Here’s the full playlist on YouTube of our 15 minute video, “Frank and Sandra’s Bulgarian Honeymoon.”

Frank and Sandra’s Bulgarian Honeymoon

Chapter 1: Introduction

Stay tuned for more chapters to be posted over the next several days.

By Frank

And we’re really jet lagged. Nothing like going through 10 time zones to really mess up your internal clock. But we’ve had two days to try to recover, and we’re slowly feeling better.

I’ve been like a zombie in a daze, so all I’ve managed to do is upload photos. Today I’ll shave for the first time in a week. Anyway, I’ve uploaded the best pics and videos of our trip to Flickr. Rather than making a bunch of new posts here, I’m going to post the link to our Bulgaria 2008 collection. Head on over and check it out. The great thing about Flickr is that you can get the photos in their original 8 mega-pixel resolution.

Without further adieu:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/collections/

Check back later for our London collection, which will hopefully be done by midweek.

by sandra.

frank and i are flying home today from london and we are VERY excited.  there’s something about traveling in a second-world country for three weeks that makes you appreciate the small things, such as:

-family and friends.

-everyone speaking and writing english.

-our comfy bed with lots of pillows and blankets.

-showers with walls/curtain so that they don’t spray water all over the bathroom.

-cooking our own food.

-starbucks.

-sequoia trees.

-fred meyer.

-portland beer, cheddar cheese, thai food, and sushi.

-free washing machine and dryer.

-order and consistency (right, george?).

-air conditioning.

-being able to drive with cheap gas.

by sandra.

we’re a little behind on our posts about the remainder of our trip, but are hoping to catch up shortly after we return to the states. frank also has plans to add additional pictures and video to this blog so continue checking in if you’d like to read more about our trip to bulgaria. of course we’ll continue posting after we get home too — but so far our only plans are sleeping in, cooking, and maybe going camping.

after exploring nessebar, frank and i were planning on spending some time in another coastal city, varna. however, when we arrived in varna we were very lost, hungry, hot, and overwhelmed, and thus decided to head on to veliko tarnovo instead. i’m really glad we changed our plans because we enjoyed the extra time relaxing in veliko tarnovo.

veliko tarnovo is the former capital of bulgaria and is known as its cultural center. the city is quite impressive, having been built on a steep hillside overlooking a small river. (if you look our the back window of many of the buildings you will just see rock). while there frank and i spent most of our time relaxing, walking around town, and eating. we were also lucky enough to reconnect and stay with kirsten, a friend of frank’s from his time in the peace corps. we really appreciated the chill environment she’s created at her hostel, and enjoyed our time drinking and eating CHINESE FOOD with her (can you tell that we were excited about the chinese food?)

veliko tarnovo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2657178231/

we did manage to complete a few touristy things while we were in town, though. the main attraction in veliko tarnovo is tsaravets, the ruins (and reconstruction) of a medieval fortress, castle, and church. after seeing the tower of london we weren’t too impressed but did enjoy the view, climbing the towers, and the light show.

the old palace and church on top of the hill: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2657178195/

tsaravets’ palace waving the bulgarian flag: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2655822359/

tsaravets with veliko tarnovo behind (if you look closely you can see the lights for the light show): http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2655822231/

another day frank and i took a walk to a HUGE statue and art museum located on an island just below the town. there are a TON of statues throughout bulgaria from communist times, but “the four horsemen” is one of our favorites.

the statue: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2657178221/

the statue with me next to it (see how big it is?): http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2657178209/

lastly, frank and i rented a car and drove to etara, a living history complex that shows what daily life was like during bulgarian national revival. i think that was the time between when they were conquered by the ottoman turks and communism (but i could be totally wrong). this was my favorite day in bulgaria and deserves a post of its own — coming soon!

for more photos, check out our flickr photostream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/

By Frank

Americans suck. Really. Everywhere we go. If there is a loud, obnoxious group of people snorting, laughing, screaming, talking about inane matters, talking about partying until they throw up or pass out, well they are probably Americans. Ugly, loud, annoying Americans ruining our reputation abroad.

It happened on our first visit to London a month ago; we were at the Tower of London cafe and some middle aged southern women were making such a raucous that they had everyone’s attention, including ours, especially since they were at the table right next to us. Older Brittish ladies all the way across the massive hall were shaking their heads in disdain.

In a small museum village’s cafe in Bulgaria, we encountered an American woman, her kid, a Bulgarian woman and her kid who had lived in Florida. Loud. Obnoxious. Attracting attention.

And just now at a pub on the River Thames we had the misfortune of having young Texans, who had just graduated from college, sit down in the table next to us. Talking about getting wasted. Talking big and loud. Embarrassing. Annoying.

If you travel abroad, think about how others percieve you. If everyone is staring at you at a cafe or restaurant, it might be a clue that you are being obnoxious.

