9.18.2005

Bulgaria, Take Three

Continuing on in the pace of the hit and miss discussion of Bulgaria, Sunday is kind of a slow day for Bulgarians, after doing a bit of shopping, we tried to find something more to do and ended up going back to the hotel early, where we got ready for that evening and then went to eat dinner.

Um, Sunday Night was actually kind of blah. And unfortunately, all of the clubs tend to be closed, at least that's what I was told.

So we had to find something else to do. Which honestly, I wasn't to happy about because we ended up going back to the same place we went the night before. I mentioned something along the lines of 'why didn't we go to the club Yesterday and come here today instead?'

Oh well. It seemed that the evenings were not the highlight of my trip.

Monday, we slept in longer then I would have normally wished, but I expressed an interest in walking around and seeing Sofia except for I was with three guys who didn't want to. Hmm. . .

Anyway, Lunch was on everyone's minds and somebody suggested Indian. We went to an Indian place but alas, well, due to the holiday, it was closed. Balderdash.

We went to the Rio instead, and ended up being the only people in the restaraunt.

So we had some Brazilian food at the Rio. Apparently, the best time to eat at the Rio is in the evening, as like the Bulgarian restaraunt, they have dancers too.

The Rio was a cool place, it was all made up in a Brazilian style, if I get another chance to go back to Bulgaria, I want to make an effort to go there again, in the evening.

Anyway, after the Rio, somebody suggested a flea market, that they have on most days in front of an old church. Now I can spend all day at a Flea Market, or so I discovered. There was a lot of old world war two memoriabilia and what not. And Bulgaria is not far from Russia so there is a lot of Russian influence. I collect foreign money so I got some coins and what not along with an old compass from the German Olympic games in 1936. Afterwards, I found out it was a reproduction, but it is still kinda cool.

This was the Flea Market for the most part. Just a bunch of old antiques and so on.


I saw this old sword and I so wanted to buy it. But Sword and Fire Arm Purchases is considered a violation of General Order Number One, and comes with some stiff penalties. *sighs* There were some cool knives too.

I bought this hat. I couldn't resist. It was so fuzzy. The flaps aren't normally down but the picture was snapped then so. . .

This guy makes art from mechanical parts, like clocks and stuff. His stuff was so cool that i had to get a picture with him. I wanted the scorpion I'm holding but didn't end up getting it.

Across from the flea market which sold all sorts of nicknacks and antiques was a lion.

Without realizing it, I did something I shouldn't have. Apparently this picture could get me arrested in Bulgaria. So to Bulgaria, I'm sorry. I love your lion and I meant no disrespect. I'm just a stupid american that likes to crawl on things I guess.

That night, we went to the Indian Restaraunt. Which was very spicy. But good. I loved my soup. Should have gotten more of that.

It was at this time I explained my idea of NOT going back to the place where we had been going for the past two nights and actually told Nate that I wanted to kind of have a little more alone time with him. Unfortunately, because of the forementioned Bulgarian Holiday, there wasn't much we could go, so we ended up going Bowling. I think I scored like a 75 in one game and a 60 in the other.

Yeah, I really can't bowl.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel which has a Casino within it. No I didn't take any pictures because cameras are not allowed within the Casino. But anyway, I'm not much of a gambler, but they had a little show at midnight with some dancers and me and Nate went and saw that. It was actually pretty interesting and I enjoyed that. Anyway, Nate wanted to gamble a bit, and that part of General Order Number One was lifted so I watched Nate play a little Poker and Black Jack. Eventually, out of sheer boredom, I decided to play about 50 Lev in Black Jack, and when it was gone, it was gone.

Unfortunately, because of that pesky holiday closing the museums and what not, (Nate wanted to go to a Tank Museum but it was closed), we didn't really get to do everything we wanted to do. I felt like we spent to much time sleeping in and i wanted to do more during the day and just walk around.

I might get another shot at Bulgaria, but it will be tight, I'll have to squeeze it in between Leave and BNCOC (Sergeant School) and that gives me a two week window.

I think I'll get my feel of Museums and walking around when I go to Europe with my mom so I think this was my shot at Bulgaria. Maybe I didn't have as much fun as I wanted to, but I still had fun. Who knows, in a few years I might go back there.

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