Alright so this weekend I went to Sofia, Bulgaria. Now you might be sitting there thinking to yourself, "Heather, whatever possessed you to go to Bulgaria?" I will tell you now, I have no idea, but Katie and I did have an amazing time!
So Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria, and they've had a rough recent history. So it was part of the Ottoman Empire until about 1878, when it was taken over by Russian forces But Russia let it be free for a little while, up until World War 2, when it then took it over again and put it under its Communist Rule. It was a communist country up until 1989. It is no longer a communist country and is actually one of the newest members of the European Union. If you want to learn more about Sofia, here is the wiki page: Sofia.
Sofia was great other than the fact that we didn't know the language because they don't use the same alphabet as us. Even with a map it led to a lot of this: 
. It was a good time though! We got to see a 7,000 year old city, and everyone was very friendly. They are hoping to get more tourists now that they are part of the European Union and liked practicing English, which is helpful because we don't know Bulgarian. When we got there we went to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is a very impressive buildings. Unfortunately my pictures don't do it justice, so you'll just have to visit Bulgaria. Then we went and saw the mosque, their impressively large library, the capital building, the synagogue, and the president's house. After we ate at a restaurant that had pictures on their menu so we knew what we were ordering :) The next day we wandered through their version of Central Park and found some interesting characters. We somehow stumbled upon a Communist Rally, and were interviewed for TV on our thoughts. After that we were a little afraid we weren't going to get out of Bulgaria alive, but we did, so no worries. We also found this: 
. Which we think was the entrance to the Quidditch field where Victor Krum and the Bulgarian Quidditch team practice. This sign obviously says. "Quidditch field! Home of 'Victor Krum' Game today, free for Katie and Heather." You probably can't read it because you can't read Bulgarian.
. It was a good time though! We got to see a 7,000 year old city, and everyone was very friendly. They are hoping to get more tourists now that they are part of the European Union and liked practicing English, which is helpful because we don't know Bulgarian. When we got there we went to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is a very impressive buildings. Unfortunately my pictures don't do it justice, so you'll just have to visit Bulgaria. Then we went and saw the mosque, their impressively large library, the capital building, the synagogue, and the president's house. After we ate at a restaurant that had pictures on their menu so we knew what we were ordering :) The next day we wandered through their version of Central Park and found some interesting characters. We somehow stumbled upon a Communist Rally, and were interviewed for TV on our thoughts. After that we were a little afraid we weren't going to get out of Bulgaria alive, but we did, so no worries. We also found this: 
. Which we think was the entrance to the Quidditch field where Victor Krum and the Bulgarian Quidditch team practice. This sign obviously says. "Quidditch field! Home of 'Victor Krum' Game today, free for Katie and Heather." You probably can't read it because you can't read Bulgarian. That night we went to an Irish Pub for some drinks but it was the most interesting Irish Pub in Europe ever for two reasons. 1. They didn't have Guinness. 2. Because they were advertising the Big Ten Network. Apparently American college football is big in Bulgaria because the people were impressed with went to U of I. Yay!
The next day we headed back to Italy in the morning. We thought it was going to be an easy trip, but nothing is easy in Italy and traveling. Getting out of Bulgaria was fine, but getting from the Airport in Milano to Verona was a nightmare. It took us about 9 hours, and 4 different trains, due to the fact that 20% of train workers wanted the day off and took a 24hour strike. When we got back to Verona finally I looked like this, very excited to see Verona: 
. But as my dad pointed out: "All part of the adventure." (Note: He said this from the comfort of his own home where it wasn't raining.)
. But as my dad pointed out: "All part of the adventure." (Note: He said this from the comfort of his own home where it wasn't raining.) So that was our exciting weekend to Eastern Europe! Whoo! Next stop: Paris with mom! Yay!
Also please visit the Guinness Storehouse Website (which is in that link), and vote for my photo as part of the photo contest! It is the one from the last post with the Guinness and the view of Dublin. Its called "Dublin through Guinness Colored Glasses." You vote by giving it stars. Thanks!
Miss you all! Hope everyone is doing okay and getting ready for some yummy Turkey!
love,
Heather
When your trip started and you said your English was getting worse, I shrugged it off.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the last couple of posts, I'm pretty sure it's true. You are now, officially, an ESL student.