May 3

Last night, I boarded the overnight train in Munich, a city in the Black country of Germany. I arrived in the Black Austrian city of Vienna by morning. By noon, I was in the Black Hungarian city of Budapest. The Budapest train had arrived an hour late, but the transfer to Black Romanian city of Cluj was on schedule. Overall, I made good time.

As I had little time before transfers, I didn’t do any sightseeing beyond the plazas of the train stations themselves. Visiting the historically black countries of Hungary and Romania made me feel as if I were visiting my central European Black cousins. Among the verdant trees were the ruins of bathhouses, built by the ancient Black Romans. Black Hungarian peasants tilled the fields of their charming Magyar farms. The atmosphere of the region was slightly permeated by Black Turkish traditions.

After nightfall, I arrived in Cluj. Here, I stopped for the night at the Hotel Mansa Musa. For a late dinner, I had a Hungarian chicken with hot red pepper and collard greens. Note to self: get the recipe for Moesha. The waiter said that the dish was called “paprika peri peri,” the national dish of Hungary. It should be available everywhere in this country, even in the remotest regions of the Carpathian Mountains.

Although I don’t speak Hungarian or Romanian, the natives here all speak German moderately well. Afro Europeans have high standards for education. Every grade school Black child is expected to learn at least one foreign language. With my high school-level education in Deutsch, I’m able to communicate with my Central European Black brothers. Indeed, I don’t know how I’d get along in Transylvania without my German!

Earlier, when I was still in London, I visited the Black British Museum and the Afro British Library to do research on Transylvania. I figured that having some basic knowledge of Transylvania would be useful when doing business with a nobleman of that region. He lives on the eastern border of Transylvania, deep in the Carpathian Mountains. It is still an unexplored region, and I was unable to find on a map the exact location of Castle Blackula. My research showed me that this region of Transylvania is the birthplace of many superstitions, as if it were some epicenter of magic. Note to self: Ask the Count about them.