On the morning of the 21st, we caught our bus leaving Varna. The bus wasn’t a direct route to Bucharest, we stopped at Ruse, a border city in Bulgaria where we were to take another bus from Ruse to Bucharest. We were so excited and nervous when we arrived in Ruse, we made the first mistake of our travels: we walked away from the bus forgetting our bags. I realized the error and ran back just as the driver was closing up the luggage compartment. Phew!

We had some time to wait, so we found a table and unpacked some sandwiches we made in Varna before we departed and had lunch. Shortly after, we were waiting for our next bus and noticed a bus also going to Bucharest, so Desi ran and asked if it was ours. It was, and we had misread the time – we were 10 minutes late and they were looking for us. The moment we set foot on this bus it left, and hurried us on our way. Dodged another bullet! Ruse is a border city so it wasn’t long before we reached Romania:

The entrance to the country was a little anti-climactic, as you can see. The roads just as we crossed the border were in poor repair and there were many small villages that seemed worse off than those in Bulgaria. That changed when we arrived in the capital however, which clearly shows where the government is putting its money. We arrived in Bucharest and were literally dropped off on a street corner. We had no idea where in the city we were, or where we needed to go. All we had was the address and phone number of our hostel. We called the number and a man with a thick accent was on the other line, and tried to give us directions to no avail. I suppose we frustrated him, so he said he’d come and pick us up from where he was. Five to ten minutes later, we were on our way.

We checked in and left our bags, and the hostel owner continued being extremely helpful. He provided us with a map and told us of places to go and things to see, and off we went. The first thing we noticed was the fountains near the city center:

After asking the direction of the parliament, we started walking that way. Beautiful fountains and walkways, and guards on every corner that made for a fairly safe-feeling environment. Here’s a photo of a building near the parliament buildings (the actual parliament is less exciting and in the gallery below):

We headed down to a nice pedestrian area, and on our way Desi pointed out a tree that she wanted a photo of so she would model a painting after it. Personally, I think the photo itself is stunning and the best one I took that day:

We continued to walk down through a nice park area which was lined with flowers, and at the end was a nice little lake with a restaurant on the other side. The scenery was wonderful and there were many people just relaxing on the shores enjoying the evening sunlight, so we joined in:

At this point we were quite hungry so after a brief stop we headed to the restaurant. No one spoke English, and there wasn’t an English menu here either. We pieced together some words that were common to Bulgarian and knew we were ordering pizza and salad, as well as a few ingredients on each. We had a few surprises in the ingredients, but the meal was delicious overall. Here’s the view we had during dinner:

We walked back to the hostel from here with the last rays of sunlight, and were pleasantly surprised to see that the hostel owner had prepared a list of things for to see at our next destination, Brashov. The other people staying in the hostel that evening were also very helpful and informative, and we had free internet access so we used that to our advantage before calling it a night. The following morning, we boarded our train heading north to Brashov. Despite a few close calls and a few moments of confusion, our adventure across Europe started off with some wonderful experiences for both of us.

We started our day with a trip to Desi’s dentist in Varna. Desi wanted to go for a cleaning and I hopped in the chair too. They used a water-sonic device which I had never been exposed to before, and with my front fillings it was extremely painful. Probably the best cleaning I’ve ever had though.

Our next stop was the Varna Archaeological Museum. Desi had never been there before so it was new to both of us. We bought our first round of postcards in the giftshop and our admission was only about $2 each. As soon as we walked in, there was “no cameras” signs everywhere, which was a little bit of a disappointment. That is, until we noticed that there wasn’t really anyone enforcing this policy with the exception of little old ladies sitting outside the exhibits reading newspapers. They were relatively easy to avoid

I was quite surprised by the quality of the content in this museum. Very few things were in English so Desi helped me out by translating things I was interested in knowing about, and we walked through halls ranging from coins to tools, weapons to paintings, and everything in between. Part of the museum even included the reconstruction of a church, based on artifacts they found near Varna. You could walk through this exhibit as the items were all copies. It was also in a room off of another room, so it was easy to snap a photo without being noticed:

We were running out of time so we had to rush through some of the sections. Whenever we’re back in Varna I’d love to spend more time here, it was well worth the admission!

