Yesterday I woke up at the Downtown Hotel, and after a short jog, I went to breakfast at the buffet at the hotel-if I am going to pay an inflated rate, once again I figured I would take full advantage of the great buffet and I did! i had eggs, cheese and three or so bowls of cereal.
After the buffet, I stayed in the room till about 11:45-working on the computer. While I wanted to see the town-once again I wasn't about to squander a late checkout! When I did check out, I asked the woman at checkout, a attractive woman with big boobs but a fowl smell, that it seems some have paid less for the same room as I had-her response was "it's possible!". Darn! After being in sales for so long I hate it when someone has an answer I don't have a comeback to.
After checkout, I walked down a few streets and found the Taj-Mahal, the Hostel Mostel (I made a reservation last night). After arriving, I found the hostel vs a small sign with graffiti on it, and entered the common area/reception-and it looked like everything a hostel should be-old couches scattered around, tables to sit and talk at, even a deep "square" couch where shoes are taken off. And of course, many people, mostly in their 20's (seemingly) sitting around on their cell phones and computers. The music-some type of hipster music. The staff had lots of tattoos.
The lady here showed me the room-the cheapest-an 18 bed attick loft, with nine single cots on each side of the room. It looked like a VA army hospital from the movies. I put my stuff on one cot, and walked out of the room-but not before catching the usual smells like flatulence.
I walked out of the hostel and explored the city a little more. But first, I went to the post office to mail some things. At the first post office, a woman yelled at me at the top of her lungs in Bulgarian for a reason i don't know. I went to another post office and someone helped me.
Sofia is a western-style city-with street's that are clearly marked (unlike many Balkin cities). I haven't seen a Mcdonalds (since Sarajevo) in about three weeks, and haven't seen a Starbucks or Subway(since Poland) in over a month-but they are all here. Things are cheap to. I lost one of my Hawaiian shirts-somewhere-but found one at a thrift store here for $.25. I also found a pair of new sandals (The ones I just bought hurt my feet) for $6.00.
At 6:00-in and out of the rain-i did a Free Walking Tour. I saw the parliament, the buildings which we're built by the communist party and used for their rule, and a Mosque and Orthodox Church. I also learned that Bulgaria was never part of the USSR-but was close friends of the USSR under communist rule. I also learned that the former king of Bulgaria (who was in charge before the communist took over in the 1940's at 7 years old-yes you heard me), ran as the first President of the newly democratic country in 1989. I even learned that Bulgaria prevented it's Jews from going to the concentration camp by the Monarch advising the Nazi's that he will do it, but first needs the Jews to finish some projects.
After the tour it was 8 pm, and I had dinner with some people from the tour-an Israeli couple and two British guys. The Israeli kept telling me how advanced Israel is, which I sort of knew.The dinner was good, and was cheap. After dinner, it was still raining and about 10:30 or so-so I went back to the hostel.
