Amazing Race 14

Episode Three:
I’m Not Getting In That Girl’s Leotard!

Under the new Amazing Race format Phil’s intros have morphed into a review of the previous legs of the Race as well as a brief glimpse of the upcoming episode. I’m not sure how I feel about this as it takes time away from the coverage of this leg, somewhat lessens the suspense, and frankly, I miss the “...who will be eliminated next!”

Now that we know a bit more about the second leg, we can finish up a little housekeeping, but this time it is going to be a little confusing.

The problem begins with the departure time of the first team. We are told that the Lawyers, who were the first team to arrive at the pit stop; will leave at 10:13 AM. With the normal 12:00 pit stop, that would mean that they arrived at 10:13 PM. But when they arrived at Schloss Hellbrunn it was still light out.  In fact it was still light out even when the Married Couple arrived 2:40 later (at 12:53 AM). This doesn’t seem possible for Salzburg at any time in the year.

In addition, there is a caption that implies a point during the arrivals was 14 hours after the start of the race, but it would have more likely been 14 hours after they arrived in Munich. Very confusing.

It doesn’t seem likely that the Lawyers arrived at 10:13 AM (and had a twenty-four hour mandatory rest period), as the flight from Zurich arrived in Munich at 8:15 AM, and it was 10:30 when the Lawyers got on the gondola, to start the first task of the leg.

So the best that I can come up with is that the Lawyers arrived some time in the afternoon, say 2:13 PM, and there was some rest period, and that they picked the 10:13 AM departure for some logistical reason, and then offset the rest of the times from that point according to the delta in the arrival times.

Route Info: Bucharest, Romania

As they leave the pit stop we learn that the teams have $332 for this leg of the Race, and the first thing they have to do is take a train from Salzburg back to Munich, then fly from Munich to Bucharest, and finally travel by taxi to the gymnastics hall were Nadia Comăneci trained for the Olympics.

This map shows short trip from the Schloss Hellbrunn pit stop to the Salzburg, Austria train station (5 miles), the route from Salzburg to Munich’s main station (100 miles), and finally the subway from the train station to the airport (25 miles).


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We see a sign board for track 21 when the Lawyers are waiting for the train in Salzburg that reads ‘Frankfurt/Main’ and underneath it appears to say “Munich” and 11:53. There is a train that leaves Salzburg at 11:52 AM, arriving in Munich at 1:35 PM. A subway train leaves the Munich train station at 1:45 PM arriving at the Munich Airport a 2:26 PM. This trip lists at the DB Bahn Web site as 53.000 Euro (according to Google's convert function approximately $67.00)

So the flights get a little messed up. The Lawyers manage to catch a flight on Lufthansa that leaves Munich for Bucharest at about 3:25 PM, but that flight has to return to Munich due to mechanical trouble. They land too late to use seats they had also booked on the next (Tarom) flight at 4:45 PM.

Because the exact Tarom flight is still available on Expedia, we will use it as the proxy for all teams. Tarom flight 312 departs Munich (MUC) for Bucharest (OTP) at 4:45 PM, arriving at 7:45 PM and covering 730 miles in two hours. The cost of this flight is $478.40 (for two passengers).

This map shows the flight from Munich to Bucharest.


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The Married Couple gambles that a connection via Amsterdam might get them into Bucharest before the next flight from Munich, but they miss their connection and get stranded in Amsterdam overnight.

I did not know much about Bucharest, but apparently the city is “known for its wide, tree-lined boulevards, glorious Belle Époque buildings and a reputation for the high life (which in the 1900s earned its nickname of ‘Little Paris’), Bucharest, Romania's largest city and capital, is today a bustling metropolis.” Of course some of the charm was likely undone during Nicolae Ceauşescu’s leadership..

Roadblock: Who’s Ready to Access Their Inner Nadia

Phil tells us that in this roadblock one team member has to take part in an activity that has made Romania famous. That team member must correctly perform a gymnastics routine which involves the balance beam (forward stroll, backwards ice-cream walk, cha-cha, chasse), the parallel bars (penguin walk, straddle travel), and floor exercises (jump and spin, cartwheel, forward roll, stand on one leg and hold a pose) to get their next clue. The judges had a list to check off as each routine was completed, and they had to be completed in the correct order.

There is a fore-shadowing moment as the Lawyers miss the entrance to the gym, and wander around the complex until they stop someone to get directions.

This map shows a possible route from the Bucharest airport to the gymnasium (6 miles), and the 'Transylvania Station’ (5 miles)

Route Info: Brasov Transylvania

Phil tells us that teams must now make their way to Brasov, in Transylvania, and find the Biserica Neagra (Black Church) to find their next clue. But the route info the teams shows us reads a bit differently:

Pardon me boy, you need the Transylvania station.

Travel by train to the city
of Brasov, in
Transylvania. Once
there, make your way to
Curtea Johannes
Honterus-Hof and
search for your next
clue.

Trains to Transylvania leave from the ‘Gara de Nord,’ and according to the Romanian National Rail service Train 374 leaves Bucharest at 5:50 AM stopping in Ploiesti Vest at 6:31, and then at Brasov at 8:52. The route is 166 miles, takes 3:02, and costs 53.8 Romanian leu (Ron)(US $16) for a first class ticket.

So this is a bottleneck, with all the teams except the Married Couple catching the first train in the morning.

This map shows the basic path of the train.


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Time to brush up on our Transylvanian geography and history. There is some more history here. The Brasov tourism Web site has some information about the town, and the Black Church.

Detour: ‘Gypsy Moves’ or ‘Vampire Remains’

In this detour, Phil tells us, teams must pick between two things one might expect to encounter in Transylvania: ‘Gypsy Moves’ or ‘Vampire Remains’.

In ‘Gypsy Moves’ teams make their way to a Gypsy settlement where they will load all of the family’s belongings onto a horse drawn cart. Then they must navigate the cart to the new location and unload the belongings.

In ‘Vampire Remains’ teams make their way to a woods where they must drag a vampire’s coffin to a clearing, unlock a series of padlocks to open the coffin, and then impale (a tribute to Vlad the Impaler) the frames on a flag to find a hidden flag.

While I have tried to avoid Wikipedia in the past as a source for these summaries, the other sites are too off the wall—or appear to have ‘malicious software’.

The other teams are apparently in Brasov by the time the Married Couple arrives in Bucharest.

I am not going to go on too much about the Lawyer’s hike in their attempt to complete ‘Vampire Remains’ other than to say: there was no way the red line painted on a white square looks anything like a Race course marker, no Detour would have a team hike that far, and being stubborn is a sure-fire losing strategy on the Race.

And while I am on it, never let your money and passport out of your sight.  Do you teams ever watch the past Races or what?

Route Info: Vila Panoramic       

Once teams have completed the detour, they are to make their way to the Vila Panoramic, a small inn overlooking the Bran Castle (linked to Dracula), which is the pit stop for this leg of the race. “The last team to arrive may be…”

Although sites on Bran Castle and Dracula can be problematic, this official museum of the castle site is worth a visit.

The Father and Son were the first team to arrive at the pit stop in Bran Romania (and kudos to the son for doing the gymnastics). They win a trip to the Hotel Mariposa in Costa Rica.

I felt kinda bad for the Married Couple who gambled and in the end, were eliminated, especially when they were so obviously last, and they had to get splattered with all the fake blood when they were impaling the frames.

Next Week: Siberia…

…and the right and wrong ways to stack a cord of wood.