Yesterday was a busy day. First of all-it wasn't raining. It was overcast with some bits of sun and somewhat cold-but no rain, for the first time.
After once again enjoying the large buffet breakfast at the hostel, I went to the Museum of National History, which was recommended by some of the folks on the tour. While ordinarily I don't enjoy museums, I have been to several good ones, and in my quest to learn more about the Bulgaria, I took the 1/2 hour bus ride on the trolley bus to the museum, at the edge of the city.
The museum was...pretty boring. History only went through the Ottoman Empire days of the late 1800's, and I was looking for history including World War II and the Communist days. I saw displays of old dress, and descriptions of how the Muslims curtailed the Christian church during the Ottoman days-stuff I already knew. I stayed less than an hour and took the trolley bus back to town.
At 2:00, I went on a free food tour. That is right-a free food tour, and it was fun. The guide took as to 4 or 5 different restaurants and markets-and we tried Bulgarian Yogurt (with bacterium that is only found in Bulgaria), banitsa and spinach, with cheese, (which I also tried on a culture tour a few days ago). We also tried pork burgers that we're organic, and went to a nice restaurant where we sampled different types of Bulgarian cheeses and sweet wines. The guide explained that although Bulgarian sheep cheese is often confused with feta cheese, it isn't feta cheese-it is more watery, and the only reason feta cheese is famous worldwide is that Greece marketed it for years, while marketing to the west was forbidden during communism in Bulgaria.
The tour was excellent, and very informative. Attending we're 9 people; myself, an Estonia Couple-and 6 Israelis. During the pork burgers, I sprung on the Israelis my favorite Jewish Joke (and even explained I was Jewish beforehand): Q: What is a Jewish dilemma? A: Free ham. The Israelis didn't appreciate the joke. By the way, over the past week or so, I have met many Israelis-since many are off for the High Holidays. I am fine with the younger ones I met at the hostel-it is the older ones I have trouble with. The problem is that we share just enough affinity (being Jewish), where we feel obligated to make conversation-but we don't have much more to talk about.
The only problem with the tour is that I asked the guide for a list of the restaurants we went to, and she didn't have one. Not so much an issue for me-but all the restaurants we're providing free food-seemingly to encourage people to go back and pay for a full meal-I wonder how they would feel it they knew the tour guide didn't have a list of the restaurants.
Later on, I went back to the hostel for a plain Jane dinner for rice and potatoes. I sat with one girl who was crying because of boyfriend issues, and tried to make her laugh to forget her problem.
It was a cold night-and Sofia doesn't seem to have an AWFUL lot to do at night-so the choice was hanging in the common area of the hostel reading and talking to others (which is fine and I have done, but gets boring and repetitive). or going back to the mall and seeing a movie. The beauty of movies here is they are cheap-less then $5.00. (I use the Bust A Move test for prices-(movies showin-so your goin-couldn't care less about the 5 your blowin). If the price of a movie is less then that mentioned in a song from 26 years ago, it is a good deal).
So I saw The Intern-a feel good flick which made me want to throw up. The jokes weren't funny-even the Eastern Europeans who seem to laugh at all corny jokes in American movies didn't laugh. Although it got some good reviews-I thought the film sucked.
So I made the 10 minute walk back to the hostel, past the disgusting cross-dressing hookers on the corner and went to bed.
