#2 It’s Sunny in Sofia

It is Wednesday afternoon, and yes I know I skipped a day. Tuesday was a thoroughly enjoyable day, filled with nothing but casual talk, strolling the shops in Bellagio, and the like. Quite enjoyable, but nothing was crossed off the “must see” list. True, we made a lame effort to see Villa Del Este, but our departure from Bellagio at 3:45 defined that we had to hurry to get the last hydrofoil back home. That involved a 2 mile walk for most of us, making it just in time. However, it was a great day! Sunny, beautiful villas, estates, and grounds, but most importantly just chances to chat about this and that. In fact, I learned more about fashion in my walk with Ron Morgan, than I have ever known before. (As may of you know, I was starting from quite a modest base). Next time you see me, I will be checking out if your shirt is cut on the bias.

The day ended with Carol and me knowing we needed to leave at O dark 30 to drive our rental car back to Malpenza airport. Then we were off to Bulgaria. A narrow, twisty road similar to what Rob so deftly navigated among way too many cars coming head on at 60-80k was actually fun to drive at sun rise with very few cars. Despite an absence of signs, we made it just fine.

Malpenza airport is unusual. It is Milan’s international airport, and all the ticket counters and gates are staffed by airport, not airline employees. I have never seen that elsewhere. It is huge, filled with people coming and going from all corners of the world. Carol and I marveled at many exotic destinations displayed on the departure boards. Cities we didn’t know, much les pronounce.

A big part of this trip was to visit and meet Stili’s mother, Malvina. We landed in Sofia mid afternoon, and cleared customs quickly. Hoards of enthusiastic Bulgarians greeted friends, relatives, and co-workers with enthusiasm last seen in the movie Love Actually. Lots of welcoming signs, flowers, and warm embarrasses. We had made vague plans to meet our hostess as we cleared customs. We were aided by seeing pictures of her in the past. I approached many asking if they were Malvina, with no luck. After those missed attempts, we met. For those of you who don’t know our son Stephen’s girl friend is Stiliana Milkova, who is a fellow Brown graduate. She is now a PhD student, studying Comparative Literature, at Cal. (Her twin sister is Lili, is a PhD candidate in Art History at Penn). We have greatly enjoyed Stili as a part of many family meals and activities for the past year. Anyway, Malvina is an Architectural History professor, who specializes in the Thracian Architecture. When you meet her, you can see clearly where the twins get their sense of style.

It is now Friday morning, after a non stop day of touring Sofia. Back to Wednesday night. Malvina dropped us off at the shiny new Meg Lozenetz, within the Lozenetz district of Sofia. We were showed to our spacious and attractive room, and took the chance to unpack. We walked to Malvina’s apartment, which was only a few blocks away. It turns out that in Bulgaria, few rent their apartment. Like our condominiums they are owned in a shared fashion. Malvina and her fellow residents supervised the construction of the building they now occupy. Each pays their share of common expenses. This can lead to obvious problems, if the tenants don’t agree on what should happen. However, in this case, there is quite a core of lovely women who share more than just space.

Wednesday night we went to a restaurant called Under the Linden Tree, which is nearly 100 years old. It has been the meeting place of those drawn to Sofia’s soccer and jazz scenes in the 1920s. We shared massed eggplant and garlic (with olive oil), roasted bell peppers, dill, yoghurt and garlic, and a roasted fillet of chicken. All complimented with a local red wine. The food was great, but the chance to get to know Malvina better was the highlight of the evening. As we left the restaurant we stopped to listen to a woman singing Bulgarian folk tunes, accompanied by a man playing the equivalent of the bagpipe. Much like the Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria, if any of you remember that a cappella woman’s singing group.

Thursday was a day of sightseeing and lots more talk about everything from our children to politics. We started our day at Boyana church, which is an ancient, sacred space filled with at least three layers of murals depicting religious stories. It is being restored, and because of the sensitive nature of the walls, only a few people can enter (with a guide) and stay for only 10 minutes. Malvina knew our guide well, and could easily guide this or any other tour in Bulgaria. Then to the National History Museum. This was built during the Russian occupation, and is the site of much of Bulgaria’s rich history. Again, our tour was greatly aided by Malvina’s expertise. What a rich historic past Bulgaria displays at this museum.

