Saturday, October 19, London

Another late start.  This is starting to feel like a vacation!  Went to our trusty TKTS kiosk in Leicester Square and got tickets for the matinee of Dirty Dancing which was recommended by the Australian woman who sat next to me at last night's show.  Since we had a similar take on Curious Incident thought I could trust her judgement as well as anyone else's. The day was so overcast, with rain threatening, we scrapped the Eye and walked around Soho, Piccadilly, and Oxford Street, knowing we'd need to be back there for the show.  Didn't know there is a sizable Chinatown right there.  Charlie got his moon cakes. Wandered past Foyles Bookstore, through Soho Square, and stopped at a little bistro for lunch.  Again we were blown away by the delicious food.  I have to let go of all my biases because we have eaten well in a country known for it's terrible food.

Chinatown, one of several blocks

Soho Square

Since it had started to rain we ducked into Whole Foods and just browsed. Four bagels for £4.  That's $1.60 for a bagel! I haven't yet come to the point where I just equate a dollar US to a pound sterling and forget the actual exchange rate.

The show was a little disappointing.  It lacked the sexual tension and sizzle of the movie, but I was glad they used the music from the movie instead of a new score.  That was the most authentic part.  They didn't do a very good job of getting the zeitgeist of the Catskills in 1963 or of developing the characters.  Better to rent the movie again.  Oh well 2 out of 3 ain't bad.  When we came out of the theater the rain had stopped and we decided to try to ride the Eye after all.  Walked down through Whitehall and the Queen's horse guards to Parliament and just as we were crossing Westminster Bridge it started to rain again.  We kept walking, but it was getting dark and we ended up giving it a pass.

So glad the rainbow is showing!

So we returned home, had a Thai dinner in our neighborhood, and now we are packing for an early departure in the morning.  Nowhere near enough time here, but five weeks is a long time to be away and I'm ready to come home -- real home, not just the places we've stayed that feel something like home.  

15,810  (6.8 miles)

October 18, London and points West

Thomas Wolfe was wrong.  You can go home again, and it is lovelier than ever.  We set off for Paddington Station (of Bear fame and where six year old Amy actually did lose a doll and was able to reclaim it at Lost and Found). Thought our Oyster cards (the prepaid transit cards) would work and when they didn't we tried to buy tickets at several of the automatic kiosks.  By the time we decided we had to queue up at the actual ticket office, Charlie was getting a little anxious as we had missed three of the four trains we could take to Reading. We were being met by old friends and colleagues from 1976.  But we made it, taking our seats as the train rolled out.

This was really a trip down Memory Lane.  We were met by Brian and Barbara, whom we hadn't seen in nine years when we met in Paris.  He had hired Charlie (with the help of the Fulbright award) and they had done some preliminary house hunting for us.  Upon arrival (in 1976) they watched the kids while we pursued their leads.  So we blame them for introducing 4 year old Matt to Dr. Who, so traumatizing him that he wouldn't sleep in his own room the entire sabbatical. But that's history.  We drove from Reading, virtually unrecognizable since our last visit, through the countryside, still green, green, green, and dotted with small villages. This area is 30 minutes west of London, a manageable commute, so prices have skyrocketed.  The homes are very old, mostly small, and bloody expensive.  And if their house is any indication, cold, drafty, and jerrybuilt, with little rooms added one at a time.  But quaint!

We drove to lunch at a very upmarket restaurant along the Thames where we met Anne and Maurice. She had edited the book Charlie wrote way back then.  Had a delightful and interesting lunch, complete with celebratory champagne and delicious (yes, in England) food.  We were the last ones out of the place at 3:30.  Brian offered to drive us through Henley-on-Thames before returning to the train and we jumped at the offer.  While the landmarks remain, most of the shops have turned over, traffic has been rerouted, and it is even more charming than ever.  We found our old house, mostly by following the route I walked twice a day taking and picking up the kids at school.  (The school has closed, as has the Henley Brewery.) We walked along the Thames, past several of our old haunts, and then returned to the Reading Station and back to London.

The view of the Thames from the restaurant in Streatly. That is said to be Michael Caine's home across the river where you can see the boathouse.

Five Elms, 1 Belle Vue, our rental home in 1976, virtually unchanged since then

Still the Thames, but in Henley

We hadn't bought theater tickets, but decided to try to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.  Went directly from the train to the theater in Piccadilly, where they were sold out.  Emboldened by our success at the Sofia Opera, we scouted for "touts", the British term for scalpers. Found a young man with a pair for the "stalls" and we were in.  I hadn't realized they had made a play of this book, but since I loved the book and wondered how it could possibly be adapted for the stage I had it on my top picks for what to see.  And it didn't disappoint.  Felt we really got inside this autistic boy's head and could experience his world.  As with the show last night, it seems the staging is at least as important as the writing. Really remarkable and unique play. We are two for two with our theater picks.

