Kempinski Zografski Sofia

Due to a different perception of time we only travelled 13 instead of 18 hours from Vienna to Sofia which "enabled" us to spend 5 more valuable hours out in the freezing cold of Sofia, yeah!! Sometimes it's hard to believe that Bulgaria is a EU member... street conditions for cars and pedestrians are hazardous since there are many holes. The favourite food of Bulgarians seems to be pizza and we even met Mr. Flavio Ravioli alias Silvio Berlusconi who visited Sofia ...

... your admission cost to things but its always extra. Not that we can't afford the bathroom, but to always be sure to have change with you and to pay without even getting a clean bathroom.
We arrived in Sofia early in the morning and took a free tram (don't know if they were supposed to be free) to our hostel. We weren't sure if they would have our room ready, but I was praying because I was so tired. Brian picked out a good place for us. The hostel only had 5 rooms and it was ...

... help us. Of course, he could not speak English or Turkish, and he could only read the Cyrillic alphabet, which made it difficult. Peter, thankfully spoke enough Russian to establish that our reservations had been double booked so it looked as though all five of us were going to have to share a cabin for three. Now, I should take a moment to describe what a sleeper cabin on this particular train was like. Image a room four feet wide, six feet long, and about 8 feet high ...

... office) Our next stop was Veliko Tarnavo which became sort of an ordeal. super hot bus, we thought the air conditioner was broken, but the driver just had it off...torture!!! The town has a big castle that has a big light show at night. We did our wander, searched for shopska salad and just hung out in the room. We got a taxi driver, (dobre, somehow scheming to leave bulgaria), to take us to some nearby villages for the day, Arbanassi and Tryvana. did some more ...

... to pick me up, though the car was turned off and parked. Anyway, the song I heard playing when I got in sounded familiar. It was none other than the famous techno 80s band-- SNAP, playing "I've got the power." This is the same group who did "Rhythm is a Dancer," which, for those of us who can remember these hits, they are solid 80s (or is it 90s?) tunes. "Ive got the power" particularly motivated me as it was the first song I heard upon entering ...

... Bulgaria (or perhaps its to Turkey where the train ended up). Everyone on board had at least 10 or so cartons stashed on them. The people in the carriage next to us (i was travelling with some aussies i had met) had i dont know how many. They were using screwdrivers to undo the panneling, the roof, everything and storing as many as they could. When the customs got on the train they must have known what was going on because they checked ...

... my ***** that none of us had any money, and eventually this sank in and she informed the others. They hopped off and scarpered rather unceremoniously. It was only really then, when the pair of breasts had been removed from my face, that I noticed that Bryan the American had his shirt off and was pumping his fist into the air with an amazed grin on his face. Paul had also gone a little glassy eyed, and said "Right, I'm going closer", before going to sit by the ...

... abgewimmelt hatte - was mir die Komplimente: Du bist eine Schlampe! Ein Riesenarschloch! einbrachte - setzten sich zwei Damen neben mich - und ich war mir sicher, Rumaenisch mit Chisinau-Akzent zu hoeren. Es stellte sich raus dass die beiden fuer die moldawische Botschaft in Sofia arbeiteten - was auch ihre lange Mittagspause erklaerte ;) Ich traf ich dann meine Freunde fuer die naechsten Tage - eine Gruppe, die von einer spanischsprechenden Griechin ueber eine ...