Sofia Princess Hotel

... hmm that can of coke cost us 2 pound 50 (I though Bulgaria was supposed to be cheap!!) and she couldn't give us some coins. got change in the exchange office then as we went to the pay phone I saw my dad outside. Didn't even need the damn change! hugs kisses hellos then in the car to start the 5 HOUR car journey to Srebarna...argh! On the told the father about the most expensive can of coke in the ...

... could see we would be smashed between a bunch of rowdy fans so we opted to sit in another area. I still cant believe how run-down this stadium was. It looked like a forest in between the seats with all the weeds and bushes growing between them. The chairs had a thick gray film of dirt on them (most of the locals brought newspaper to sit on). The best part: the entire rows of chairs were coming out of the ground and at a sharp slant. The only way to sit comfortably was to lean ...

... right next door their was a woman who was sleeping in a room with 2 empty beds that we could use. This was great news, if not four hours late. Rachel and Barbra left creating a feeling of more space. It was now 2am and Hannah and the girls went to sleep, but Peter and I decided to stay awake until the border, as it was rumored that we would have to get off the train and wait in the cold (apparently something most unusual for eastern European countries). Sure enough, we ...

... found in various sites in Bulgaria and Macedonia The most amazing was a bronze head, which still had the coloured eyes. This is so rare as most of this kind of decoration has been lost over the centuries. It was an extremely striking sculpture. After over an hour there we went outside where there was a noisy political demonstration going on. We watched but it was peaceful. Behind the Presidential Palace we stumbled on the Church of St George which was again an early 4th century Roman ...

... too much cars for the amount of roads and not enough parking spaces. Everyone in a car seems to have an agressive attitude and to be in a hurry. In some places the pavements are full of parked cars so pedestrians have to risc their lives by walking on the crowded streets. There are just three bicycle paths which just stop/make funny turns/are on the pavement... (so in last case you' ll have always some persons get ...

At the last station in Serbia a huge rush of women got on the train with heaps of bags all fighting for seats,our carriage filled up very quickly the Serbian passport control come through again and give us another farewell stamp then the Bulgarian passport control come through and start searching the train looking in vents under seats all very weird they also have their own swipe and lap top to check passports it took ...

... any further detail. In any other circumstance, sitting next to a man old enough to be my grandpa and listening to this song would have made anyone a little uncomfortable. But, I was confident his English was too bad to get everything the rapper was singing, so I just sort of sat back and chuckled as we drove along, bouncing to this provocative song together-- he pointing out various Sofia monuments and such along the way.  So I'm at the hostel ...

... were pretty unhappy when everything was taken, so us affluent westerners tried to look as incospicous as possible, and got the hell out of there as soon as the train finally got to Sofia. It was interesting to see in the whole 'never would see this in oz' sort of thing, but it wasnt really a pleasant experience. So anyway, Sofia. Everyone i have met so far who has been there told me that Sofia was terrible, it was ugly and that i shouldnt go there ...

... is trying to get into the EU, the English have come over to tell them how to do customs checks. Anyway, there was lots of fevered running back and forth, moving bags into different compartments and under seats and into the overhead compartments. They were trying very hard to stuff their bags in between our backpacks, to make it look like they were ours. Again, not a great concern.... they were just so nice about it. At the last minute, the guy in our compartment ran off ...

Albania is a beautiful country! --Majestic Snow-Covered Mountains form an almost impenetrable barrier to the east... --The deep blue blue blue Mediterranean Sea a stunning contrast to the golden Southern California-like hills that drop into it... --Crystal clear streams flow from mountains to sea--their clarity almost shocking I like Albania! Which...actually...is saying quite a bit...because...Albania is FAR FROM PERFECT! Albania ...