Plovdiv

What a great weekend! This weekend was a three-dayer, so we decided to explore Bulgaria a little more and headed to Plovdiv, the second largest city in the country. One of the women who works here is from Plovdiv, so she hooked us up with a nice hotel and told us the places to hang out. There are two really fun things about Plovdiv: 1) It has an "Old City," which has been really well maintained and 2) It has a big walking street with a million shops and outside cafes. The whole city actually felt more European than even Sofia does. A couple of funny things happened during the trip, but probably the funniest and strangest story occurred when we were walking in the Old City. We came across a guy who has a little shop where he makes Bulgarian pottery. We went in and he gave us a free demonstration and told us about how he hand makes all of the items in the store. (“Store,” by the way, is being generous. The whole place was slightly bigger than a walk-in closet). So, all of us decide we are going to get something. We're looking around and pointing at things and just when we are about to pay for our two items, a herd (seriously, a herd) of Greek tourist come barging through the door yelling to each other all excited about the pottery. There are so many of them that Pete, Derek, Jenn, and I couldn't get out of the store if we wanted to, we are pretty much crushed against the back wall and Pete is trying to protect our future purchases for the Greeks who are grabbing at them. After about five minutes, the Greeks have bought out half the store and decide it is time to go. Derek, Jenn, Pete and I are staring at each other in awe, and as the last lady leaves (who was apparently the tour guide) she says, "Pardon!" with a wave of her hand and walks out. It was crazy, and pretty hilarious, as well. I was just happy we got our pottery!
Pete and I leave on Thursday for Barcelona. I have a college guidance counselors' conference there and Pete gets to tag along for the ride. I am SO glad they gave him the time off! I've never been to Barcelona, so I'm really excited to go. Pete's excited not only to go, but also to be able to communicate with people for the first time in six months. I, unfortunately, will not have this luxury, but I WILL have Starbucks, which I haven't had in six months. I realize it's fairly pathetic that I'm going to Spain and excited about Starbucks, but ... you try living in Bulgaria for six months and you'll get excited about Starbucks too (not to mention peanut butter, mac and cheese, roads that don't have pot holes the size of a bus ever five feet, and people who wear deodorant).
Oh ... the pictures mostly of Old Town, but I threw in a couple of pictures of all of us with our new sunglasses. We all bought a pair - Pete and Derek bought the same pair of Hawaii glasses. Nice.