Hotel California Sofia

... quite tired of us, and at the last round they told us "the bar is closed". Thank God, they didn`t have the option to throw us out :-) ...

At home in Sofia, we went to get a birthday cake, I ran to the government office to apply for my new BG passport, then took a quick nap, and continued to celebrate my birthday with my family, my cousin Reni, her husband and two kids. What a day! I am so happy to be home!

... a hostel. Found one, only to find they were booked, used the Internet there and managed to organize a couch in Sofia for the evening at short notice. Took the tram to the place at 9pm, met with my CS host Dimitri's and another CS'er from the US. We had something to eat, drank rakija and then went to a local place for some more rakija. Went home relatively early, had some eggs and went to sleep.

... New Years in this foreign city. First though we needed food and naturally everywhere we tried was either closed or booked out by the locals. We eventually went back to a little cafe and got some half baguette things which though not that flash at least filled a hole and the beer and red wine made up for it - though Kel did get a raised eyebrow when she ordered a whole bottle for herself! Later we decided to move on and hit the local ...

... our way to the train station, past more barking dogs, and caught the 19:53 sleeper train to Sofia. My first sleeper train, didnt know what to expect but reallllly loved it. Its pretty much a bunch of random young travelers sharing cabins and staying up till the wee hours to watch the scenery, wake up and give passports to yelling guards at border control and just thoroughly enjoy how travel used to be. I ...

... 1086;й как ще реаги 88;а. На 11 колов 86;з почак 72;хме към час и през цялот 86; време си танан 80 ...

... of it were destroyed by the Goths (twice) and the Huns once. The Ottomans turned it into a mosque for several centuries, and it was finally restored and re-consecrated around 1910. The inside of the building feels medieval, and you can just imagine knights and peasants huddled inside over the centuries. The current building is made of red brick, and the ceiling is probably only forty feet high. The vaults are all made of brick though, and the walls are ...

... badges, medals, daggers, clocks, spy glasses, compases, caps, pay books, etc, was like a museum open on the street where a person could pick up the exhibits and take them home. It all looked real enough, but how does this amateur recognise anything as real? The only thing I wish I could have taken home was a glass figurine of , the Czech antihero. But he probably would have broken in my bag. At the end of the market was the Alexander Nevski church. It is ...

... hostel so went out on the town with them. After a few drinks at a few different bars, I had to call it a night as I was falling asleep. The next morning I toured around the fortress. There was a guy by the entrance gate that had these animatronic puppet things that would talk and sing. They were spooky. The church atop the citadel had some cool religious modern art inside. They charged to take pictures though. Walked along the river a short ways then back to town for ...

... and not me I'll just sip my rakia quietly in the corner. skiing in bulgaria the mountains are really big and beautiful in bulgaria. and the ski runs at bansko are really long. I like skiing in bulgaria. the DBLers the reason I am in Bulgaria is that while working in Alaska at Denali Backcountry Lodge there were a bunch of bulgarians and they are all darkish-haired, long-nosed and terribly hedonistic. I admire that. so Troyan, Irina, Natalia, and Marto, here's to you.

... no doors and then we found out that there was no hot water so there was no way that we were having a shower up in the cool mountain night air. Who needs showers - highly overrated. There was food, much to our delight as I don't think that crackers and tuna would do for 5 people unless it is the only option. The soup however just tasted like dirty water, that was until I put enough pepper in it to give it a little taste. Afterwards we went outside to ...