If we're not losing weight on this trip...

We're both gonna shoot something or someone!!!  We decided to take the free Sofia walking tour today - it takes you around most of the important buildings in Sofia and gives you a little bit of their history.  It was very fun and informative - we met a nice guy from Seattle as well as 2 nice guys from England.  We ended up having lunch with the guys from England.  We started at the justice center where the guide explained that Bulgarians really like lions, but when they first decided on a lion, they didn't really know what one looked like so it ended up looking "like a kitten with a mustache."  When we get the pix up, you'll understand.  And you can thank Ana for the pix - she knows the secrets of how to get them on the computer and onto the blog.  We saw churches and buildings annd ruins and Roman bathhouses - just an incredible amount of history around here.  It was also a beautiful day, I think I got a tan!  He he he.  For lunch we asked our guide where he would recommend and he directed us to this place - we would never have found it on our own - where I had a chicken and mushroom dish in a smoked cheese sauce.  It was incredible.  We also split a cheese and garlic bread which was pretty much a quesedilla made with pita bread.  Ana had some kind of chicken and spinach pastery thing which looked really good.  Since we were with people, we didn't try each other's dishes like we normally do.  So we might have to go back and split something.  I did try a different beer, which was really good.  Had a Chardonney last night that was pretty good - they've been making wine around here for centuries so I figured I'd give it a try.  May have to try for a round 2 later or try their red.

All in all, Sofia has left a good impression.  There is a lot of people pan-handling and taxi drivers trying to get us to use the taxi, but really most people have been really friendly and helpful.  The funny thing we find - there is a McDonald's on every corner - and in Copenhagen we had a 7-11 on every corner!!  Too funny.  There are somme interesting leftovers from the Soviets and the story on how Bulgaria saved their Jews when under Nazi rule is interesting.  Apparently they would put the Jews on the train and then the king would tell Hitler that he needed them for work on the palace and they would ship them back.  I'm fascinated by stories like this because learning it in history class and actually being in the place where it's part of the history are two very different things.  He he - of course, I keep on thinking about Mrs. Franks and Mr. Quayle's classes.  Two teachers that made Wind River slightly less horrible for me.  Can't wait to go thru Italy - I'm so having a glass of wine and toasting Mrs. Franks!

Besides the free walking tour, they also have a free bike tour which takes you further from the center of the city and shows you more of the outskirts.  We have decided to nix doing the bike tour on the basis of saving our rear ends - also we prefer walking wherever possible.  They have a 3-hour, 18 km tour or you can opt for the lazy tour - 1 hour and 4 km.  : )  We are planning a couple day trips to a villiage and a monastary.  Since we've paid for our hostel, we plan on being back here at night, especially since we can actually find the place now!  Something that cracks me up?  Our hostel is across the alley from a sex shop.  Dunno why, but that tickles my funny bone (with a feather ; ))

Aaaaaannnnnnddddddd heeeeerrrrreeeeee's ANA!

Yes, if we do not lose weight, grrrr we will need straght jackets or to wire our mouths shut. =/
We had a great walking tour today it was suppose to start at 11 and end 2 1/2 later. But my battires died at the beginning of the tour, actually I did not get a picture one. However, I do have my phone and Mandi is super sweet and we walked the same tour a 2nd time so I could get the pic for the post. It was nice to walk two times just for the fact we had more time to take pictures. We also could go into some of the churches and wow, I mean WOW. Two of the churches we were not allowed to take pictures and Mandi even had to put her coat on because they would not allow visitors (female) with tank tops. Very interesting. The first church was Saint Stiv Cathloic chuch has beautiful stain glass window but interesting enought most of the stain glass was of flowers and nature and not the saints. The second church we took pictues in as well but was told later we were not suppose to. The interesting thing about this church is it was built on top of ruins from the 4th century. It had beautiful had paintings on the walls and a very intersting circular staircase. The next church was one of the first churches that broke off from the Roman Cathloic church and have a symbol of a cross with three lines and a moon. We could not take pictures inside but once inside you could see the hand paintings on the walls of Jesus and the cruisifiction, candles for prayer and of course a booth with  a woman selling stuff. The next church was the Sofia Cathloic Church (hi to my niece Sofia:o)) Where we could not go in becasue of Mandi's tank top but this church had a bell tied to a tree outside the chruch because once the war (WWII) ended (??) the bell  would be rung from the church but Sofia did not have a bell so they improvised. Brilliant. The last church is the biggest and most imaculate this one we could not take picutes as well but was worth Mandi putting on her coat to go into. The church is large enough to hold 5,000 people and at first reminded me of a scene from "A Knights Tale" when he walks into the church on his horse. The church was massive and the floors, walls, & celing are made of marble. The paintings on the wall showed of course the saints, Mary, Jesus but most interesting to me stories about Jesus. One of the picutes shows Jesus raising the young girl from the dead and another showed the man brought on a mat to him. I wonder if this is how some learned the bible? The final things I saw were grapes carved into the marble deicate work and beautifuly done.
Done with the history lesson. We did meet several people these last couple days for example our roommatte is a teacher from the Ukraine who teaches in Germany. Then the young men from Seattle and then our lunch buddies from England (London and someplace close to Manchester). I got quite a kick when the young man from London started going off about life beginning at 40 and there was nothing wrong with traveling now. He did not want to hear life can start at 40! I am grateful life still exists at 40 and no one can tell my age. Thanks to good genes. So for those of you who are afraid to jump, LIFE CAN START AT ANY AGE but you must be brave enough to try.
Mandi and I are hungry now so I will add pics later tonight. Many blessings to those we love and thanks always for your prayers.