I forgot to include our little escapade to Sofia, Bulgaria in my previous post about Macedonia. Liz and I flew our of Sofia, so we decided to spend a day there. Sofia is beautiful in spring--the architecture is quite ornate and there are many wide open spaces for walking. The city was really easy to navigate as well--especially since Macedonian and Bulgarian are practically the same language and the streets are well marked. Liz and Melis are excellent travel buds. Some highlights and notables:
*(As usual) nearly tossing our cookies on the six hour Balkan bus ride to Sofia from Skopje.
*After dragging 4 huge bags to our hostel, and up 5 flights of stairs, being told that they had double-booked and having to drag everything down the street to another hostel and up another 5 flights of stairs.
* Our breakfast of white cheese and toast at Orient Hostel with Natasha, our host. Mmm. Scrumpious. (I am still a bit let down that we didn't get to partake in the free shots from the Bukovski Bar that our first hostel promised.)
*The dodgey Brits (especially Bridget--what a cliche) trying to communicate with Natasha..."Margar-ine? Mar-garine?"
*Eating lunch al fresco and being pleasantly suprised by a.) Bulgarian beer b.) Bulgaria's take on Italian food c.) The Italian model behind us trying to order fish..."Is the fish FRESH? FRESH? fresh. Fresh!? Allora...." (pretty much all cross-cultural communication (or mis-communication) is hystrical to me.)
*Dreaming out loud.
*The hidden gem of a kafe in the heart of a Sofia residential area garden courtyard where we partook in cappucinos in tiny cups and truffles...in the violet dusk as cherry blossoms snowed around us to the sound of mating cats. :)
*Getting lost down windy streets.
2 comments:
love both the entries, em. i enjoy the way you think and write about things. and you're right...you, liz, and i do make good traveling companions. :)
Thanks for your comment on my blog! Sorry it's taken me a while to respond. Blogging kind of took a back seat there for a while this spring. I wanted to say I appreciate your candid reflections on your return to the states. I've been reading back through some of your old posts and it's been good preparation as I look ahead to the process of re-entry. To be equally candid, I'm nervous about a lot of it. When you talk about the healing that has come from your return to Macedonia I wonder if I'll feel the same need when I'm in the states. Anyway, thanks again for your thoughts and I look forward to meeting you in person and talking about this (and much more). And by the way, on a random note, we have the same Meyers-Briggs type. Blessings!
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