Shannon arrived safe and sound on a delayed flight through Munich on Sunday afternoon. It was so wonderful to see her familiar face walk through the door exiting customs and into the arrivals area of the airport.
After a walk-through of how things work at our house, we ate a quick dinner and headed off to Lenovo for a Жива Сена (directly translated, "Live Scene"). Lamar and Pat helped to organize the live nativity with church members from three different churches. Shannon coped well with all of the Bulgarian being spoken to her and seeing so many new faces, but by the end of the evening she was ready for a rest!
Shannon checking out some surprises from her suitcase
Monday we had a laid back morning, which included celebrating Christmas together with gifts that were hidden in Shannon's luggage by Santa! In the afternoon we showed Shannon around a few nearby villages (by car) and stopped by Lamar and Pat's for a visit.
A new type of stocking - the pillowcase (travel-size, of course!)
My stocking was big enough to fit in a pair of maternity jeans, a sweater, and a giant can of SPAGHETTI'OS!
Tuesday we had a morning of packing, planning, and preparing for our visit to Sofia. In the afternoon we headed to historic Old Town Plovdiv to see the ancient amphitheater. We also found some awesome souvenir shops... Joe had to drag me away from them so that we could get back to our car before our allotted parking time was up!
Where to go?
A US city on a street sign in Bulgaria... only 8600km away!
At the amphitheater
Two extraordinary tour guides
Wednesday was quite the adventure. We drove, and drove, and drove.... and drove some more. We were on the road by 8:30am and made it to the Rila Monastery after lunch. The Rila Monastery is THE monastery to see in Bulgaria, despite the fact that it's not the easiest to get to.
The sights from the road were breathtaking
Inside the monastery
Joe and Shannon, outside the monastery church
After seeing the monastery we headed to Sofia. Little did we know that our hotel was going to be the hardest one to find in the whole city... (Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but we drove around for an hour trying to find it!)
Tourist sisters
A cross beside the road on the way to Sofia from the monastery
Today we ventured out onto the crazy roads of Sofia to see the National History Museum. After stopping for lunch we parked the car and hopped onto the metro to go downtown to see the National Art Gallery. It has been a long day, but an educational one! Tonight we have reservations at 8:00pm for a restaurant that has a nightly folklore show, which I am really excited about!
Shannon reading about an exhibit at the history museum
Do you see the resemblance?
Keep posted! There will be more to come!
2 comments:
YEA!! Thanks for the update! Make sure Joe's suitcase is big enough to bring back more gifts from Santa! And, for your final picture....if you two had beards then I'd see the resemblance!!!!! Much love to you all!
History Museum - cool lights on Shannon's leg.
Resemblance??...oh yeah...must be the beards...
Post a Comment