The past two days have been largely uneventful, except that Niko's sleep has not been great. He seems to have bad dreams and two nights ago spent hours asleep, yet crying, flailing and kicking. We don't know what he is dreaming about, but it makes us sad to see him so upset. We noticed that when I try to comfort him, I largely make it worse. I don't think he realizes who I am in those moments. However, Brad is able to settle him pretty quickly. Since there were no men in his orphanage, there is no doubt who Brad is, and he seems to be able to soothe him. (Though, if you ask Brad, he'll tell you it's because of his extreme handsomeness and manly musk.) At least, it's been working so far! Here he is, learning about Pittsburgh's greatest treasure.
Tomorrow we should get Niko's Visa, and we will all get our Covid tests so we can travel back to the U.S. The last couple of days we really just spent time enjoying the sights of Sofia. Oh, and eating, eating, and more eating. Niko has also been eating us out of house and home - he calls his food "yums" and asks for "yums" every hour or so. None of the food packaging here contains nutritional information, so we don't know how many calories he's getting, so for now, we are feeding him whenever he asks. We also think that food is going through him faster since it's all pureed.
So, what can I tell you about Sofia, Bulgaria? First of all, this is the only European city I have ever traveled to, so I'm not sure what's common in Europe and what is specific to Sofia. I wouldn't start following me for travel tips. But here are some of my favorite things:
I've talked about the food before - it's largely fresh and delicious! And affordable. Prosciutto costs about $1.50 USD here, so I have been eating it constantly. I'm sure I'm returning to the states with a case of gout, but it's worth it!
How active people are - kids as small as Niko are riding scooters and bikes, and it seems that after work and school everyone goes to the parks to get fresh air and exercise. The parks here have stations for adults to exercise, and there are lots of places for skateboarders to hang out. We haven't seen a lot of kids wearing helmets, but they all seem pretty good at what they are doing. It's refreshing to see people out and enjoying themselves.
Lack of phones - when we are outside, I have consistently been looking for people who are just sitting on their phones, and I've only seen a small handful. Most people are out talking with others. When we pass cafes, people are gathering and spending time together. At the park, men gather at the benches to catch up, and teens hang out and vape together. I haven't seen people glued to their phones like we are in the States.
Brad would say the teenagers here act like hooligans, but I think he's just over 40 now and just has a general grumpy disposition. He doesn't like that they dress all in black and run around the shopping areas and get in his way.
Every block seemingly has an "Alcohol and Tobacco" store, a pharmacy, and a store that sells nuts. Big fan of their nuts. But it took us till day 7 to find peanut butter, so apparently they don't want to take nuts beyond their natural form.
Graffiti is everywhere - there seriously is graffiti on every inch of the city unless it's a government building. I don't know if people have a lot to say and they feel this is the best outlet, but you sort of stop seeing it after awhile. It's very bizarre because otherwise the city is very beautiful. Here's one by our apartment that has perplexed us all week.
Besides my general observations, there are a lot of old and historic things to see. As I mentioned in a previous post, there are a lot of statues and monuments throughout the city, as well as many government buildings (since Sofia is the capitol of Bulgaria).
Here's Niko looking adorable in front of the National Library.
We also saw Sofia University, which was founded way back in 1888!
And we couldn't leave without seeing St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox churches in Europe.
The city is so walkable, and we've walked miles and miles each day. If you ignore the graffiti, everyplace we've been is beautiful and feels safe. We made one last stop at the park today and will close out with Niko on the playground.
We believe we'll eventually return to Bulgaria someday, and we hope to see more of the country and less of the city (we can see a very cool mountain south of Sofia, and we've heard great things about the beaches as well). Both Oliver and Ellis have asked if they could come, and we assume Niko will be curious about his Bulgarian roots.
We head back to the U.S. on Wednesday afternoon, so if we don't post again from Bulgaria, we will once we are stateside! Thanks for following along!
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