Day 25 - GREECE!

Today we went to Thessaloniki, Greece which is the northern capital of Greece. It was quite interesting. It's quite modern, and is also one of the major port cities of the country. This trip made it all hit home, because most of my notes over Greece covered this city. So - that was nice.

We mostly had a bus tour of the city, so I can't really give you much of a description of everything. . . or anything really. The city was modern and crowded, but had an "older" feel to it. Other than that, I don't have much to offer in terms of history or content . . . when I get home I'll post all my pictures up and maybe I'll remember so stuff.

So, this is the blood castle. I don't really remember why they call it that - but they do.

I made an A in my study abroad class . . . which completes my journey. Tomorrow I have nothing to do but pack and enjoy my last day in Blagoevgrad - and then we leave EARLY Thursday morning. Till then . . . . sleep tight America.

Day 24 - Monday

I did absolutely nothing productive today, simply because I didn't have to. 'Nuff said - goodbye. lol

Brother and Sister

My nephew Austin and little niece Breanne :- )

I cannot wait to see them both!

Bulgaria loves their Roses!

Day 23 - On the Road again . . .

Woke up at 7:30, and got to enjoy a very nice English breakfast . . . . eggs and all that jazz. Coffee was quite good for the first time. Today we are heading to Sofia to drop off Dr. Hall so that he can head back to Americus. He has to go and grade some AP tests somewhere on the west coast next week . . . kinda interesting. It's now 9:25 and we're leaving V.T. - who knows when we'll get back in Blagoevgrad.

We stopped at McDonalds in Sofia for lunch . . it tasted just like McD's back home, so there was no surprise there. I really hated eating there - but hey . . . gotta do whatcha gotta do. It's now 2:15 and we're almost outside of Sofia. So, I'm thinking we'll be back around 3:30 - 4:00 . . . . and now I'm going to take a nap!!

Got back at the university at 3:35 . . . gotta love it!! Now, it's time to get some dinner. FINALLY!

Finally in Veliko Tarnovo

This hotel is pretty intense. We got here at 1ish and the hotel wasn't ready for us - so we packed back up and went to lunch. I got chicken and rice, and it was delicious. Something about having something so uniquely Southern here made my day a little better.

After lunch we came back to the hotel and got to our rooms. My room is perfect. It overlooks the city, and I get to see this massive city statue from my balcony!

A close up of the statue from my balcony.

My first hotel on this trip with a balcony, and it's the best way to end my Bulgarian hotel experience. I'd rate this place tied for second place among our hotels . . . haha

At 4 o'clock we went out for one of our last walking tours - and it helped to complete our Bulgarian sight seeing. I got to see - at Bulgarian eye level - a castle that was used to fight off the Turkish invasion. It was definitely a nice way to end our Bulgarian experience.

Tomorrow we are expecting to leave around 9 a.m. so we are getting up around 7:15 to get breakfast and a possible massage!! How nice would that be?!

There's still talk of us going to Greece next week - so who knows which day we'll actually leave. I'm hoping that it'll be Tuesday so we can get our last good night of rest on Wednesday before leaving on Thursday.

Well - here's to goodnight!!

Random Thoughts on the Bus

It's the idea of the unbeliever to believe that Christian believers believe in some crazy divine being such as our wonderful Maker. He is A Father to the sick and the lame. He offers Complete Comfort that can reach the depths of the human heart. He brings All the Joy to cover all of man's sins. He also can give us Lasting Love to embrace the human condition of pain. Why can't an unbeliever believe in the majestic power of Grace that's forgiven all our sins?