A. picked me up yesterday late morning. We went for coffee and to wander through the city.

The weather has turned in Sofia. This past week when I've gotten up in the mornings the temperature has been hoovering around 2 celsius. Burr. Luckily it's been warming up in the day but it hasn't been warm enough to go without a coat and Wednesday I pulled out my mittens and I've been wearing them.

My apartment was cold this week. The central heat didn't turn on until sometime late afternoon on Friday. I battled the cold with leggings, a sweat shirt and some baba-knit socks. It's just a lot harder to drag yourself out of bed at 6 am when you know the apartment is going to be downright cold. Anyhow, the central heat is on now and I like scarves so I'll be fine.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175160303/" title="Coffee at Cafe Nedelya by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8490/8175160303_26d7d809e3_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Coffee at Cafe Nedelya"></a>
Saturday the sun was out in Sofia but it's definitely the end of autumn. A. and I went to Cafe Nedelya (one of the many in Sofia) and talked about sitting outside but there was no sun to be seen given a large block building and some well placed trees so we decided against it and sat inside instead.

I had a coffee, sparking water and slice of cake.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175157425/" title="Coffee and Cake at Cafe Nedelya by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8175157425_a2dc629308_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Coffee and Cake at Cafe Nedelya"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175192354/" title="Cafe Nedelya by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8204/8175192354_f61f3f808e_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Cafe Nedelya"></a>
We talked about going to the Communist Museum but decided against it and we ended up downtown instead. I'd suggested checking out the used English language bookstore Elephant but it turns out they are in the process of moving to Shishman Street and aren't currently open. <em>Oh</em>.

Then we made our way to Popa. The corner that Popa stands on has just been spruced up. I think they laid all new sidewalk tiles, built a number of new planters, put in new benches and fixed up the water fountain. It looks pretty good.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175162333/" title="A. at Popa by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8350/8175162333_e2b19cbd2c_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="A. at Popa"></a>
From Popa, I convinced A. to walk up Graf Ignativ and at the corner of the park in front of the Church of the Seven Holy Saints there was my favorite old man selling roasted pumpkin. Yum, yum. The one disappointing part of this was that because it was later in the afternoon, the pumpkin was cold. Still we got a slice to share.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175164889/" title="Roasted Pumpkin by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8057/8175164889_a1cd5c223e_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Roasted Pumpkin"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175196562/" title="Roasted pumpkin by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8205/8175196562_150c12c9ef_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Roasted pumpkin"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175199362/" title="Roasted Pumpkin in a bag by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8337/8175199362_bd96edf1c0_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Roasted Pumpkin in a bag"></a>
We thought we'd find a bench in the sun to sit on and eat pumpkin in the park but the sunny side of park was packed with babas and their friends sitting on benches enjoying the day. Clever babas.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175168001/" title="Church of the seven holy saints by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8350/8175168001_b118631713_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Church of the seven holy saints"></a>
Aimlessly, we wandered down Shishman.  When we got to Bilkova all it took was a look and it was agreed: beer at Bilkova.  And really, what goes better with roasted pumpkin then dark beer?
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175169857/" title="Dark beer and pumpkin at Bilkova by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8200/8175169857_0db655c45b_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Dark beer and pumpkin at Bilkova"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175171613/" title="Roasted pumpkin by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8175171613_9f5132a93b_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Roasted pumpkin"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8175173255/" title="Bilkova and beer by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8057/8175173255_b341e825e6_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Bilkova and beer"></a>
Okay, maybe if you're conveying roasted pumpkin to your mouth in the from of pumpkin pie, whipped cream.  But really now that I think about it pumpkin pie and dark beer sounds like a pretty delicious combination. Yum, yum. Pumpkin pie. Maybe I need to make that. It is November after all.

Oh and it seems totally acceptable to me to eat a slice of cake for lunch as long as you eat a slice pumpkin for dessert and then wash it down with either a coffee or a beer or even better both--just don't tell my MoM. <em>Okay?</em>