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Well it has been another somewhat unusual week here in big BG.  We are short timers now and the light at the end of the tunnel is definitely growing brighter.  I know that you are all going to accuse me of being disingenuous but I have to say that I am starting to get the pangs of nostalgia already.  I’ve complained a lot about Bulgaria and I will be glad to come home but the closer we get to our departure the more the good and quaint aspects of life here are outweighing the bad. 

Anyway, I have a lot of catching up to do.  On Amy’s birthday our shower broke (it was fixed today 11 days later).  Needless to say life without a functioning shower is pretty lame.  Luckily for us we were able to escape to Prague for the weekend.  We had found super-cheap airfare back in February and the trip came at a perfect time.  But it was almost a non-event.  Misho met us in Sofia and we spent the afternoon with him and his girlfriend Villi.  We had a nice lunch and some ice-cream before setting off for the airport.  We left with plenty of time but got caught in a massive traffic jam.  It seems that the bus drivers were having a huge protest over gas prices and had snarled traffic all around the city.  We fought our way through the traffic and made it with not so much time.  The problem was that we went to the wrong terminal!  There are two terminals at Sofia airport and every flight we have ever had has left from Terminal 2.  Our e-mail confirmation said nothing about which terminal so we figured it was Terminal 2.  Well it wasn’t.  The problem was that there was a ton of traffic in between the terminals.  We made it to Terminal 1 with about 15 minutes before our flight was supposed to take off.  We sprinted to the check-in desk, raced through security and made it to the gate only to find out that the flight was delayed by an hour! 

I had been to Prague five years ago but this was Amy’s first trip.  I have to say that it was even better than I remembered.  The public buildings are fabulous but so much of the regular architecture of the city has been maintained and every street of the old town is spectacular.  You could honestly roam for the entire day through the side streets just admiring the beautiful facades and doorways.  It is a rich mixture of 17th, 18th and 19th Century as well as some awesome early 20th Century building.  The entire trip was made even better by the fact that we met up with our friends Kelly and Rachael.  We stayed at a pretty sweet little hostel and had a blast just walking around and enjoying the sights. 

The food in Prague is awesome as are the drinks made from fermenting barley and mixing it with water and hops.  In fact we were able to go to a festival which celebrated this drink.  It was a lot of fun and nature provided us with a sound and light show right before we were about to leave.  Needless to say we stuck around for a while longer and had a thoroughly good time. 

Alas, our time there was all too short.  In fact we spent only 40 hours actually on the ground.  When we got back to Sofia we were met by Misho and Villi.  Kelly and Rachael desperately had to make it to the bus station in time for the last bus back to Vidin so we all piled into Misho’s car and raced off from the airport.  Misho drove like a Formula 1 driver and we made it right on time. 

All in all the whole trip was full of good and exciting times.  It was a perfect escape (and an excellent chance to take several hot showers!).  Here are a few pictures from the trip.  Hope you enjoy!

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