And home to bed.  Again a nutritious dinner of a candy bar at the theater and toast and jam at home.

10297 steps (4.4 miles)

Thursday, October 17, London

Got a slow start and headed for Leicester Square, where the discount theater tickets are available.  Couldn't get Book of Mormon except for full price of £150 per seat.  That's a bit more than I was willing to spend ($240 US) though for the record, Charlie would have.  Anyway, we got great seats at half price for Billy Elliot.  

Our apartment

Walked from there to the Millenium Bridge and crossed the Thames to Bankside.  Had a delicious pub lunch at The Swan and then visited the Globe Theater.  Fascinating exhibitions on the history of the theater, the area, and costumes.  Then a guide took us into the theater.  Really a great museum and it's surprising how much S.D.'s Old Globe is like it. They have a season of productions but it ended last weekend. 

St. Paul's Cathedral in the background as we start to cross the new pedestrian bridge across the Thames

On the Millenium bridge

We are trying to focus on what is new (to us or to London) rather than revisiting old haunts but since we haven't been here for 25 years, that covers a lot. We intended to get to the London Eye, but it was so overcast we decided to wait for a clear day.  Took the tube home for a quick rest and snack and took off for the Victoria Palace Theater, where we saw and absolutely loved Billy Elliot.  Note to San Diego friends: it is coming this season and you shouldn't miss it.

We are so impressed by this city.  It is so cleaned up, compared to how it used to look, and especially compared to the Balkans.  There has been much new and modern construction.  But the biggest change has been the huge influx of emigrants (and tourists) from everywhere.  Knew about the Indians and Pakistanis, but there are Poles and Slavs, Chinese and Vietnamese, Arabs, and Scandinavians and Germans.  On the tube we heard a German speaking immigrant give directions to German speaking tourists when she found them struggling with the Metro map.  Think my next home exchange might be back here.

14,873 (6.3 miles)

Wednesday, October 16 Sofia to London

Spent the morning packing and walking around the neighborhood in directions away from center city that we hadn't seen. We found Sofia to be a much more interesting city than we'd expected, and much less expensive than any of the other places we visited.  Don't even ask about prices in London! Overall I'd rank Sofia between Budapest and Bucharest in interest and in state of decay/cleanliness.  Almost as interesting as Budapest and almost as rundown as Bucharest.  Definitely worth seeing.

The view from our room at Best Western City Hotel 

Flight to London uneventful.  Found the apartment easily and it's just as advertised.  Am washing clothes as I write.  Earls Court, our neighborhood,  is quite busy and youthful, full of shops and pubs and activity.  But we are two blocks removed from the hubbub on a charming and quiet street.  Had dinner at a local Lebanese restaurant and every accent was from a different place.  Arrived after dusk so no pics.

Ready for a slower pace for the next few days.

11,335 steps (4.8 miles)

Tuesday, October 15, Sofia

Had a very ecumenical Day. Started with the synagogue, which is quite large and quite beautiful and still functioning though with an aging population of undetermined numbers.  It is Sephardic, since the influx from Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition boosted the small Jewish population that had been here since the fourth century.  They get a minyan every day and up to 50 or so on Shabbat.  There is a mikvah, a pre-school, and even a K-high school, though many non-Jews attend since it is one of the better schools in the city.

Sofia Synagogue, built 1909

Interior, very moorish

Mosaic floor, interior of synagogue

 

There was also a small museum of the history of the Jews in Bulgaria and we spoke with the young woman in charge. By WWII twenty per cent of Sofia's population was Jewish and Bulgarians are very proud that they protected their 50,000 Jews from the death camps by dragging their feet in rounding them up.  After the war most emigrated to Israel, hence the small remaining population.

We went to the mosque that we had seen from the outside on Sunday.  It is being totally retrofitted and isn't quite ready for visitors.  Charlie refused to go in because he didn't want to leave his shoes or wear the "cover-up".  

Mosque from the back since the front is covered with scaffolding (It hasn't changed since Sunday)

Self-portrait, inside the mosque

Don't know if the reinforcements will remain, but they do detract from the grandeur

On to the Russian Orthodox Church.  Much smaller, but lovely from the outside, and closed on the inside for restoration.  You can see how we covered a lot of ground, with such quick visits.

Russian Orthodox Church

Next we hit the landmark big cathedral, the Alexander Nevsky Bulgarian Orthodox Cathedral.  Not as ornate as the Romanian one, but considerably larger.  Of course no interior photos.

