Sofia, a nice place to be

Well, I've had two days here. I probably won't finish this tonite, but I might as well get something written now so it won't take so much time tomorrow.

First a review of things I've forgotten to say in recent postings.

I wanted to visit Gallipoli while in Turkey. Turns out I didn't research it well enough. It's an overnite trip from Istanbul, and I didn't plan for that. Or look into it soon enough once I arrived. I'm really sorry I didn't get there. It's been an objective ever since last year when I saw all the ANZAC memorials, all mentioning Gallipoli.

One of you asked how my digestive system has been holding up. Not bad, with a minor bit of, shall we say, distress. The only thing I've changed in my eating/drinking habits took place in Istanbul. I overheard the clerk in the hotel tell Mike, the AU, that they all drank bottled water. At home, I'd just say "So what." and drink from the tap. But I decided that it might be a good idea to use bottled water myself from now on. And I have been staying away from chicken and eggs, regardless of which came first. Probably not necessary, but with Bird Flu in Romania and Turkey, it may pay off to be careful.

Now to the present.

I feel obligated to mention that today is the anniversary of the day we lost Nick, my grandson. We're all coping, at our own pace. And I really think that's all I'll say, except ask you all to remember him in whatever way you feel comfortable in praying.

I think I said that I arrived here Friday PM and got settled in OK. Wandered as usual, ate dinner, and slept in the coldest room in eastern Europe. Three blankets. But I've figured it out now, and am reasonably comfortable.

On Saturday I found a tour going to the Rila Monastery, several hours from here. It sounded interesting, so I signed up. The write-up said that if you only took one tour in Bulgaria, this should be it. I agree.

Rather than a tour bus, 7 of us went in two cars. When we got to a town near the Monastery, the driver stopped, and the "guide" started asking people for what sounded like directions. He needs help in finding the destination?? No, to my relief, he was trying to find the garage the other car had gone to. Turns out they had problems on the way. But, they were fixed, according to the guide. Just "A minor electrical problem."

On to the Monastery. As I hinted above, it was well worth it. I won't try to describe it. Suffice to say it's in a beautiful mountain setting, and every bit worth the time to see. I have pictures galore, for those really interested. But not till I get home.

The last part of the drive there is really scenic. A narrow canyon, with a river running alongside the road for much of the way. If I had been driving, I'd have stopped at least a dozen times for photo ops. For those of you who know it, it's much like the road between Bakersfield and Lake Isabella. Or maybe the area between Auburn and Tahoe, fewer pines, more decidious (does he know what that means??? or how to spell it??? I hope so) trees.

And nothing ends nicely, does it? On the way back through this beautiful mountain pass, the "minor electrical problem" came back in the second car. After the usual "let's try this, let's try that" a tow strap was produced and we towed the car back to the garage.

About three or so hours later, after a lot more "let's try this, let's try that" a part arrived from the local Auto Zone (NOT) and we were on our way again. The 6 hour round trip turned into about 9.5 to 10 hours. But what the hey, we didn't have anything better to do. Just wish they hadn't been so optimistic for a quick fix, and let us wander around the town we were in. It looked like a pretty interesting Bulgarian small town. Oh Well, next time.

Had a really good dinner near the hostel. They were very busy, (people were eating, this time, not drinking) so they seated me at a table with a couple. They were pretty wrapped up in themselves, so not too much beyond "Hello". But they finished and a threesome sat down. They were a bit more communicative, and I got several good ideas of places of interest in Sofia.

Today, I first got a plane ticket to Athens for Monday. I'd originally planned on stopping in Thessalonika, Greece for several days, but since decided that I'd rather spend the time in Athens. The train trip started at 7:00 AM, changed trains in Thessalonika, and arrived in Athens at about 23:00. I decided to fly, and save my rail pass for day trips or overnite trips to places of interest near Athens.

Then, after a delicious Bulgarian Big Mac for lunch, I wandered the places my friends from the previous nite had recommended. Most were on the local map I had, so I found them with relative (more on that later) ease.

Among others, there were several churches on the list. One of you wished me romance on this trip. Not for me, thanks, but I witnessed romance today. At three of the churches, wedding ceremonies were beginning just as I arrived. I decided to let them have their time in the limelite without a tourist intruding with his ever-present camera during the ceremony, so I'll try again tomorrow. Those of you who suffered through last year's episodes may remember that I was in Brisbane about this time, and ran into two weddings in one day there as well.

I did see quite a few impressive buildings. I'll go back tomorrow to fill in the gaps, and get to a few places I missed.

I went into one building, primarily to find a WC. Turns out it was the National Library. The security guard insisted, after he pointed out the WC, that I see the building. He told me there were 18,000,000 books in the building. So I wandered around the main floor a while. Several rooms full of drawers of index cards. Lots of folks sitting at tables doing research, it appeared.

Had a nice dinner in what appeared to be an authentic Bulgarian restaurant. Looked like local folks there, and the atmosphere was very nice. And I treated myself to a special desert tonite. Dunkin Donuts. Found one on the main drag near here, and couldn't resist. The jelly donuts are great, particularly the blueberry, and the coffee was in a 12 oz. cup!!!

About the local map. The street names on it are all in Bulgarian, obviously. But are printed in the alphabet I'm used to. Howsomever, all the street signs (nearly everything, in fact) are in Cyrillic. I have yet to be able to correlate one to the other. The best I can do is to get an idea where I'm at, and count intersections until I get to where I want to be. And it doesn't always work, believe me. But it's fun to be lost once in a while.

Time to close up for the nite. More tomorrow.

And now it's tomorrow. Decided to walk some of the perimeter of the downtown section to see what there might be to see. About what you'd expect in a big city. Not quite as much traffic today, as it's Sunday, but still plenty. I found the Farmer's Market. About 3 or 4 blocks of produce, meat and clothing for sale. One thing I notice here. The vendors don't try to rope you into their stalls. They pay attention to the customers who show interest, but leave everyone else alone.

I got about half way around when I got to the area I was in yesterday with the churches. So I stopped my circuit, and started re-visiting the places I'd wanted to see more of. Two of the churches I'd visited wouldn't allow photos. With what I'd said about people violating the no photo rule in Istanbul, I could hardly take any pictures could I? But two of the older churches did allow photos.

I also went to two art museums. Quite honestly, I wasn't too impressed. One disappointed me. It was the Bulgarian Ethnological Museum. I expected to see some of the history and culture of the country. But it was just a number of paintings and sculptures by 20th century Bulgarian artists.

And that about sums up my visit to Sofia. I did meet yet another AU this morning. A young lady from Brisbane, my favorite AU city. She went on the Rila Monastery tour. I wished her good luck on the "minor electrical problems". When I got back to the hostel this evening, I met Steve, from Oklahoma. He just arrived this morning from Belgrade. He's about my age, maybe a bit younger. Been in Europe for about a month, with a month to go. His wife doesn't like to be gone for more than several weeks, so he travels alone.

That's about it for now. The next one will be from Athens. Need to go out and get some cash. I find that a lot of places here don't accept credit cards. Also, it seems that the CC companies are charging me a fee on each transaction. I hadn't bothered to do the math until recently, but they aren't just using the basic exchange rate, but about 3 or 4 % more. Live and learn.

That's it for now. See you in Athens.