Monthly Archives: June 2018

Second largest office building in the world (the largest is the Pentagon). First time I’ve been required to leave a passport while visiting a building. While waiting for the tour to start American soft rock is playing, Elton John’s Don’t … Continue reading →

Reporters Without Borders published this. I found it interesting.

Surprised and pleased to see Dubček here. My immediate reaction was shouldn’t this be a statue of a Romanian Dubček? I don’t know who that would be. My next thought was, who would be an American equivalent? Really draw a … Continue reading →

It’s easier to see from the back, but those are shackles being burst from the upper pair of arms. I like this sculpture. It feels powerful, and worlds away from the idea of encouraging Americans to vote for Democratic Party … Continue reading →

This is called “Rebirth” and is one of the weirder public sculptures I’ve ever seen. The people standing in unison is a good representation of the masses of people who overthrew Ceauşescu. But the most noticeable thing of course is … Continue reading →

A very professional docent informed me as to where the Roman artifacts and the treasury were, downstairs, and the WW I exhibit was, on the first floor. I told him I wanted to see the WW II exhibit. He said … Continue reading →

As I was leaving Belene this man was heading into town. When I saw his tractor I did a double-take, he saw me and shrugged, I reversed the car and he graciously pulled over. When I asked if he spoke … Continue reading →

When I was a child and people talked about the Iron Curtain and political dissidents imprisoned in far away places like Romania and Bulgaria, when spy novel authors like Alistair MacLean or John le Carré had colleagues imprisoned by Eastern … Continue reading →

This was not an unusual sight, both to the west of Sofia and in the east between Turkey and Romania. Where it gets interesting is when you come around a bend doing 80kph and there is someone going the other … Continue reading →

So if you asked me to name a world-famous symbol of the US, I’d say Statue of Liberty, or Empire State Building. England? Big Ben or Tower Bridge. France? That’s easy! Eiffel Tower. Germany? Brandenburg Gate. Bulgaria? … Bulgaria? What’s … Continue reading →