Alexander Nevsky Bulgarian Orthodox Cathedral 

And since it's Bulgaria, we got a double dose of orthodoxy by visiting St. Sofia Basilica, where a service was taking place with beautiful choral music. This particular church first dates from the late 19th century, but it is built above the remains of three earlier churches which were built around three successive cemeteries. (Spell check doesn't like any of my attempts at a plural for necropolis).  It is very plain inside. There is a fascinating, if a little confusing, archeological museum built around the ruins below the present church.

St. Sofia

Below St. Sophia

We broke up this pilgrimage to religious sights by visits to two of the cities markets; one the Zhenski Pazar open air market, very busy and definitely downscale, and the other, Central Market Hall, much less fun or interesting, but quieter and cleaner. The latter is a smaller, less ornate version of the one we visited in Budapest.

I think these are scallions, but they could be leeks.  Either way, they're huge.

The open air market

The Central Market

The Ethnological Museum had been recommended to us, so we soldiered on.  It is housed with an art museum in the former Parliament building.  It was a hodge-lodge of costumes from different regions and different time periods, each interesting but hard to distinguish one from another.

A bridal couple, probably 19th century.  Incidentally, the Church must not have the influence here that it does in Romania because many couples live together, have kids, but never marry.

After lunch, (love the yoghurt and cucumber soup) we took a rest before heading out again.  Wanted to see the changing of the guard at the Presidency (the offices of the President, who has no power because there is a Prime Minister).

Yes, that is a goose step

This is a twentieth century building, part of a governmental complex built by the Communists.  Quite a contrast to the ones built in Romania.

More of the government buildings

Department of Justice, with more lions, a national symbol

Then we hit yet another church, just because we kept walking past it and thought it looked interesting. Not so much. 

What excitement!  Charlie knew Aida was going to be performed tonight but couldn't get tickets on line before we came.  So when we arrived we went to the box office since the theater is only 2 blocks from our hotel.  No luck.  Tried again the next day.  It turns out this was opening night, not just of Aida but of the season, and it was totally sold out.  Undeterred, he decided to go anyway, hoping to find a scalper.  When we arrived at 6:45 for a 7:00 performance the doors weren't even opened and the crowd was milling around outside. We assumed Bulgarian time was like Romanian time. 

A night at the opera

He was promptly approached by two separate women with one ticket each which he purchased at face value.  They were dirt cheap -- about $14 US for one and $21.00 US for the other.  Hadn't had dinner thinking our chances of getting in were so slim we'd eat instead.   While standing on the pavement eating an ice cream bar (dinner)  I saw a chauffeured car drive by, follow by two suits on foot and another SUV and told Charlie the President was coming to the opening. He scoffed, but I was right. The crowd was milling because there were only two doors open and they were doing a full security check on everyone coming in.  I safely navigated around the x-ray, got wanded below the waist, and we found our seats, not too far apart.  And best of all, the opera was really great!  Imaginative staging, great voices, and the supertitles were in English as well as Bulgarian.  And the seats weren't bad.  Only problem was the lack of air conditioning and I thought I might die before Radames and Aida in the last act.  This was a coup for Charlie and he can leave Sofia a happy man.

19,343 steps (8.3 miles)

Monday, October 14, Rila Monastery

The weather report predicted snow in the mountains tomorrow, but only cold (39 F) today, so we scheduled our trip to the Rila Monastery for today.  Took all the layers of outerwear we had and set off with our guide for the two hour drive.  Philip spoke great English (as did Nikola yesterday) and we had a very delightful and interesting day.  The leaves are turning and the scenery could have been in New England or Skyline Drive.

The monastery was established in the tenth century by St. Ivan of Rila.  It was destroyed by the Ottomans in the late 15th century but rebuilt with Russian support.  It was destroyed again in 1833 -this time by fire - and rebuilt yet again, this time by the Bulgarians.  It is a prime example of National Revival architecture and the painted walls are unbelievable.  The interior is walnut and gold, which is typical.  We also visited the museum, which highlighted the contributions the monks made toward preserving the Bulgarian language and history while under the "yoke of the Ottomans".

What looks like stone work is actually painted.

The black and white is painted, but the murals are what people come to see.  The walls, arches and domes are covered with scenes from the life of Christ and instructing an illiterate people about temptation and sin and the life to come.

It's pretty impressive.

The dormitories, though there are only nine monks remaining.

A view from the tower, which Charlie climbed.  The tower is the only part of the original monastery still standing.

The day turned out to be gorgeous and we shed even our lightweight jackets.  Had a late lunch at an inn on the road and sat on the patio.  By the time we got back we'd been gone for ten hours but much of the day had been sitting so we took a walk to the upscale pedestrian shopping street, just to stretch and see the city.

The light is so poor you can hardly see the kids dancing to the buskers, but the music sounded much like Klezmer.  Maybe it was. I'm not sure what Bulgarian music sounds like. Since we hadn't finished lunch until 3:00, we skipped dinner and went to the Viennese pastry shop for dessert.  Hey, what's a few more calories at this point?

