Our arrival time in Sighisoara was 6.22 but as we had crossed the border the clocks had gone forward an hour so it felt every bit as early as the 5.22 that our bodies were thinking it was. Bleary eyed we stepped off the train and when stepping out of the train station felt the instant difference with Vienna in the poorly maintained buildings, very cold weather and somewhat less prosperous locals. Everything was still sufficiently different to feel a little intimidating but we picked up our bags and followed our map down to the river, across the bridge and then up totally the wrong road. After a bit of back tracking we found our hotel nestled down a side street and at first and second glance it looked like a very nice place to stay. The receptionist showed us to our room, easily the largest on our travels so far and also close to the cheapest. Pleased to have landed on our feet we headed out to find breakfast where we landed somewhat on our wallet. On the recommendation of our guide book we went up into the citadel and found a very posh cafe and had a lovely breakfast whose only downside was being twice as expensive as anywhere else. 

Sighisoara, as with all of Romanian, has a complex and violent history. The citadel was constructed to repel invades from the Turkish empire and was largely successful. It is built on a small steep hill which sits at the bottom of a larger wooden valley. Walking through the main gate under the clock tower we found mainly empty narrow streets and a chilly wind to greet us. A few souvenir shops were open which we neglected in our search for food but we did get some nice views across town. With our immediate nutritional needs satisfied we headed back to the hotel for a serious power snooze to help with the train lag.

Our guide book promised a 'cute museum explaining  the colourful and sometime treacherous local history'. I've ranted about guide books on other trips but have always held up the Lonely Planet as how it should be done so it was with some dismay that I saw this was what we had in our hand. While not completely wrong it was certainly misleading, there may well have been colourful local history which was probably treacherous at times but neither the Romanian text nor the artifacts did much to illuminate this for us. The museum itself was housed in the clock tower and we climbed each level for a great view of the internal mechanism before walking around a balcony at the top which marked out how far it was to certain big cities - we were pleased to see that London was over 1800km away - not bad! One exhibit detailed the amazing career of local boy Herman 'rocket man' Oberth. At the early age he started to design space rockets and this advanced when he left to study physics in Munich where one assumes that his designs started to benefit from some scientific grounding. Herman continued to write about the possibility and mechanics of all aspects of space travel, the exhibit even included some early sketches of space suits which would be required, all very impressive for just after the first world war. His work progressed and during the second world war he co designed the famous V2 rocket for the Germans before moving to the USA and subsequently retiring. After the historic museum we dashed across to the weapons museum just before it closed for a random collection of suits of armory, functional swords and either blunderbuss's or mobile cannons depending on your definition.

Having mentioned the guidebook earlier I feel compelled to continue and set a few facts straight. Firstly anyone who reads it and is worried about the fact that there is only a single cash machine in town which may or may not be working, rest assured there are in fact over a dozen banks each with a shiny machine at the front. Furthermore anyone who reads that the train station ticket office is a shambles should ignore this, they speak reasonable English and are very efficient. Moreover the office that the guide book points you to no longer sells train tickets, but did not seem surprised to be asked once again. Rant over. For now. What the guide book alludes to correctly is the predictable difference between the older and younger generations. The older knew Communism for much of their lives where as the younger are embracing the more democratic capitalism and the possibilities of international travel and work now that Romania is part of the EU. There is also a curious mix of haves and have nots with clearly many people still almost subsistence farming bringing their wares into town on market day where as others are driving around in 4x4 Porches. Restaurants are a western idea which is being taken up but the locals we saw in them tended to be the movers and shakers rather than the ploughers and sowers.

With two museums under our belts it seemed like beer o'clock so we strolled  around the citadel until we saw a likely establishment. Fancying some snacks with our drinks we tried to order some crisps, even to the level of using the point and nod method with the menu but the owner resolutely assured us this was not possible. When leaving we were a little confused to find stacks of crisps behind the bar! With the day drawing to an end we had one last stroll before finding some food close to our restaurant and turning in for the night.