Sophia Nights

I have decided that I will not leave our hotel here in Sophia after 5:00 pm again this week. We have not necessarily gotten lost, but the language barrier is a very real thing. When the street signs are unintelligible and it is 1 am in the morning, graffiti a regular thing, rough cab drivers, no matter how safe the locals say it is, if it is not a sure bet back to the hotel, nope. No more. Given it was Newyear's eve and people were out all over the city, it was still -5 celsius, foggy, we awoke at 3:00 am the previous morning to catch our flight from Paris, and I was freezing cold to the point of shivering.

After spending a pleasant couple hours eating pizza with the best cheese toppings I have ever tasted we then walked around to see the New Years celebrations. We tried going home at a reasonable 10:30 pm. First, we hailed a taxi. They did not speak English and we could not communicate which hotel we were staying at. So we tried to take the familiar tram back to the airport where earlier in the day there had been a line-up of taxis who knew the hotel. The hotel was a mile away from the airport. Although we could not walk because it was rural, barren, and there were no walking roads. When we arrived at the airport after 20 minutes of freezing breeze on the tram, there was nothing. The doors were open and lights on but it was almost dead except for the stray dogs trying to come in the rotating door. The german shepherd made it in while his companion barked from the outside. By now it was after midnight. We found a pay phone, but could not call because of language. Thankfully we found an English speaking man who told us to go back to the city center and find a taxi. So we did. Back into town trying not to nod off on the tram, still freezing cold. There was an old lady sitting directly in front of me watching us. I wonder what she was thinking. Miriam was sound asleep with her head on my lap. This not what I would call fun. We made it, found a taxi we could communicate enough with and made it home. We arrived back at the hotel at 1:30 am to our warm cozy beds.

January 1 was supposed to be a straight bus ride to our authentic Bulgarian restaurant at 7:00 pm, but we found ourselves wandering in the dark, surrounded by trashy graffiti covered buildings with barred windows and doors. It was not a pleasant stroll through the city center. Nope. 5:00 pm, that's it, from now on. 5:00 pm. Our hotel serves dinner. We ended up eating in a Bulgarian McDonalds an hour after walking around. We found a taxi immediately after eating and he knew where the hotel was. Phew. Thank you, Lord!

We are learning our English speaking limits in a Balkan region. Most well-educated people, desk workers, and waiters are actually very fluent here, more so than France, but many people on the street and taxi drivers do not speak much at all. And of course, the letters are all Cyrillic. Street signs and navigation tools are out of reach. Justin is finding his normal magical map reading does not work here. Never in our lives have guided tours been attractive when traveling for an explorer like Justin. But...... And he is actually having to ask people for "¡help!" in a very real way!

We are safe back in our hotel watching tv and drinking wine.

New Year's eve, pleasant stroll area.

Concert celebration. Our passports were checked at the gate by guards. An English singing Roma was performing on stage. It was surprisingly sparse at the city center's main celebrations considering 1.3 million people live here. It felt like a small celebration.

Bulgaria does not mess around. No cargo vans were going to get through 3 rows of these blockades! One row had dump trucks, one row military, and one row of buses all lined up like these 4 trucks.