11006 steps (4.7 miles)

Sunday, October 13, Bucharest to Sofia, Bulgaria

Awoke before dawn for a 5:30 drive to the airport, arriving at 6:00 as instructed for an 8:00 flight.  The check-in windows didn't open until nearly 7:00!  Maybe it's just an American thing, being on time.  As it turned out there weren't very many of us on the small plane for a one hour hop.  We were met by a kid from the hotel in a clean, new, van.  What a concept!  Checked in and hit the ground running for a walking tour of central Sofia.  

We went to all the major sights in the central city, but didn't go into any. Of course we'll go back to many to explore in a little more depth.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, only 101 yrs. old

And nearby, the only mosque remaining in the city after the expulsion of the Ottomans

Formerly beautiful, the central baths are now under reconstruction as the city museum, though one wing will still have a spa.  The building was scheduled to be completed by 2012 and then 2013 but it doesn't look like they'll meet the revised 2014 date either.  The guide joked that procrastination is the national pastime.  

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On the road to Constantinople.  Really.  Excavation for the Metro station revealed archeological strata.  You can see the oldest on the ground and it is heading toward ancient Constantinople. The two different kinds of stonework low on the walls show how the city was built on the ruins of earlier settlements.  The lit sign on the ceiling shows they went ahead and built the metro around it.

My first thought was outdoor urinals, but these are public fountains of natural spring water to which folks bring their jugs to refill.

After 2 1/2 hours of walking my short night was starting to catch up with me and we returned to the hotel for a nap.  It began raining so we just took it easy for the rest of the day.  This was the first down time in quite a while and it was nice.  Had a great dinner in the hotel -  Italian again.

13,770 steps (5.9 miles)

Saturday, October 12, Bucharest

Parliament was the first stop.  We had thought disorganization and running late was just the Pro Vita way, but it's universal to the Balkans. Got there by 10:30 for our 11:00 tour but milled around waiting for our security clearance.  First time we've had to turn in our passports in exchange for a security tag. More thorough search than most airports except for me.  I got waved through when I couldn't do the x- ray.  So we began our 2 hour tour a half hour late.  But it was well worth it.  This is the palace for which Ceausescu tore down homes of 20,000 people.  It was called the people's palace, but he and his family were the only people who got to use it.  Again, in typical Romanian fashion, it was never completed.  The 1989 revolution ended his and the Communists' reigns and it became the seat of Parliament.  (Actually it was Parliament under the Communists too, but everyone was in the same party and it was just a rubber stamp.). Anyway, it is the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon, but the beautiful marble, crystal chandeliers, and carpets outclass the Pentagon by a long shot.  Many, many stairs until for security reasons you cannot use stairs but must take the elevator to the rooftop terrace.

It's hard to get the big picture

Personal hygiene doesn't seem very important outside the palace

Mary and Craig of York PA

I took my pedometer off for security so none of these corridors or steps counted

Only a small part of the building is currently in use, for meetings, expos, and private affairs as well as state occasions.  

George Bush was here and so was Michael Jackson.  One of them was dumb enough to speak from the balcony to crowds below and refer to his host city as Budapest.

From here we went to the Old City and saw a little more of the area than we had two weeks ago.  Had a great lunch -- Italian again and then free time.  We opted to walk back to the hotel; everyone else was tired from the museum-paced walk through the palace and took the vans.  Stopped at a busy open market, mostly food stalls and crafts we didn't want.  Tried again to get into the Atheneum but no luck.

This is a bank headquarters. I continue to look for attractive buildings in decent condition

This, however, is more typical in Old Town

Piata of the Revolution the red signifies blood, not vandalism

Then a neighborhood restaurant for our farewell dinner. I had the worst meal of the entire trip, in a smoky and noisy place.  But of course a good time was had by all and we are a rowdy crew.  It was one of the (3) Judy's birthday and the van drivers and our girls sang "Happy Birthday" in Romanian followed by the English version from the rest of us.

Kayla and Cori, our brave kids; leading the seniors was like herding cats

Janos and Joey, our drivers

Whole group photo at the palace

And so ends our Romanian experience. The service project was lots of fun, we saw a slice of life we never would have seen otherwise, we met great people, and I'd do another any time.  But I have no illusions that we made a difference in the lives of anyone at Pro Vita, and I'm not sure they needed our help.  Everyone there is happy and well cared for, living in family type settings, and managing just fine without any outside do-gooders.  They have a group of college kids coming from Idaho in December and 200 (!) Romanians coming next summer.  They're going to run a summer camp.

13,102 steps (though really many more at the palace) 5.6 miles

P.S. the answer is Michael Jackson

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