City tour 1 (by accident)

Man, oh man... this Bulgaria.

Today I have a free walking tour at 6 pm.

I wanted to stroll through the streets and squares of the metropolis Sofia beforehand, write a postcard for my mom, stick a stamp on it and send it at the post office along the way.

It was a great walk with many different impressions. However, there was no post office randomly on the way.

So I eventually decided to plan it and search on Google Maps.

I quickly found it and went through an unlabeled wooden door into a large building. In the entrance area there was a security guard sitting in a glass box with a gun and a radio, and he was sleeping. I didn't know how to behave. I let him sleep, as I do with everyone. But I was also a bit worried that if I woke him up suddenly, I would end up in a hail of Bulgarian security guard bullets.

My worries were resolved. He woke up and was visibly embarrassed.

Me: 'Post office?' - Him: 'No!'

It was clear that his security guard honor was hurt. He wanted to make it up to me. He didn't care that I didn't understand him, he spoke a lot in Bulgarian.

Somehow he still managed to explain the way to the right post office to me.

It worked!

Mom will get her postcard!

On the way from the post office... I got hungry!

Time for lunch.

On the left there was a Bulgarian snack bar.

I went in and politely asked in English. The waitress panicked for a moment and brought a young colleague.

I placed my order.

'I would like something typically Bulgarian!'

She rolled her eyes and said, 'Hmm... we don't have that.'

Me: 'Ah, too bad. Are you sure?'

She rolled her eyes again, annoyed, and said, 'Oh, just take this.'

Me: 'Is that typically Bulgarian?'

She suppressed an angry sigh and took a deep breath.

'Yes, sir!'

'Would you like a salad with that?'

Me: 'Is that typically Bulgarian?'

She smiled happily and said, 'Yes, cucumber and tomato!'

Me: 'Great, thank you!'

I took my food and went to the table.

She left and disappeared into the kitchen. I could hear her excitedly whispering and then laughter.

Of course, I couldn't understand the content, but I guessed from the situation:

A well-traveled man with style and class, who is demanding and knows what he wants, is not a common sight here.

So it's only natural that the ladies would be a bit excited, I can understand that.

And afterwards, I had an ice cream at the stand. And it was wonderful. I captured the ice cream-making process in pictures, it was that wonderful.

So... yeah... man. It was like crepes, but cold.

The ice cream lady poured milk onto a crepe maker and added three ingredients of your choice, such as Nutella, waffles, chocolate sprinkles, banana, strawberry, Kinder chocolate... you know, like that.

While it got colder and colder, she mashed, chopped, and stirred it. In the end, she spread it delicately on the cold iron, rolled it up with a scraper, and put it in an ice cream cone.

Wonderful!