Sofia Plaza

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 ...

... a few things to do in Bulgaria outside of Sofia but we didn't have time to go exploring. We decided to try and find a shop where I could buy some new boots and eventually managed to. The wooman in the shop even threw in a couple of free plastic folding spoon/ fork knife combos (not a spork)! Life doesn't get much better than that!


We then got a couple of massive pizzas and before we knew it it was time tog et back on the train!

... we had our own bathroom attached to the room. After taking a moment to recooperate after the extremely cold weather, we headed upstairs to find out from our host Peter where we should go/the fastest way to get around Sofia. Pointing out the two major roads in Sofia that will lead you to most of the sights, Megan and I bundled up with a few extra layers...well a lot of layers actually lol...and headed out into the slightly warmer day. The contrast between the chill and the ...

... the only real one was Bucharest. The problem with that route was that it carried on all the way to Moscow via Moldova and Ukraine, three places I'd really like to visit. If I didn't want to end up shotting vodka with Putin it was best I stuck to my original plan. The bus it would have to be. I smiled and thanked the woman for her time before heading across to the bus station and quickly securing an, expensive, seat on an overnight bus. I was in a bad mood with Sofia ...

... away) and take whatever transport from there to Burgas. However, around 18:30 some fiat stopped by, a group of 2 young men and one girl were just returning to Stara Zagora after the Metalica concert. We had a short side-trip to one of the villages near Stara zagora. It was a great sight-seeing, unfortunately I had forgotten the camera in Sofia so I wasn't able to take photos. As we were traveling our way to Stara Zagora, one of the guys called at the station to see ...

... Slav. Sure enough the train arrived 3 hours late, during which time I had had to sit among the sorry outcasts of Bulgarian society who evidently congregated each evening in the station. The station itself was a truly horrific throwback to the Soviet era, vast and cavernous and freezing cold, and with uncomfortable wooden benches which had even the outcasts grimacing. Among them was an impish young man in battered clothes who entertained himself by throwing peanuts ...

... of the travelling I've been able to make. And for sure I will pack my bags at least for a shorter while also in the future. :) To stop this semi-philosophical jargon I tell something about the last weeks in Struga. They were funny and weird days with not enough sleep. Everyday at work we went in front of the mirror with Marie to see how tired we were. And yeah, tired we really were. Because of the intependence day of Finland (6.12), my birthday ...

... amazxing to see. Afterwards we walked by some fountains and saw the royal guards who had cool dress wear, as they usually do. Then we headed to the metro where u can see part of the wall that still remains from the creation of the city over 1000 years ago, it was pretty cool. After that we walked down the main road and saw some more government buildings and the tour leader told us about Communism in Bulgaria. It was very interesting to hear from someone ...

... neighbour had more than they did. Except for the really rich, they stayed really rich and usually ran the country...LOL! We had a 3 hour border stop in order to get into the country. A very long boring 3 hour stop as we're not allowed to watch a movie, listen to music or even look like we are having fun. If we laugh at something, the guards might think we are laughing at them and decide not to let us in. They've also been known to take ...

... the eye can only be extracted when the sun rises over the western mountains. Go now, young one." I then gathered up my pouch, consisting of the foot of a clam, the wing of a tortoise, the fingernail of a frog, and the sweat from an elephant's back, and exited into the big city. I'll have you know that after some travail I procured said eye of worm and have turned everything in to Immigration. I have to check back in a week.