Cut it out.

by sandra.

the day before yesterday frank and i arrived in sofia again.  we had ridden a coach-type bus for a couple hours and had been forced to watch the heist and a french comedy from the 60’s.  next we walked in 98 degree weather to our hotel.  thus, all we wanted to do was eat some food and then relax and sleep at our hotel.  unfortunately it didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped.

we started to worry a bit when we found out that the room we had reserved was no longer available.  apparently the people who had been staying there decided to stay another night and the hotel clerk just couldn’t say no.  very typical bulgaria.  we started to worry a little more as we followed the clerk up three flights of stairs with all of our luggage and discovered that our room didn’t have any air conditioning.  again, pretty typical.  things continued to worsen as the night progressed.  the clerk made us leave our room key with her when we left the building.  the dogs outside barked continuously.  the bed was like sleeping on the floor. and then there was the tree branch that loudly scratched at our window.

now this hotel room may not sound awful to you and granted it wasn’t the worst hotel room in the world.  however, after traveling for a month and with my allergies going CRAZY we weren’t up for a hot room and a sleepless night.

the next morning frank and i were supposed to get up early to go to rila monestary.  as you can imagine we were not up for the trip.  frank let me continue sleeping and he scoured the city for a new hotel.  he returned victorious and later led me to our new hotel.  hotel niky is a paradise for our travel-weary souls.  it has free internet, 2 air conditioners, a shower WITH A BATHTUB (i haven’t seen one since london), a soft comfy bed, a sitting room, a kitchenette, and free breakfast.  maybe you have to travel in a second world country for a few weeks to appreciate things like this.

if you couldn’t already tell i am so glad to be staying at our new hotel.  now frank and i will be able to enjoy our last few days in bulgaria instead of cursing them.

By Frank

Sandra and I spent two days in Nessebar on Bulgaria´s Black Sea coast. It´s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and incredibly beautiful. It´s a small peninsula that juts out into the ocean and has been habitated for many thousands of years. There are many ruins and ancient churches to explore. It is, however, perhaps the most touristy and expensive site in all of Bulgaria, perhaps with the exception of Bansko, a ski resort town where I lived during my Peace Corps tenure. People constantly approached us trying to get us to eat in their restaurants, which after awhile, became quite annoying.

We swam in the sea at nearby Sunny Beach on our last day in Nessebar, and it was pretty wonderful. We liked our hotel, The White House, and its friendly manager, and we relaxed in our air conditioned room.

View of a cove: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2649808874/

Church ruin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2649777440/

The sea through a ruin´s window: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2648947315/

Another one, but closer view: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2649808868/

Small boats in a small harbor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2648943501/

Ancient ruins: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2649767206/

More ruins: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2642636032/

We left Nessebar on Monday for Varna, but when we got to Varna, I couldn´t handle the chaotic city, and we decided to beat it to Veliko Tarnovo, where we´ve been for 4 nights so far.

by sandra.

so one thing that frank and i haven’t really told you about yet is the fact that many things in bulgaria remind us of the 80’s/early 90’s. for example:

-crimped hair.

-hammer pants.

-music and music videos from that era.

-tv and movies from that era.

-the computers at the internet clubs haven’t been updated since then.

-big scrunchies.

-lots of smoking.

while in nessebur, frank took the picture below. i think it really illustrates my point. (notice the neon and the extreme matching.) it’s also one of our favorite of his pictures ever.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2648920745/

By Frank

As promised here are some photos from the Black Sea.

We spent about four days in Sinemorets, a small village only a few kilometers from the Turkish border. It’s one of the last stretches of relatively undeveloped beaches in Bulgaria, but unfortunately for those who love wilderness, it is being developed quickly; dozens of hotels exist, including a massive monolith right next to one beach, and dozens more are in various stages of construction. Sandy beaches are interspersed between rocky outcrops.

On one of our last days, we took a tour up the Veleka River and into Stranzha Nature Park. The tour was not so great, but the place was beautiful.

Veleka River: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2641794787/

At the end of the tour, we jumped ship and explored the beach at the river’s “delta”: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2641797351/

This beach had course sand and was wilder than the beach Sandra and I swam at; the sea was a bit more intense here, and unfortunately, there was more pollution than Oregon’s beaches.

Beach shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2642626406/

On the climb back up to Sinemorets, we saw beautiful flowers in the grassland and saw some horses: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2641802601/

We joined George, my Bulgarian friend who immigrated to America in 1989 and returned as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 2003, at a bar overlooking the beach. The bar was attached to a larger building, shaped like a ship, and the owner, George’s friend, rents out four private rooms to guests. We had a great time that night and stayed late, making friends. We met a Bulgarian couple, and the woman, Jenny, who was 24, had lived in Texas for a long time and had gone to Texas A&M. She couldn’t believe that Americans would go all the way to Sinemorets, and she kept saying how weird it was to hear an American speaking Bulgarian. We hope to meet up with Jenny and her fiance, Nikolai, in Sofia at the end of our trip.

George: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2641806595/

We watched the sunset from the bar before I drank lots of Bulgarian beer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2642630982/

George drove us to Burgas on Saturday where we caught a bus to Nessebar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back to the 2nd millennium BC. We’re here now and have been swimming and exploring the town’s ruins, which are plentiful and beautiful: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2642636032/

I feel bad saying it, but we haven’t had much time to go into many of the churches here because we’ve been on the beach or eating or sleeping, but after I post this, we’re headed out to see more since it has finally cooled down. Old Nessebar church: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdsinlove/2642637948/

We still need to post some photos from our trip to Rila National Park. Tomorrow, we’re headed to Varna, Bulgaria’s largest coastal city, for two days before heading inland to Bulgaria’s medieval capital, Veliko Tarnovo. We have only 9 full days left in Bulgaria before landing in London for a day and returning home. Look back soon for some more photos and stories.