Gasp.  My coffee machine went down this week and I had no idea how reliant I've become on it.  Yesterday

[caption id="attachment_363" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Me &amp; Roman Ruins "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04351.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-363" title="Me in Plovdiv" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04351.jpg?w=300" alt="Me &amp; Roman Ruins " width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

for example, I could not get motivated to write a blog post.  I think it was the lack of caffeine.  Scary how easily we get addicted to the stuff.  One of my Bulgarian friends once said that you can get cheapest insomnia in the world here in Bulgaria given how inexpensive the coffee is and how readily available it is. Anyhow my machine is up and running again and I am back to writing.

I had a great time in Plovdiv.  This last weekend.  I went to stay with one of my Fulbright friends and we walked around the city both old and new--ate some ice cream, went to a great Bulgarian restaurant and did a little bit of shopping as well. The city has a different feel than Sofia.<!--more-->

First there is a much bigger walking zone than in Sofia.  This I think in many ways makes the city feel more

[caption id="attachment_364" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Downtown: Part of a Roman Stadium"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04276.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-364" title="Roman Ruins " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04276.jpg?w=300" alt="Part of a Roman Stadium" width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

European.  It gives one the sense that the pace of life is less hectic.  The one thing I noticed walking around is that everyone seems to have a baby.  Maybe it's this season's accessory? The women (and the men) push these pretty serious strollers around.  Not the running, three-wheeled stroller that we are used to in the States but still well equipped four-wheeled strollers full of baby and blankets.  These get pushed over cobble stone, up and down over curbs and they weave through crowds.  The thing is--these babies don't seem to mind the uneven lay of the land and their mothers march along behind the stroller in tight jeans and three inch high heals.

It made me think: if you grow up with and you don't ever know any differently then I guess it makes navigating the sidewalks and cobble stone that much easier.  Second nature perhaps.  Me on the other hand--I am horrible at walking.  I wear flats and more often than not tennis shoes and still I am worried that I am going break a leg or crash to the ground at any moment.  Every day that I don't hurt myself out walking I consider a small achievement.

This said, it was worth navigating the large uneven cobblestones of the old city to see some really great things.  There are a couple of beautiful old churches which which were great to see but I seem to be becoming immune to them--there are so many of them throughout Bulgaria and they share many features making it difficult to keep each one straight.

After the church, I bought a great pair of handmade wool socks for 15 leva.  They are really well made and I like wearing them around my apartment.  One of my friends however told me that they look like the color of "itchy" but I prefer to think that they are the color of warm! The main color of the sock is a heathered espresso brown with a stripe of teal-green, purple, white and red.  I think they are great and I kind of wish I had bought more of them.

[caption id="attachment_365" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="The door into the Atanas Krastev Museum "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04349.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-365" title="Wood and nails" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04349.jpg?w=225" alt="The door into the Atanas Krastev Museum " width="225" height="300" /></a>[/caption]

One of the coolest things I've seen so far was the house museum of Atanas Krastev.  What stood out about this house is that it's old.  Probably dating back to or before the Bulgarian revival period but rather than turning the house into a museum where everything looks like how it might have in the 1870's the house is full of both the old and the new.  In fact, it houses a pretty serious 20th century art collection.  There were no old Bulgarian embroidered dresses hanging on the wall or revolutionary uniforms.  Instead there were lots of interesting paintings.  It cost 3 leva to see the house and it was absolutely worth it.

Oh and another cool thing about the house was the front gate.  It was covered in over sized nails.  I think that it was done for the art of it because it didn't appear that there was any real reason for the nails to be hammered into both doors.  What's interesting is that the nails were so long that they had to be bent over on the backside of the door.  The effect was visually striking--the texture of the smooth nail heads and the rough aging door created this feeling of the modern intersecting with the past.  Not a bad introduction to the museum.

The one thing that I wasn't expecting happened when we went to dinner.  It was a traditional Bulgarian

[caption id="attachment_366" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Bulgarian Flag and Singing (wow!)"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04296.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-366" title="Song and Dance" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04296.jpg?w=300" alt="Bulgarian Flag and Singing (wow!)" width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

restaurant and as an American I've been to plenty of these.  I think that everyone feels obligated to take foreigners to restaurants like this--it's a cultural site where tradition and hospitality meet.  Luckily, I like Bulgarian food a lot and I get a kick out of the kitsch of the whole thing.  This restaurant didn't promise to be much different.

That is until the dancing and singing started.  I will not be able to fully describe it but it was part musical-part dinner theater.  There was a medially of Balkan songs and dances and the 30+ minute long affair ended with a huge Bulgarian flag waving and a man and woman singing and dancing.  The thing was--in looking around the restaurant, we were the only foreigners.  Everyone else seemed to be celebrating birthdays or anniversaries or were just out for a weekend dinner AND they <em>loved</em> the show (I mean they loved it, loved it).  It was great to see everyone clapping, singing along and really into the event.  I tried to imagine what this would look like in the states and I couldn't.

The one uch of the whole trip was the train ride home.  There was supposed to be an express train at 12 noon and a slow train at 12:10.  I bought tickets for the express train, got on it and then the station announced that we would hold for 10 minutes and that's when we became the slow train. On top of this, an older Bulgarian man (who was wearing a well worn jacket) sat next to me for the first 4 or 5 stops--he was a little bit smelly and he arm kept crossing his half of the arm rest.  I can't remember where he got off because we stopped at every stop between Plovdiv making a normally 2 plus hour train ride into a three hour trip.  On the good side, I got a little extra reading and sleeping in on the train.