With Plovdiv winning European Cultural Capital 2019, this past fall has brought a lot of plans for development.  All around the city, things are happening – sidewalks and bike paths, . . . . . . . .

a few months too early... . . . . . . .

a stove pipe and an a/c unit.

 . . . . . . . .

from bucharest.. . . . . . . .

Tubul Mosque, Shumen Bulgaria. . . . . . . .

БДЖ

Bulgaria’s Railway system.  The only way to travel in my opinion.  True that the trains are slower than the busses, but they are also cheaper, roomier, have incredible large . . . . . . . .

lovely.

kazanlak, bg.. . . . . . . .

the standard hues and tones of Bulgaria’s standard exterior paint never ceases to surprise me.. . . . . . . .

late night train station switches.. . . . . . . .

when we need breaks on brightly colored soviet furniture.. . . . . . . .

Shumen. . . . . . . .

I’m in the mountains this weekend celebrating this amazing woman.
(that’s her husband standing over her, a man of few words, but an impecable sense of humor and as warm . . . . . . . .

a day digging in the archives,

and the endless search for the architectural plans of trakiya.

I walk up to the granite steps as the rain begins to fall harder.. . . . . . . .

a trip to sofia to have a housewarming party for eireene.

we walk through the streets with iliya, collecting the low hanging fruit, and talk about walking on stilts.. . . . . . . .

tsetse in his baba’s kitchen in bansko.. . . . . . . .

sunday mornings with Iloan.

my family from peacecorps. I met Iloan when he was only 2.. . . . . . . .

with my apartment found,

i run away to my village to relax. . . . . . . .

bon-boni : candy in Bulgarian