We stopped for a late lunch near “the yellow brick road”, in downtown Sofia. Then a tour of the street vendors who sell a rich assortment of cotton and silk cloth as well as beautifully weaved fabrics. In addition, there were lots of tables of people selling everything from Nazi artifacts, coins, and watches. The Nazis apparently made well crafted cigarette lighters, compasses, and other personal items for their soldiers. Somehow they were too repugnant to consider.

The highlight of the day was an evening party at Malvina’s flat with several other owners, all women and their daughters. We feasted on a wide variety of platters of food, each prepared by Malvina or one of the guests. One of the guests, 18 year old Danni, recently won a Bulgarian competition, and is off to Spain to study Spanish for one year starting next week. She could hardly contain her enthusiasm. Malvina and Carol joined Danni is a frantic Bulgarian folk dance, backed by a CD we were enjoying. Well past midnight, Carol and I finally had to call it a day, and probably ended a party which would have kept going for some time.

Bulgaria is changing quickly since its control by Russia. Bruce Mowat alerted me to the fact their stock market was up over 1,000% last year. They elect their president in November, but Malvina is not optimistic. More of the same incompetent, corrupt leaders is expected. This is a huge anchor keeping down the economy of this great country.

I will sign off now, as we have our final day of touring which starts soon. More, later.

D



Answer to Question 1

I am well into my third biography by Yale historian Ron Chernow. If any of you are interested, I heartily recommend Alexander Hamilton, the House of Morgan, and now Titan (John D Rockefeller). Two have won National Book Awards. Each is over 700 pages, packed with interesting insights, and quite readable. However, I warn you, you will need to keep a dictionary near by.
Anyway John D was raised in a penurious setting. Even as a young boy, he had a knack for making money. After buying candy in bulk and selling it to his siblings, his first commercial enterprise was raising turkeys.

Question 2

Without looking it up, what was the last event in which a Bulgarian won a gold medal in the Summer Olympics? I will give you a clue, it wasn’t a man.

#1 Yawning in Paradise

My computer clock tells me it is 2:20AM. However, Microsoft is wrong. My senses (and watch) confirm it is a sunny Monday morning in Bellagio, Italy on beautiful Lake Como. In fact, it is 11:20AM, so my computer is back in the Bay Area. (Why do cell phones correctly identify time and computers don’t?) Carol and I have just completed a rare coast to coast (sleeping more than 12 hours, and she’s still going). But I am ahead of myself.

It seems like quite a while ago that Don & Lynn Nelson drove the Bonds and us to SFO. That trip ended as we joined the slow snake of people checking into one of Virgin Airways flights. SFO security was no big deal. We boarded our B747-400 (Tinker Belle) and left at 4:30PM, as the Bears were (hopefully) underway dispensing with the Gophers from Minnesota and a half hour before the long awaited Ohio State-Texas game (number 1 plays number 2). Our timing wasn’t perfect from that stand point.

We have never flown Virgin, and it is quite different from others. They announced that the flight crew (not counting pilots) was 20. I’d guess that was half again more than United uses. (In addition, the flight crew was in their 20’s, not contemporaries of ours!). Richard Branson had attracted a crew of cute, bright looking, friendly people who spoke with clipped British accents, and “aimed to please”. However, like the Brits in other ways, the added people didn’t seem to translate in quicker service. At least Hanna was friendly and seemed interested in why my seat mate had rung the call button, five minutes before. (It was unintentional.)

The good news is no one has a better in flight entertainment system that Virgin. One can choose from nearly 60 recent movies, which you can start, fast forward, or rewind at your choice. (I often wish I had that option in the theater.) In addition, there are loads of TV shows (BBC and US), music options (anyone over 50, I would not advise the Hard Rock option), and importantly GAMES. There are 20 or so games, some of which you can engage other passengers, others are solitaire. Word to the wise, the hard level of backgammon was not that tough. The obligatory Sudoku was available, but hard to use. (Can you imagine how that game has spread in the past several months? Now it seems 20% or more on any flight are trying to arrange those pesky numbers in 9x9 squares).

