Our final day in Bulgaria would have one final destination: the beach. Before we left though, I wanted to take photos of some more artwork in the  apartment, my favourite of which is one of Desi’s paintings:

Desi’s dad also had many works up on the walls, all made of wood. Here’s one of my favourites (more in the gallery below):

We then headed out to a beach with Nasi, somewhere in the Balchik area. The beach was calm and not too busy, and the sun was nice and warm. We browsed a local bazaar before heading to the sand, and had one of the first moments of relaxation on our adventure – one of the last moments. Desi’s dad was nice enough to drive us all to the beach and wait for us until we were ready to go. It was a lot of fun – Desi and I played in the sea, so did Desi and Nasi while I relaxed in the sun. It was a wonderful visit to the beach, I just wish we had more time!

We went back to the apartment and had lunch – so much good food that kept coming. I was full, but there was so much. We gathered our things and headed to the airport for our departure… where the adventure continued!

We were late. We thought we were on time (my fault, I think) but we were a half hour late for check in, and when we went to the check-in desk the attendants had already left. Uh oh! We looked around and saw absolutely no one. Desi spotted a lady in a back room at a desk and asked about boarding passes – the lady said boarding was done and the attendants had left. Desi’s response probably saved us, simply saying that this was impossible and they needed to come back.

Within 5 minutes the attendants came rushing back, scolded us a little for being late and told us to hurry. We got our boarding passes, ran through the security checks asking with panic to cut the lines or we’d miss our plane. We got through everything okay and the bus was still waiting for us. Phew!

The plane was fine, we landed in Vienna a few hours later and found our hotel just across the street, 2 minutes walk from the airport terminal. Early the next morning, we were waiting for our plane and it was overbooked – we decided to wait and get home 6 hours later with a stop-over in London and put 300 Euros each in our pockets. We arrived very late on the 11th at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and ended our adventure.

I must say, it was the best thing I have ever done. I know Desi would agree with me as well. We learned and experienced so very much, and took some major steps towards our future. I could not possibly speak more highly of this journey, and we definitely wish to continue these worldly adventures in the future.

Thanks to everyone who has followed this series of posts and enjoyed it – there will be more to come! I will be posting certain series of photos over the coming week or two. If you haven’t seen it already, check out the Europe 2009 page with all of the post links and a map with all the photos on it.

Every day is an adventure.

Winding down our trip, but still a full agenda! On this day, we went to visit Desi’s aunt again, and got to see her cousin Krisi who wasn’t there on our first visit. It was great to share the stories of our trip across Europe with everyone!

We then went out to shop for souvenirs, to the internet café, and I think I decided to call my grandparents during the day at some point – just to say hi. I think I tried to get ahold of a few people, but some weren’t home. Desi did the same, but only got ahold of Geri to say goodbye.Before we knew it much of the day had passed and we were on our way to a concert!

Nasi had told us about this concert and asked if we wanted to go, which we certainly did. The concert I can only really describe as an orchestral rock variety hour. So much fun!

The concert was very well done, and had little skits in between the musical performances. The musical performances were great and fully orchestrated with performers and musicians. Definitely one of the most interesting concerts I had ever been to. Desi even translated some of the lyrics for me.

Here’s the crew that went to the concert! The unfamiliar faces are Mitko and Mariela, good friends of Nasi and Nasko (Nasko’s taking the photo – great job!):

We had a great time, and after the concert Desi bought some freshly fried mini doughnuts to try – and they were delicious. Nasi and Nasko were kind enough to drive us there and back, and we would see Nasi again on the next day – our final day of adventure.

Nearly at the end of our journey, but there is always more people and places to see. We started this day with a trip to a nearby city, Dobrich. Desi has an aunt and uncle, Denka and Paraskev, and a cousin Iskra that we went to visit. It was great to meet them all, we shared quite a few laughs and stories even with the language barrier. Desi mentioned that it was nice to see that they are all doing well and in good health, and I agree.

They also showed me a neat little tradition with my coffee cup. Flip it upside down when it is done and wait for ti to dry, then look at the pattern created in the remnants of the coffee to tell your fortune. Interesting tradition that I was more than happy to try:

It was a wonderful visit and I’m very glad to have met them all (more photos in the gallery below). Great people,  which doesn’t surprise me at all.

After we arrived back in Varna, it was time for a walk to try and locate some souvenirs. We walked through a few bazaars and didn’t find exactly what we were looking for, so we continued on down to the seaside. As we were getting closer to the sea, we came across the same Roman bath ruins that we had seen much earlier in our trip, as they are right next to the church where Nasi was married. It was too late in the afternoon to walk through them, but I still got some nice photos:

We continued our walk to the sea, and the weather was perfect for it. There were small holes in the pier wall that you could see through to the other side, just like this one:

The port was quite busy with commercial and industrial ships, which you can see a little in the above photo. Here’s a better look at the ships you’ll find in the port:

As we continued our walk down the pier, Desi and I noticed a ship docked close to us that was unlike any of the others. Completely wind-powered, a very old ship that was complete with pirates (or people dressed as pirates) onboard:

We most certainly had to check this out – there was no way I was passing up visiting a pirate ship on the Black Sea. We approached them and Desi kindly asked if it was alright for us to take photos. The answer was a resounding “YES”, and they took it even further with costume:

They gave Desi a beautifully elegant dress from the period to wear – she was ecstatic as was I was – she looked stunning in it, even with pirates and pistols! They didn’t have anything for me though, but that’s okay – I came prepared wearing my red and white striped shirt – good enough for me!

