Bulgaria

hey guys,

i have finally got some photos up. some from turkey and bulgaria. so check them out

well i didn't quite get up the mountain in sophia. i took a tram out of town to where you get the bus then wait an hour and a half for a bus that is supposed to come every hour. then because it was about 2 degrees and i was freezing i was like 'screw this!' and headed back toward the tram stop. and of course half way back the bus went past. so i swore at it and then headed back to the hostel. after thawing out i wasn't grumpy anymore so i made friends with a canadian guy called john and we went for a look about town. we came back to the hostel where i made friends with a japanese dude and told him it would be a great idea if we played scrabble. funnily enough i won. i'm so clever.

the next day john and i headed up (or is it down?) to the rila monastery. it should be down because it's south, but it is in the mountains so it is up. i digress, rila is this georgeous little monatery with an outcrop of little old buildings to support the tourism it creates. it is in the middle of the mountains and you can actually stay at the monastery. so we did. we also got there early enough that we could go for a bit of a hike in the hills. we followed this ridge up and at the top we could see all the mountains out behind, all snow-topped and looked clean and bright in the afternoon sun. i got some top shots. it was also fun walking up there because it is the end of autumn so all the leaves are thick on the ground and there are no birds or anything so the only noise you hear is your feet through the leaves (oh and the heavy breathing, kelly is very unfit. - kilimanjaro here i come!) at the monastery though the night life leaves much to be desired. the restaurants closed at 5.30 and there is no tv, so it was cards and books til the late hour of 9. i'm sure all the monks had a little room somewhere where they were sitting around smoking cigars, sipping beers and playing ping-pong, but we couldn't find it.

so the next day we trekked back to sophia. at the hostel a few people were heading out so i invited myself along. we played a few drinking games at the hostel and then headed out. we were looking for a club we had heard of when this local chick told us 'no, come with me. i know the best club in sophia!' so we went. the club was ok. but the chick was messy. she was grabbing guys butts, skanky dancing with whoever was game enough to get on the dance floor and i was in a fantastic position to view the crutchless stockings when she decided to take a short-curt straight over the table.

but it was fun anyway, i had a bit of a jive on the dancefloor, practised my karate kid dance moves (wax off, wax on, paint the fence, paint the fence) and then we went for pizza.

so that was sophia, i didn't make it up to mt vitosha, but ah well. i am in belgrade now, i don't think it has a mountain, but i spent today wandering about the fortress, it is really cool, then i had plans of visiting a couple of museums, but accidently found myself in the main shopping district, so spent a few hours in the various bookstores flicking through all the books with the funny letters.

well, i hope everyone is fine and dandy in their various homes, keep in touch!!