Also consistent with British tradition, the food did not match the entertainment. Small portions of unimaginative fare. Further, travelers on Virgin Air suffer the same lament of those of United, Lufthansa, etc. How does one sleep sitting, much less sitting in a seat with only a 30” pitch? We crossed into Canada on our polar route around Lake Michigan. After seeing the Da Vinci Code (mildly entertaining, book was better) and a few games, I thought I was ready to sleep. Two Tylenol PM & Melatonin and I was assured my typical 4 hours of rest. Not so much. I tried twisting, squirming, stretching, and bending any way my body could. Only fitful naps, all of which ended unsuccessfully. By the time we were les than half way across the Atlantic, I figured “forget it” and shifted to my backgammon match (won most), Sudoku (on screen), and black jack (lost big).

Abruptly the lights were illuminated an hour before landing in Heathrow. Breakfast was served. With some anticipation on my part, I took a big bit in what appeared to be a hot cinnamon roll, only to discover it was an egg filled croissant. As some may know, I have not eaten an egg willingly for decades. Of course, out it went immediately.

This got me thinking about flying in days of old. Do any of you remember some of the features I do of flying in the early days of jet travel?
· Planes you boarded by climbing movable stairs
· Orderly boarding, not knurls of people crowding to get on (and smaller planes)
· No hassles with carry ons, since most bags were checked (25 cents per bag to the sky cap, but some of my friends still thinks that works!!)
· Stewardesses who were young, attractive, and helpful
· Tickets with carbon copies which always stained your pocket, if you didn’t use the envelope (some may not even remember tickets)
· One could buy airline tickets at offices in most cities, and used travel agents freely to plan trips and make reservations
· In flight entertainment was often looking out the window, because of the novelty of flying

How it has changed. Something more than 400 people, from all over the world were hell bent to get to London without too much regard to their fellow passengers on Virgin flight 20.

Anyway, we arrived on time and safely. Our first task was to clear security in Heathrow. That was a huge pain. Very tight security. At one point there was a table with rows of bottled water, liquor, and the like which are forbidden. Not far were piles of cigarette lighters. Suffice it to saw they are code RED in London. However, remember, immediately after the terrorist plan was cracked, you weren’t allowed any carry on items. Period. Can’t we all just get along?

The flight to Milan was not big deal, and we had no customs or security review in entering La Bella Italia. Soon we were headed north to Bellagio. I have previously shared the trauma of driving in Italy. This time we approached Bellagio from Lecco, which meant driving on a one and one half car wide road. Rob Bond, our driver and friend, did an excellent job, but even his great skills could not avoid hitting rear view mirrors with some big Mercedes heading the other way. My advice, take the train!

We met Tom and Ron easily in Bellagio, and shared a picturesque, but ordinary dinner under the trellis over looking the lake. Then, our quest for the perfect gelato began. It was off to bed before 11PM. Bottom line, we got there with no major problems.

That brings us to Monday morning, as I started. Mid day we decided to get an all day pass for the ferry and explore some of the small cities around the lake. Excellent gelato in Tremezzo, and we all loved Varenna. Carol and I repeated our vow to live there for a week sometime. Remote, an easy going, slow pace of the village, and a few things to see. Mostly just a very leisurely pace, which always seems appealing when we get there. This town is a must see, for any one heading this direction. The afternoon turned evening, which started with drinks on the patio in front of our hotel. Kathy and Bill arrived soon there after, and our party of 8 exchanged our days experiences. (By the way, if I am a little short on details of the day, it is because we just spent the time leisurely day tripping. Quite enjoyable.)

The end of our first day was a wonderful dinner at Trattoria San Giacomo. Easy to find, over looking one of the long stairways which lead from the lake to the road. This one is lined with small shops, each with a selection of clothing, ceramics, toys, or food. By the way we ended up at the Trattoria, since we couldn’t find Posallo, which was a highly recommended restaurant in Bellagio. That same source (a small shop owner in Varenna) suggested Cavatappi in Varenna. We were told Mario prepares a great meal, but has only a few tables. (0341-815349).

I am finishing this Tuesday morning as we are headed to Como. All is well. Ciao.

D


Question One: How could we have a letter without a question? For first time readers, periodically I was ask questions. Who ever gets the most correct answers (or funniest) will win a nice gift from our visited country. My rad (family joke) sister Nancy is the reigning champion.

Any way, if Italy’s world champion soccer team wears blue (Azure, I believe), why does Alitalia’s flight crew wear green?