This ship is a party ship, as best I can tell. The center of the main deck is a long table with drink holders. This is likely a ship that you can rent for the evening:

Such a fun and unexpected thing to find – certainly one of the highlights of the day for us! We continued on down the pier, where you could easily spot fishermen on the wave breakers overlooking the commercial port:

We made our way all the way to the lighthouse at the end and stopped for a moment to enjoy the evening sun. It was getting late and we needed to meet Desi’s dad for dinner so we had to hurry back to town. Before we left though, I snapped one final photo:

We had a great meal. We ate at a restaurant just next to the one we ate at on our first evening in Varna. Great food and a great way to wind down another busy day. We stopped at the internet café on our way home, and called it a night. Only one more full day to go before we were home-bound, but our adventure still continued.

Desi’s day started well before mine. She has her operation for some minor oral surgery on this morning, and very graciously let me sleep in. When she arrived back she was still frozen and fell asleep for a bit. The pain got worse as the day progressed, but with ice pack in hand she was determined to show me more of the city – so that is exactly what we did. One of the places we visited on this day was Desi’s old highschool:

The school specializes in the fine arts, as you can clearly see from the outside of the building. Its quite a beautiful building, no matter what angle you look at it:

Inside the building, we visited some of Desi’s old classrooms. The building was under renovations and none of her teachers were there to visit with, but we were still allowed to wander around the halls freely. We went to one of Desi’s old classrooms, and Desi sat down in (I think) her old desk for this photo:

And here is a view of the rest of the classroom:

The school was wonderful to visit, especially because of all the stories that Desi was sharing during the visit. It was wonderful to learn more about Bulgaria, about her past and about the many random things we saw on the walls. It was a lot of fun!

We then headed out for lunch and ate at a very nice buffet-style place. Once again I was trying new and different food, some I enjoyed and some I didn’t (no photos this time though). I am always up for trying new foods so every day was an adventure on our trip. The atmosphere in the restaurant was wonderful,and I’m a little upset I didn’t take a photo here. Desi deserves the recognition for finding it.

There seems to be a gap in my memory for this day. We may have gone to visit Desi’s friend Michaela again on this day as well, which was a great visit (her little daughter is simply adorable) but I have no pictures to show me what day this happened on. Oops!

Later that day we met up with more friends. Nasi ang her sister Grozi, Eli and her boyfriend, and Desi and I all went out on the town. We went for a wonderful walk and talk (though I didn’t do much of the talking) through a small amusement park, the same one with the bumper cars. The sun was setting as we walked, down to the sea shore to look for a place to eat. We found the same place we ate the night before, Godzila, and sat down and enjoyed a great meal:

Desi was quite the talker, even though she had surgery earlier that day. It was easy to see how much she loved spending time with her friends, and I did too – they are all wonderful people. SHe was sitting next to Eli:

and across from Grozi:

and of course very close beside me :

Everyone we met this day was wonderful, and even though Desi was in pain she was still cheerful and the day ended well. We’re getting near the end of our adventure at this point, but there is still much more to share for the following days!

We had a few plans for this day, all of which we accomplished. Our morning started with breakfast at a place that Desi brought me to. We started with pizza and finished with the Bulgarian version of an éclair which was delicious. We noticed a kitten near the restaurant, which we were told was sick. We gave the poor thing some food and headed on our way:

Next we visited the internet café to have an update to everyone. I stayed there while Desi had some running around to do, and once I was done we headed to visit Desi’s grandfather in the hospital. He had just undergone an operation to correct a hernia and was recovering well. The visit was brief but important – he really appreciated it.

We also had to visit Desi’s best friend Nasi’s mom, who was in the hospital for cancer. We wanted to bring flowers, so we set out to find some. Leaving the hospital in search of flowers, we found this little guy:

The poor thing was meowing under a park bench. On the bench was a shoe box, with cat feces – our best guess is someone left the kitten in the box. It was likely scared and stayed in the box, and eventually pushed its way out and was too afraid to leave the area around the bench. This was where we found him, and we had to help.

Desi picked him up and we headed to a nearby store looking for milk. No milk here, so we headed across the street to another store. This one not only had milk, but it also had a small community of cats outside. We fed the hungry little kitten:

And we noticed an older man feeding and taking care of the cats. I asked Desi to tell him about the new kitten and maybe to take care of him. We hope that the little kitten found a new home, and headed on our way to find flowers.

We found them, and just in time. We had to hurry back to the hospital because the visiting hours were ending soon. Half way back, Desi realized she forgot her bags there. I stayed with our things while Desi ran back, and then we both ran to the hospital to be there just in time.

The visit with Nasi and her mom was good. Sad at times, and we were laughing at others. Great memories were shared and the visit was very meaningful for everyone. I hate to say it, but Nasi’s mom has since passed away. She was an amazing woman and will be dearly missed by anyone that has ever known her. Desi says that to her, Nasi’s mother was a hero. She was so much in pain but smiled and laughed and didn’t think of herself. Such a wonderful woman. May she rest in peace.

We walked with Nasi to work, and she got there just on time. We stayed for a bit and bought her pizza for dinner at the grocery store she was working in at the time. We then headed back to the apartment as we had to meet more of Desi’s friends later that evening:

We had a great time with them, and great conversations. Their English was conversational, so I was able to talk a bit myself as well (I’m sure Desi appreciated this so she had enough time to eat ).

After dinner Desi and I decided to go for a walk. it was dark out by now, and in the a square near the sundial was this woman, dancing with fire:

We watched her performance, and then headed off for a treat – Desi brought me to a place selling cotton candy (which Desi cutely thought I hadn’t tried before) which we shared as we walked to a small amusement park. We played a round of bumper cars (I think I won ) and then walked and talked all the way home. It was a wonderful evening and a wonderful day.

Even though we were back in Varna, our adventure still continued!