Paint the picture. A train, 22 hockey players and some packed lunches. Sounds pretty standard right? Anyone that has traveled to Eastern Europe knows that there is very little 'standard' about the land of bears and cabbage. I am trying not to be derogatory or unkind but this part of the continent is very different to most places and like all ex communist regions it almost seems as though it is stuck in a time warp. If you awoke in Romania after falling asleep in your own surroundings you would walk out thinking you had been throw in a time machine and transported back to the 1980's. If you think I am over exaggerating, but trust me I am not.
We loaded our bags onto the train and departed at 13:00. There were about 4 guys to a compartment and we had most of the carriage to ourselves. There were 2 'gypsys' who were somewhat entertaining but also slightly disturbing but other than that the ride was ok albeit long. On the train there was very little besides highly intilecctual conversation, water sprays out the window, word games and the occasional game of...well let's call it tennis. One player managed to clear almost two compartments with one serve but we will blame the Mcdonalds for that. Our staff of coaches, managers and volunteers made some great sandwiches and provided cooldrinks in abundance. We were grateful for their efforts!
We arrived around 23:00 in Sofia and dropped the bags off at the rink and then went on to the hotel. All the players are in their rooms and recovering from a few hard days of training and travelling.