I took a taxi with friends to NDK (the National Place of Culture) and Vitosha recently. The plan was to go to Memento for a drink before dinner.

Anyhow, I was shocked and amazed to see the southern end of Vitosha. So much so that I took some pictures of the sidewalk.
<a title="Vitosha Street in Sofia by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8014466544/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8451/8014466544_61bbdbc102_z.jpg" alt="Vitosha Street in Sofia" width="640" height="480" /></a>
As I was taking pictures I kept thinking: it's like we live in Europe.

Then I made my friend A. take pictures of me and the pedestrian zone sidewalk. She just laughed and laughed at me but she's a good friend so she took a picture. I look a little crazy but that's what a rainy day and a week of teaching does to a girl.
<a title="Me on Vitosha Street in Sofia by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8014465887/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8317/8014465887_9d0f950d16_z.jpg" alt="Me on Vitosha Street in Sofia" width="640" height="480" /></a>
Now Vitosha has been closed to car traffic as long as I've lived in Sofia. For anyone counting that's 4 years. But in practice, Vitosha was anything but a pedestrian zone. There were tram lines running down the street and lots of people in expensive black cars would drive on the street even through they weren't supposed to. This meant that for better or worse, you had to keep an eye out for traffic and it was never super pleasant to stroll along Vitosha or to sit outside at a cafe and have a coffee.

But now it seems as if things are changing. The southern block (or maybe two) of Vitosha has been beautifully paved and landscaped. I hope this is a hint of what's to come for all of Vitosha now that the tram no longer runs along Vitosha thanks to the newest metro line.<!--more-->

After our little sidewalk photoshoot--where I actually took photos of the sidewalk--we walked up the street to Memento. I've had a fond spot in my heart for Memento before it was even Memento. Yep, for about a year there was a coffee shop Colours and Flavours owned and run by the same guy who envisioned and created Memento. Colours and Flavours is no more but now we've got two Momento's in the city.
<a title="At Memento by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8014467245/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8308/8014467245_2b42246cc1_z.jpg" alt="At Memento" width="640" height="480" /></a>
The first opened at the corner of Rakovski and Gurko and the second on Vitosha.  These days the smaller, more intimate Memento on Vitosha is my favorite.

This said, I haven't been there in a while. Maybe the last time I was there was in July for an afternoon coffee. Memento is a great spot for a coffee. I think that they make some of the consistently best coffee in town. I am more of a coffee person than a tea person still I feel obliged to mention the fact that they also have an excellent selection of tea.
<a title="Drinks at Memento by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8014469910/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/8014469910_53f7becb91_z.jpg" alt="Drinks at Memento" width="640" height="480" /></a>
We ended up at Memento about 6:30pm and got seats at the bar. A. and I have been to Memento together before but M. one of the new teachers at school at never been. We spent some time studying the menu. Both A. and M. had identified a drink from the menu that they wanted to try but the ever-friendly bar tenders suggested different drinks and A. an M. both changed their minds. For the record, this was clearly the right thing to do.
<a title="Tea at Memento by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8014470554/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/8014470554_d110defd72_z.jpg" alt="Tea at Memento" width="640" height="480" /></a>
Over the next hour or so, Memento transitioned from day to night--turning the lights down slowly, increasing the volume of the music slightly and putting out tea lights. It was beautifully done and the perfect place to sip a cocktail at the end of a very rainy day.