Our next stop was to visit Desi’s friend Gery, where we spent a few hours chatting about anything and everything. Desi’s real-time translation skills continued to improve, and I’m sure Gery was just as impressed as I was. On our way home we stopped and bought some roast chicken and had a nice dinner before heading to the internet club and updating everyone on our adventure.

We also did most of our packing that night, as the following morning we were leaving for Romania. Before bed, I took a moment to snap a few night photos off the balcony:

I hope everyone is enjoying these daily updates, and I will continue to do them as long as I can find the time

I have been asked by many people for the story our engagement, so here we go

I had bought the ring here in Canada after doing some exhaustive research to find exactly the right one. My intention was to keep it with me throughout our trip to Europe and wait for just the right moment to ask the big question. During the evening of the 18th (Nasi’s wedding), I got the feeling that this would be a great place to propose, with many of Desi’s friends around. As the evening was winding down, I told Desi to call over Nasi because there was something that I wanted to give to Desi and I wanted her to see it.

Shortly after Nasi arrived at our table, the DJ announced that Nasi will have to go and throw the flower bouquet, not giving me enough time to say what I wanted to, so I waited. After this, the reception quickly drew to a close without giving me another chance to propose. Not exactly what I had planned for, and now Desi knew that I was planning something (and knew what it was – it could only be one thing) so later that evening we had a nice romantic talk and I proposed to her in the home she grew up in somewhere between 1-2am on the 19th. The answer was a resounding “yes” and we celebrated with a glass of rose wine we bought at Balchik Palace. I called a few people to let them know the good news just before we fell asleep, and Desi did the same. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day, in so many ways. Definitely one of the most memorable days in my life so far, and I’m very proud to call Desi my fiancé.

To say it was one of the happiest moments of my life would be an understatement. To travel across Europe with Desi as my fiancé brought that happiest up even farther. I also really appreciate all of the congratulations and support that everyone has given us, it is truly remarkable. A really big thank-you to everyone!

So after a nice restful sleep, we started our day. We visited Desi’s grandmother’s grave in the morning, which was a very sombre moment. She had passed on earlier this year, so Desi, her aunt and I all went to pay our respects. Afterwards, we brought Desi’s grandfather to her aunt’s place for lunch and we had some great conversations and laughs over a great meal. Desi’s family is very warm and welcoming, I enjoyed every minute we spent with them!

Also worth showing here is one of Desi’s paintings that her aunt has in her kitchen. This is probably my favourite painting that Desi has made, and I will be making a copy for us to have here in Canada:

Desi’s aunt was kind enough to drive us to the bus station to help us arrange our travel from Varna to Bucharest, from where we could use our Eurail train passes. After that, Desi and I walked around town for a while and had a delicious dinner at a salad place called “Godzilla”, we ordered a salad and a pizza and shared them both. On our way home, Desi showed me a small area of town that had some small amusement park rides, and we decided to try the bumper cars. I hadn’t been on bumper cars in many years, and the experience brought out some childhood thrills that I loved. Another great end to a great day

Oh, and here a few pics from the 18th that didn’t have to do directly with the wedding, but I thought would be interesting to share none-the-less:

From early morning to very late at night, we spent the day at Nasi and Nasko’s wedding. Nasi is Desi’s best friend and they were both thrilled to see each other on this very special day. I was quite happy to be there too, and I definitely learned quite a bit on this day about Bulgarian traditions and customs regarding weddings (might come in handy!).

The wedding took place in four places: Nasi’s home, a ceremonial hall, a church, and a reception hall.

At Nasi’s home, Nasko arrived and needed to pay to enter by putting money into one of Nasi’s shoes (an old tradition). They joked and didn’t let him in, and the groom and company tried harder and harder to force their way in with everyone laughing. A little too much effort was put forth by Nasko and the other people who arrived with him, such that they actually ripped the door from its hinges. Oops!

