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Week of 7-27
Sunday
Remarkably Dale was able to wake up at 9:00 and we met Andrei at the local Supermarket, which is about 1/3rd the size of a normal supermarket.Andrei was our guide to Vitosha, the local mountain.Andrei drove us in his new Opel to a place at the foot of the mountain.We started up the mountain around 10:00 and made it to a waterfall around 11:30.We hung out there for about 30 minutes and then hiked to the top.At the top it was much cooler than in Sofia and provided much needed relief from the high 90's and low 100's that have become common place in Sofia.The lack of A/C has really begun to take a toll on us and this is one convenience that is greatly missed from home.We ate at a restaurant that was also on the peak. It was accessible from car and there was actually quite a crowd.After lunch and rest we decided to head back down.The walk back down was not as fast as I thought it would be.It is pretty tough to walk down a mountain because you don't want to build up to much speed and roll and fall like I did in the Radopi Mountains.We did make it down around 4:00. After our naps we met Iliyana for a birthday dinner at one of her favorite restaurants. I guess it is Bulgaria Traditions to pay for everyone's meal on your birthday.I was not too pleased with this especially after all the things she has done for us.Unfortunately for us it was out of our control.Iliyana's friend's boyfriend drove us back to our apartments, which was good because it probably would have been a 40 minute walk from there.
Tuesday
At 5:00 we had an office party for our accountant, Vesko.Vesko is a 70 year old who speaks maybe one word of English.The funny part is when Dale says a phrase in Bulgarian to him he will start speaking Bulgarian really fast and will say about five sentences at a time.He leaves us both looking at each other wondering what in the heck he is talking about.
In Bulgaria they put the party in office party.They had gin, whisky and Vesko brought 4 bottles of homegrown wine.I am not big on wine but this was actually pretty good.There is a special type of grape that is only grown in Bulgaria, but I do not think this was it.Either way it was still good.
Friday
Before we ended our work we were presented some going away gifts including an awful stuffed creature for me along with a bottle of wine and a horse with the words Bulgaria and the same bottle of wine.It was really nice to receive the gifts, but I am quite sure that they knew we were leaving the next day.We couldn't take them so we gave them to Iliyana.Vlado, one of the guys from work, was dedicated on taking us out before we left, so we decided to go to Studenskigrad again.We fared much better this time than last time.
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