Playing catch-up

Blogging is a habit; a habit that I really need to work on. The plan was, of course, to give periodic updates on how Amanda and I are spending out time in Europe, the challenges and adventures we're having, and have some way of connecting with those we love. Going over our last post, it occurred to me that so much has happened that we have not blogged about. So much so that it's actually a little intimidating to write about all we have done. Date of our last blog: Jan 2 - I promised that I would write more and post more pictures. I have done little in that regard as evidenced by the date of the blog before that - Nov. 10.

Things that have happened since then: flu-vacation trip to Rome, Thanksgiving feast cooked for 150 Bulgarian teachers and family by an international staff of 20, Thanksgiving/Eid trip to Istanbul, the first snowstorm of the season, Christmas, the long awaited trip to Prague for New Years, the first ski trip, Valentine's Day, and my birthday trip to Munich to see Dave Matthews (and let's not forget the daily obligations of work - teaching, lesson planning, grading, assessing...)! For your benefit and mine, I will not recount all of these events in one post, but I thought I might get the ball rolling by talking about none of those things, and instead going back even further to the first week here in Bulgaria, and show you a little bit of Sofia.

It had been expressed to me by a fellow colleague, "Sofia is a great place to begin seeing European capitals." This is absolutely true. Sofia is definitely worth seeing on a European tour. It has quite a few historical sites to see, some lovely museums, and casinos aplenty! And if you like dogs, Sofia is the place to see them in their semi-natural habitat - living the pack life, roaming the streets. Attached are some pictures with links to my Picasa page showing some of the more interesting sites you can find in Sofia.

Sofia's most well known landmark - Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Simply stunning both inside and out.

Church of St. George - Built by the Romans in the 4th century. Welcome to real history.

National Theater...very theatrical.

And don't forget the obligatory communist statue.












The few shots that I was able to take this day only begins to scratch the surface of the rapidly growing hub of commerce, travel, pollution, excitement, crazy drivers, and adventure that is Sofia. A little rough around the edges, sure. Diamonds in the rough to discover, yep. And once the snow melts, and the weather heats up again, I'll try to dig a little deeper.

Nazdrave!