Once Nasko arrived, he presented the shoe to Nasi and traditional musicians began to play (one with a sort of bagpipe and one with an accordion):

Shortly after, everyone headed out to the next destination, which was a ceremonial hall. In this hall, they exchanged rings and signed documents for the wedding. They also had traditional dancers, none of which we saw unfortunately because we arrived late to this part of the wedding. We were able to give our congratulations, and I snapped a photo as Nasi and Nasko were descending down the stairs:

The next stop was the church. Everyone gathered outside in a nice courtyard area while we waited for our turn enter. While we were waiting, Nasko took this great photo of Desi and I:

This ceremony took around 20-30 minutes, and I’m really not sure what was happening. There were many traditional rituals that I hadn’t seen before:

From here, we headed to the reception hall which was in a beach resort area. Again I was presented with a variety of interesting traditions that I had not seen, such as one person dancing with a cake trying to keep it away from another person, and breaking bread in half to see who has the larger piece (whoever has the larger piece is the head of the house):

Tons of laughter, fun, dancing, and great company. Desi continued her very admirable job as a translator for which I am forever grateful. Having Desi there allowed me to have a great conversation with one of her former teachers, and allowed me to say my best wishes and congratulations to Nasi and Nasko. They are great people, and it was an honour to be there.

I took hundreds of photos, of which I narrowed down to 170 that I will be sending back to the newly-weds. Here are a few that give an idea of how the day progressed:

Something else wonderful happened that evening, though technically it happened after midnight so I’ll write about the whole thing tomorrow

Wow, this was quite the day. We travelled outside of Varna with a few destinations in mind.

Our first stop actually resulted in some great wildflower photos. Desi’s dad stopped to fill up some bottles at a mineral water spring along the way, which seemed to be quite popular among the locals. Around the spring area were many varieties of wildflowers. Some looked similar to the ones we have here, but it was nice to see nature again:

Our second stop was Balchik Palace, which was a medieval-style garden-covered park area. On the way we stopped at a scenic overlook that showed a portion of the Bulgarian coastline:

Balchik Palace was amazingly beautiful. We followed a small street down through a bazaar to get there, and inside we were treated to gardens, beautiful buildings and walkways, waterfalls, wine tasting stores and more. We must have walked around for over an hour without realizing it; the time just flew by. There are so many photos to share (in the album at the bottom of the post), but this is one of my favourites:

and another one of my favourites, an archway of flowers:

Desi’s dad was waiting for us, we hurried back up after buying some wine as a souvenir. Our next stop was to visit a distant relative of Desi’s, her Grandfather’s cousin (dad’s side) Paraskeva. She was a very nice old lady in a small village, and she spends her days taking excellent care of her crops and bees. Here’s a great photo of her posing with her crops:

and a closeup of the bees! She was very thoughtful and gave us a bar of honey to take home, which we gave to Walter. Could very well be the same bees that made our honey:

Before we arrived at our final destination for the day, I asked to stop and take a photo of the sunflower fields that were lining the sides of the road. This was the result:

Our final destination was the village where Desi’s dad is from. We stopped at the former home of her dad’s parents who have both passed on now. Desi’s dad stays here much of the time now, and there are animals and crops around the home. It was really fun to see the place, and Desi and I enjoyed feeding the cats and dogs here. The villages in Bulgaria are very old-fashioned and many of the homes are very old. It was mentioned that many of the younger people are now leaving the villages in favor of the cities, which is also happening here to some degree. Many of these homes are older than most homes in Canada still standing, so its very interesting to see. Here are a few of my favourite photos from this village:

…and that very cute cat again (I know I posted this photo while we were in Bulgaria, but its still one of my favourites!):

and a black and white photo from that small home, which I think really symbolizes what I saw there:

From there we headed back to Varna after a full day of adventure. According to the journal that Desi kept during our travels, we did a little shopping that evening for some cheeses and sweets to eat with dinner, and then rested up for another big day. The 18th was Desi’s best friend Nasi’s wedding, which I’ll talk about at length tomorrow. Enjoy the rather large collection of photos in the album below: