it really was amazing. In the afternoon we visited a Dam which was equally impressive, I suspect it has featured in many films. There was the opportunity to bugee jump off one side which was quite an extreme drop. Rich and I both agreed that neither of us would do it, me not even for a million pounds. That evening Rich decided that he hated Romanian drivers as none of the cars had their headlights adjusted and driving with your spotlights on seems a national pastime - we were blinded all the way back to our hotel.

Today the weather seems to have turned against us, its rained almost continuously and has been quite cold.We tried to go to Bran castle today but unfortunately its closed on Mondays so our plan is to so back tomorrow and spend Halloween with Dracula......

Now in Cluj-Napoca in Romania. Its a studenty city full of western wannabies who make us travelling types look decidedly scruffy, especially after we arrived having camped in the wilderness of the Apuseni mountains, a very beautiful area full of autumn colours and pine clad mountains. The whole region is full of towns and cities that still exhude a certain beauty under their decades of accumulated shabbiness. Yesterday we did about 30Km off road over a mountain pass. The car held up well though we had our first breakdown of sorts as one of the windows jumped out of its guides due to the roughness of the track.

The main excitement since the last post was getting caught up in the riots in Budapest. 23rd October is the anniversary of the first (failed) revolution against the Soviets. This one happened to be the 50th, and as it so happens the govenment is very unpopular with the people after being caught admitting to lying to win the last election. Don't know why they're so surprised.... Anyway, we had a feeling that we might see a demonstration of some sort when an old man started explaining his take on the situation at a police road block. All morning nothing much happened, we spent most of the time wandering near the parliment building admiring the police closing the roads and 5 car convoys of foreign dignitaries howling past (Grapes thinks she saw Jack Straw in one but we don't know if he was actually there).

After lunch we were wandering round another part of town (to see the market but it was closed as it was a bank holiday) when we saw loads of people heading in one direction so we thought we'd follow. It was initially to see a traditional Hungarian string trio warm up act with lots of flag waving though the crowd didn't appreciate the police helicopter circling overhead. After a while we got bored and went for a beer. Deciding to head back to see what was going on a crowd had gathered some way away from the stage where they were confronted by a line of police in riot gear backed up by police trucks. There was also a bunch of press taking photos so I joined in in "no mans land". Just as I turned to go back the lines of photographers seem to have got out of the way and the police opened up with tear gas cannisters and coloured water jets. Needless to say we legged it! The protests had had an air of menace (a few too many people had arrived in combats and army boots obviously looking for a fight) but were still peaceful up to that point.

After wiping the tears away (that stuff is seriously unpleasant and we didn't even get a proper spray) we made our way back to one of the big TVs covering events on the stage. At one point people on one side of us were singing some rememberence song (little old ladies and children included) while on the other you could hear explosions and see plumes of tear gas and coloured water. As the sound of rioting intesified more and more people started leaving the crowd and heading towards the action you could see that something was going to give, and Grapes rightly persuaded me to start to move away. Suddenly everyone started running and scattering in all directions as a full on police cavalry charge tore straight through the middle of the crowds. This time we escaped down one of the side streets and decided to leave them to it.

Apparently the rioting continued through the night but was over by morning - the police contained them in a wide street and we didn't find out how it ended.

The next day we left Budapest and attempted to find Szobor Park - full of the old communist statues that filled all Eastern bloc countries. Try as hard as we might we didn't find it after about 3 hours (its outside the centre and no maps cover the area or mark it) so we decided to head for the Romanian border. The motorway bridge over the Danube the got blocked by an accident so to avoid the (enourmous, immobile) queues we tried our luck on the local roads to the south eventually crossing on a ferry. The heavens then opened and we drove most of the way to the border in the pissing rain through some of the dreariest countryside I've ever seen, discovering in the process that the windscreen wipers merely smear the windscreen rather than wiping it...

The Romanian border was a disappointment though - through in about 10 minutes with no hassle whatsoever. Stayed in a dingy hotel that once upon a time must have been palacial with collapsed infested beds and shared bathrooms. Don't believe everything you read in a Lonely Planet guide!

Now sitting in an internet cafe in Budapest, weather is lovely and warm, same cannot be said for the bloody hungarian keyboard i'm wrestling with... Caroline was back on the grapes last night and neither of us are feeling our best today. Ended up in an underground club with a pond for a ceiling with a live reggae/ska band after one of the finest mojito's i've had for a while. Bristol can learn something from this... Budapest is a little like Prague with less austere communist blight and cheerier jingles on the underground announcements. Probably fewer sights to see but who cares? - its about 30 degrees warmer here!

Stopped in Györ the night before and ate some proper paprika and cream stew type stuff. Before that we stopped in Vienna for lunch and partook in a little Weinerschnitzel and Sachertorte. Very nice. Going to see if I can get fat before we get back.

Got invited to visit a Czech school by a teacher friend. Thought we'd just have a little tour but instead ended up being the star attraction in a q&a type lesson with a load of hormonal 14-15 year olds. Got introduced as "travellers and explorers" which was quite fun but it turned out they didn't speak english so we had to get by in Czech.

Car is doing fine - no problems to speak of and is reasonably economical. It managed a fully legal 130 (indicated) mph on an autobahn - needless to say Grapes wasn't at the wheel... The less said about crappy iPods the better though. It died after 1 day leaving us with no music (that wasn't central european commercial karaoke pop) for the best part of a week. Is it wrong of me to suggest that Apple are shit?

Next stop Romania somewhere. If we get it right we may be in Transylvania for Halloween!

We had a good crossing to Boulogne and watched the sunset on the horizon (the green flash theory is true) and then found a lovely seafood restaurant before driving through France, Belgium and Germany until 3am in the morning. Hard to believe but whilst we passed many McDonalds we struggled to find a motel and ended up staying in an Ibis just outside Cologne. Spent the next day in Cologne and visited the cathedral and unsurprisingly with Rich managed to find a good sushi restaurant for lunch before heading on to Nuremburg where we had a few beers and some traditional german food. Have mastered driving abroad (during the day - leaving the night driving to Rich) and we haven't really had any arguments so far...... Were now in the Czech Republic staying with Rich's mum and dad until Thursday currently visiting the historic Cesky Krumlov.

Just about to go to bed - still haven't packed and leaving at 10:00 in the morning (latest!). Start as you mean to go on...

Well one day to go and were busy packing and doing all the last minute things that we should have done weeks ago but hey ho "It'll be fine!". Ferry from Dover to Boulogne is booked for 5.40pm tomorrow so there's no turning back now.

We'll do our best to keep this site updated regularly and ensure there are lots of amusing stories to keep you all entertained - so keep visiting to see where we are and what we're up to....