Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Life of a gipsy, part two. Sofia

The next morning, off to CGN to catch an Hemus Air flight to Sofia... at the airport, meet 4 colleagues booked on the same flight... once again, meet someone strange... after the boarding pass check, I was waiting for my colleagues when a lady approached me... wienerschnitzelbayernmunchendeutschlandueberalles? say what?? oh sorry, you don't speak German... well, can you give me your newspaper?... did I hear that correctly? I just bought myself a Corriere to make the flight less boring... Sorry ma'm, I just bought it.. ok, tell me where you are seated and I come get it later... oh man, another airport lunatic... Needless to say, she did get my newspaper once on the ground, as she bothered me few more times for that...


Sofia airport reminds me a lot of Taichung bus station, just no Asians around... for those of you who have never been in Taichung, it's not a real compliment :)... and the luxury busses are much better than the YAK40 Albanian Airlines on the tarmac ... anyway, off to the Princess hotel, a 4* hotel in downtown Sofia... I wonder in which flea market they bought the 4*... In the eve, meet a rather large group of colleagues and off to a Balkan restaurant... not exactly cheap for local meanings, but darn tasty and plenty... I would recommend it, if only I knew the name and if only I could go there without actually having to be in Sofia... anyway, back to the hotel, try to get something to drink at the bar, but it shuts right in front of us... 11:30pm, sorry closed... but the casino is open... go through the registration procedure, (with picture and everything, much like US&A immigration) we go directly to the bar... at the entrance door, the no knives, no guns signs are a reminder of the place we are in... gosh... drink till you drop policy is stricly applied... at about 6:30am, time to settle the bill and move on... what? free?? sure? ok, the bar policy is that you get drinks and finger food for free, as you eventually are bound to lose money anyway... but none of us was there to gamble, so they made a NEGATIVE profit on us...

Next day, visiting the city with Philippe and Fred, a "gentleman" in suit and tie approaches me (is it me attracting all sorts of human weirdos?) and gives me a biz card...


How thoughtful of him... like if I wasn't asked enough times in my first 36hrs if I wanted a girl... local favourite sport... ok, it's funny anyway, and it doesn't prevent me from touring the city and enjoy the 2 monuments worth a visit... Nice to see was the small garden where tens of people gathered to gamble on chess games, and the small market, where you can find almost anything, from Russian watches to Ortodox Icons, from knives of any size to some medical tool... how gross...(near the knife)...



The days were full house, but the nights were interesting... saturday night was election day, and no one was supposed to sell alcohol... we ended up at the Opera Bar, Fred, Ale, Max and myself... the alcohol free eve was not enforced (obviously), hence... Fred was concerned about getting back to the hotel before 1:30am as the next day he had a presentation... one last drink, then we go... right... the last drink was around 3am, when we walked out only cos the bar closed... few hundred meters walk, and there it is... the Kamasutra Strip Club... someone tried to ask : "What shall ...." and the rest wasn't necessary, since we were already inside... plenty strippers, from nice to "next please", alternating at different poles strategically located near each and every couch... shit, 5 o'clock, time to sleep! Get in a cab, back to the hotel... what about one last drink at the Casino? Well, it won't hurt us any more than the previous ones...

Last day, may the fun begin... even earlier than sunset... something you won't read on the official report... XYXY (I won't tell you the country, but you will have a LITTLE hint later on :)), can you please present your federation's report?? perestroikasmirnoffvodkaspaciba president not here... aeroflotdasvidaniatovarish why you ask me, not responsible... try not to laugh, but this was a highlight, in his kind... but the night had yet to come... gala dinner, entertained by "Sputnik" the DJ... you can actually see him with the 80s Italian pop group "I ricchi e poveri" (you really need to Google this!) on the background... a classic!! :) ...


The lights system was from the mid 60s, his look also, the music, guess, the same... alternating hard rock to slow, confusing the hell out of everyone trying to dance... for me, having the company of 2 Maltese colleagues, and 5 Italians didn't help, as Vitto aka "Uzi" (for his ability to shoot B.S. at an incredible high rate) really made our evening a laughing contest... when joined then by Albanians and Romanians, that was it... taking littlerally the piss (stricktly in Italian) out of the most bizarre behaviors of our over-drunk colleagues was real fun, from the Russian Bear try to get on the British one (known as the Polar Bear for her massive size and white clothes...) or the pilot representative giving a new religious meaning to "watersport" amongst others...

It was fun, if only I didn't dislike Sofia so much... and what's worst, is that the Bulgarian language doesn't have 3 key components: sorry, thank you and customer service. What a shame! Very little eye contact, no sense of humor, no flexibility, no smile... in a way it's like the iron curtain never dissolved...

Well... I'm outta here... next stop, Luxembourg....

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