Sofia - Budapest - Thum

Life slowly returns to the Kapikule train station building around half past two in the morning (01/22/2019). A first conversation with a railway worker gives hope for continuing the journey with the night train. First, I am directed to the border policeman for passport control, then the fuss begins again about a ticket for me and Rango. I still don't have enough cash for a complete cabin. But I quickly find several other passengers who would take me and Rango with them in their half-empty cabin. Nevertheless, the railway employees put up resistance for reasons that are difficult to understand. However, since my passport has already been stamped, they at least take me to the Bulgarian border control. Until then, I am allowed to wait outside the train in the cold for a good fifteen minutes and then ride to Swilengrad. There, the Bulgarians kindly attach a regular wagon to the Turkish night train, and I can ride to Plovdiv after passport control for a small fee. I had actually considered staying and briefly exploring Plovdiv, but I decide to continue because of the bad weather. We reach the Bulgarian capital around half past ten, still cold and gloomy in winter weather. Direct travel is not possible, so I set out to find something to eat for Rango and myself. After a refreshing meal, I find good Wi-Fi at the nearby bus station and can work on a travel report and otherwise dawdle. In the afternoon, I make my way to the center of Sofia to get a first impression of the city. Inhabited since the Neolithic Age, Sofia is one of the oldest settlements in Europe and has a lot of history to offer. For example, in the middle of the Serdica subway station, the ancient name of Sofia, there is the Sweta Petka, a chapel from the time of Ottoman rule in the region. Despite the moderate weather, the city leaves an excellent impression on me. After a small dinner, I return with Dicken to the warm bus station and hope to spend the waiting time there until the next train the next morning. Obviously, I'm not the only one with this plan, but I'm the only one who is expelled from the waiting area, and Rango is not allowed to stay. So we spend the night on the platform, right in front of the police station. The place is safe, but too cold for my equipment. Rango seems unaffected by the cold, but I am very relieved when the train station building opens again in the early hours of the morning and we find shelter from the cold.

So the Wednesday begins for me with a hot coffee and breakfast around six in the Sofia main train station. Then Dicken and I take a little walk before we get on the train to Vidin around eight. The train starts with a 40-minute delay towards the Romanian border. I chat with Neli, who has just finished her night shift as a gas station attendant and is on her way home to Montana. Inquiries with the railway staff about the connection train to Craiova give little hope. The train ride seems to end in Vidin today. We reach the small border town with a delay of about 70 minutes. Just as I am strolling along the platform, a conductor tells me to hurry up and buy a ticket for the onward journey to Romania, the connecting train has been waiting for us. Oh joy! So a short time later, after passport control, we are back on the train and reach Craiova in the afternoon. There, after comparing several options, I buy a ticket to Simeria in the evening. There is food for Dicken and a coffee for me in the city. There is little to see, so we spend the waiting time at the train station. We continue our train journey around eight o'clock.

Shortly after midnight, on Thursday, January 24, 2019, after about 30 minutes of waiting, we can change to the train to Budapest. We reach the Hungarian capital at the Keleti train station shortly before nine. I have breakfast at McDonald's before taking a leisurely stroll through Budapest with my four-legged companion. For cost reasons, I postpone the onward journey to the next morning from Nyugati train station. In the evening, several overnight guests gather in the slightly heated waiting room of the train station, of whom I am presumably the only one with a train ticket.

It doesn't help me, shortly after one o'clock in the night, the train station building is completely evacuated by a gang of security guards. We have to kill time somehow in the cold of the night for the next hour and a half. Since a cold wind is blowing outside, we seek shelter in the Budapest underground. Some other fellow sufferers also spend their waiting time there. A relatively young fellow citizen provides some musical entertainment and keeps warm by dancing. Quite amusing, but also somewhat surreal. Nevertheless, the almost 90 minutes pass until the train station opens again. Since there doesn't seem to have been any maintenance work in the train station at first glance, the closure seems to have been rather arbitrary. This makes life on the street even more unpleasant for those who depend on such shelter. We find refuge in the waiting room of the train station for the rest of the night (where the security guard wakes me up around four and asks me to sit down - great job), until we can board our train to Prague shortly before six. So we continue on the same day to Prague, Klasterec, Vejprty, and Bärenstein, and then arrive in Thum, where we are at my grandparents' doorstep shortly after seven.