My friend P. called me on Saturday. He wanted to know if I was free to meet him for a cup of coffee. <em>In Mladost</em>. For as great as Mladost is no one I know ever wants to meet up  here.

Given this fact, P. doesn't come out to Mladost much so I figured I'd better say yes. Only at 12 noon I still had my pjs on and he wanted to meet in 20 minutes. I told him so. He said, just get here.
<a title="P. doing research by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6951467087/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6951467087_12ff803b45_z.jpg" alt="P. doing research" width="640" height="427" /></a>
I threw myself into over drive and was more or less presentable in 20 minutes. I then walked to the Mladost metro. Turns out P. was doing research for his blog and buying some groceries.  He suggested that we go into the underpass to have coffee in the shop right outside of the metro. Um, <em>okay</em>.

It's not a place I've stopped in before but P. assured me it was for the blog. And I get that. I've made my friends do all sorts of things for my blog.<!--more-->
<a title="Metro coffee by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6951467743/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6951467743_c5073ae637_z.jpg" alt="Metro coffee" width="640" height="427" /></a>
I've always been rather skeptical about the coffee served from shops like this and by in large avoid them. I've got some standards.

Anyhow, this place was cheap. I bought two coffees and two small banitsa rounds for less than 3 leva.  I figured this didn't bode well for the coffee but I was pleasantly surprised by the coffee. First of all because the coffee was stinking hot. Like burn your lips hot. I never get coffee this hot in Bulgaria and the flavor wasn't half bad.

The styrofoam cup? Less than desirable but what's a girl to do!? Me, I ate banitsa and tried not to think about it.

Meanwhile, we chatted and took some awkward photos. P. joked: K. you take me to <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2012/01/15/in-sofia-ma-baker/" target="_blank">Ma Baker</a> for your blog. And I take you to this dive for my blog.

True, true. But isn't that what's great about Sofia?
<a title="P. on the metro by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6805353536/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7191/6805353536_48689b383e_z.jpg" alt="P. on the metro" width="640" height="427" /></a>
For most of our adventure P. was beaming. His book has just been published--a travel guide about Bulgaria  that he co-wrote with another former Peace Corps Volunteer and his blog has taken off. For good reason, it's funny <em>and</em> informative.

After my <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2012/02/12/public-transportion-in-sofia/" target="_blank">post about his new blog on transportation </a>my Bulgarian tutor I. and her husband J. both read P.'s blog. They both really liked it and J. ended up asking for P.'s contact information so that he could <a href="http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=1236747" target="_blank">interview P. about his blog and his project for the newspaper Trud</a>. I, of course, was more than happy to oblige. So after a little newspaper coverage, Patrick's traffic to his blog has just grown and grown and I am so happy for him.
<a title="P. taking notes on the metro by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6951468185/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6951468185_53067186c8_z.jpg" alt="P. taking notes on the metro" width="640" height="427" /></a>
After our coffee, we headed downtown. Me to meet a friend and to poke around the city and P. to go home. This was the first time I really got to see P. in action. He takes his blogging seriously. He pulled out a pocket sized notebook, jotted down the style and number of the car we boarded and then set the stopwatch on his cellphone in order to record the length of time between each station. I like this commitment and the seriousness with which he takes his blogging.

So while he took copious notes, I took a few photos. We both decided that we want to go to the grand opening of<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2011/10/25/my-new-metro-stop-in-mladost/" target="_blank"> the newest metro stop in Mladost</a>--ahem Mladost 3--if and when it ever opens.