Castle Hrankov Sofia

A beautiful afternoon sailing on Lake Iskar, 40 km from Sofia. This is the lake where I learned to sail many years ago, and it was wonderful to go back. We sailed with my cousin Reny, her husband Rosen on their boat. Their little girls Bobi and Lili were great sailors. My brother Plamen also joined us.

Woke up relatively early, had some Argentinian tea, barely palatable but was told it has a reasonable level of vitamins and beneficial elements for the body. Got a ride almost right away, split paths with Polish guy and got a ride with a Turkish guy going to Sofia. Not much happened on the way, had a coffee and admired the countryside. Stopped for lunch and had a surprisingly good salad. I ...

... everything (for an Aussie who still can't get used to snow) was picture perfect - the trees still had snow on the boughs and leaves and it was all just white and shining - and unfortunately too dry to actually be able to make a snowball out of it which was maybe just as well. Once arriving at the area to get ski passes and ski hire etc we were told that unfortunately due to lack of snow only a red and black run were open going down ...

... Gigou, I am already aware of that trick!" Of course it's now 9:30 and all the currency exchange places are closed so I stopped off at McDonald's (credit card friendly) for a bite to eat. When walking back to the hostel I saw what looked like money on the ground, and sure enough it was 7 leva! The second time on this trip I found money on the ground! It couldn't have come at a better time. With the .27 leva I had now all I need is another .17 and I ...

... 10 93;ме багаж 72; и хвана 93;ме влака за Асено 74;град, къдет 86; щяхме да празн 91;ваме с бащ ...

Today we went to the Bulgarian Palace of Culture amoung other thigns inculding a church, some markets and the land of corn pizza. Corn pizza was good enough. Prehaps it was even better than the potato pizza we tried before in Bulgaria that had both mashed and backed potatos on the pizza. We ate our hostel's free dinner of pasta for the third day in a row. Bla. Otherwise Hostel Mostel has treated us well. Bulgaria we enjoyed and will miss you.

... Bulgarian Orthodox church is its own entity, separate from both the Protestant and Catholic churches. The interior was lit by candles and a few dim chandeliers. This gave every thing and eerie feel. I struggled to see the fresco's in the dark. On the underside of the large dome God presides over the church. On the far walls only the golden halos of the saints could be seen in the dark. I sat and just ...

... town of Sinaia and Peles Castle. This one is very ornate both inside and out. The inside was done in various styles (Italian, French, Turkish, etc...) and incredibly lavish. Someone had lots of money to spend. Near the end of the tour I was beginning to feel a cold coming on (ugh!). Had an hour drive back to Brasov and I got some "airborne" in me. It didn't help. Rested and had dinner later. Went to watch World Cup at one of the pubs, but it was just too smokey so I went ...

... where else would be a more appropriate next stop than the bathroom convention taking place at the cinema complex? We did indeed stop by an actual restroom as well, where, like most places in Europe, you have to pay. This bathroom stop was the only part of my day here that made me really feel like I wasn't somewhere other than an odd city in the US. When you pay to use the bathroom, you pick up pre-folded toilet paper before going in. I don't know why this struck me as so odd, but I ...

... and academecians who presented their research. Each presentation was different and interesting. Some have analysed the signs and symbols to determine how often they correlate with specific figures, pottery, tablets, etc. Others were reporting on their recent archaelogical excavations and research. We had 2 Ukrainians who reported on a dig that was knew to Westerners because of the demise of the Soviet Union, though they had been working on it for ...