Out and about in Pleven

Today I went to the Pleven Panorama, it cost me 5 leva to get in, once inside I was then paired with a man who spoke some English and asked if I wanted to pay 20 leva for a guided tour.  He also informed me that I would need to pay 5 leva to use my camera.  (about 2 minutes into my taxi drive to the monument I realized that I had forgotten my standard lens on my camera, I only had a close up one, so I knew there was no way I was going to get any descent photos of the place.  When I stood 100 feet from the front door I could still only capture the building front entrance in 2 shots, the top and the bottom, HA)  So I told the man I wasn't going to pay for pictures and I didn't act super interested in paying the 20 leva for a guide….but for some reason he decided to be my guide anyway.  (I feel like I am paying the "gringo"tax everywhere I go, but it needs to be named something else like the "gringesky tax" or something.  Either way I am a target….but I am fighting back!  You may have ripped me off yesterday but today I am getting a tour for FREE :) )

When you enter there is a very LARGE staircase that wraps around and has 4-5 large paintings.  There is nothing to explain the scenes, so if I hadn't had my "guide" I really would have had no idea what was going on in them, other than the obvious men at war.  Once we cleared those paintings we made it to the grand show, a large circular room with a painting going all the way around it.  In front of the painting was a 3rd battle "forefront" if you will.  There were trenches with fake dead bodies and guns and cannons.  The whole thing is a big war scene from September 1877 when the Romanians, Russians and the Bulgarians finally fought off the Ottomans in Pleven which allowed Bulgaria to declare there Independence.  On December 1877 was the formal end to the siege, I believe or the point where the rest of Bulgaria was freed.   

Outside I ran into a very nice man selling his wares. (the basic touristy things, he had decks of cards, coins, magnets, table cloths, ash trays and more)  I have seen many tables like his.  In fact there are even more in the city center right now because Baba Marta day is coming and everyone is selling red and white bracelets to commemorate the day.  (I will get pictures of it tomorrow perhaps)  Anyway the difference was, he spoke wonderfully clear English (and Spanish, french and German, I can really only attest to the English and Spanish)  We had a great time talking and he told me many times, I could just look and I didn't need to buy anything, which was so different from the normal pushy sales person.  I wish now I would have asked to take his photo!

At this point I had finished my Pleven Panorama experience and it had taken all of 25 minutes.  Good thing the guide told me I did not need 2 hours there.  She had asked the taxi that drove me to the monument to pick me up in one hour.  However, everything was wet and rainy and you can only look at cannons so many times and I didn't have my book, so I started to walk.  The good Lord has blessed me with the ability to find my way out, if someone drives me in, I can reverse my steps and get myself out.  so I began to walk to meet my taxi!  And I took some photos along the way.

(disclaimer.  I have been having trouble getting this computer to work well for me, it is really not the computer's fault but most likely user error.  So I threw in some photos that should have been on yesterday's adventure. I also refuse to struggle to get these into order….so there you have it.  ENJOY…and if you are even in Pleven and have to chose between the Panorama and the Regional History Musuem…go to the Reigional History Museum!!! 

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this sign said wine museum….I might have to find that place!

after my short adventure I waited for Grace to get back to the hotel and we went for lunch.  Her and I have a problem on these trips, we never take photos of each other together or separate, so here I am "enjoying" the restaurant called Speedy.  This was before my food came….I was really not that happy after it came.  I should have stuck with the skewers….skewers are always a good bet.  I also need to stop ordering mashed potatoes, in the last 2 days at 2 different restaurants I have been eating instant luke warm mashed postatoes…they are not good.

I thought this bus sign was nice.  The colors were nice to see on another dreary day of sunlessness.

as I take pictures like this one I often wonder, is there someone inside wondering why I am taking pictures of the entrance to their house.  And how would I feel if there was a foreigner outside my house with a large camera taking photos.  My answer is that I would probably try to go and make small talk with them…..but I am beginning to think I might be a rarity.

I found this very comical.  Apparently this slipnot fan could not contain his excitement about this band and just had to but it up on a building….very quickly and plainly.  Odd.

Again the colors got me, this graffiti artist, had a much bolder message than the slipnot fan….I don' really know what it says, but I thought it looked nice :)  The sign for the Panorama is also in this picture.  By the way, I really don't know that I would have found this place if I had tried to walk myself there.  It only cost me 3 leva each way from the hotel and I think it was worth it.  Although if I hadn't planned on the taxi coming back, I couldn't have just walked.  It was about 10 minutes away from my favorite museum.  you know the one, the Regional history Museum! :)

this was a look down the hill from the Panorama.

And here is where I finally ran into my taxi driver.  I think he was very surprised to find me walking up to his taxi.  He had stopped to buy some cigarettes and when he came back to the car, there I was!

Yesterday I discovered my favorite grafity…a true artsy book nerd must have commissioned this one :)  It seemed very planned where it was and I thought it was lovely.  There was a book store on the other side of this building.

this was on the entrance to what I assumed, using my best deductive reasoning, was a bar :)

the only thing I would change about these statues would be to have some info in English near them.  You know where else there needs to be some info?  At breakfast at this hotel they have some cereal, near some bowls.  Next to the bowls and the cereal is a pitcher of what looks like milk….only it isn't milk.  It is WATERED DOWN YOGURT!!  Now, I say, if you are going to put a pitcher of watered down yogurt, which apparently people enjoy drinking here, for the love, either move it from the cereal or put a sign on it.

Again the colors brighten my day a bit and brought light to what I find a communism dreariness, which isn't so bad when the sun shines….I am hoping for sun tomorrow!!

This is a door to a church….

I thought this tree in the middle of the sidewalk was lovely, I like that although the tree was in their way they just made the sidewalk around it, and even when they chopped off all of its branches they still thought, hey birds might like this tree, we will hang some bird houses on it.  So nice of them.

this is a painting from the regional history muesum…I am into colors today!

wish I knew who this guy was and why they are celebrating him currently!

and last but not least is a Darth Vader bug man…who I do not think was commissioned to be here but it made me laugh and take a picture.

Pleven Tourism

Well, we arrived in Bulgaria on Sunday!!!  The trip here was very uneventful, although I will tell you, that when I got onto that plane that was going to take us over the great big lake, I reached up to adjust my personal fan (you know the one that is over your head on a plane, for people who get motion sick like me, to use) it was MISSING!  I looked above Grace's seat, no she didn't have one either, WHAT????  NO FAN????  I recovered and we made into the air, but landing was one of the worst flight experiences of my life.  I had to use the puke bag……as a fan….but I still ended up SUPER sick.Anyway, we made it, it was fine, but I really hope that isn't a new trend for airplanes, especially international ones.  I am hoping the British airlines that brings us home…has a fan for me!

Through circumstances out of my control, I am not allowed to go to Grace's visits with her. :(  So I have been exploring the city and making friends.  In fact, just yesterday I met a very nice, possibly homeless man, with INCREDIBLE English skills.  Who said to me, "bob marley, yeah, reggie American, you like bob marley, I have a tattoo of him on my shoulder (he did not try to show me or anything as it was cold. I, as a smart traveler, was closing my bag while I was talking to him, although still showing interest)  He introduced himself, we chatted a bit and then he excused himself.  I found myself thinking, dang I should have asked him to show me around (but my American travel sensibilities stopped me, but it gave me a great start to the day!)

I walked and walked and took some photos and walked myself to the Regional history museum in Pleven.  That place is HUGE.  If you get a few hours, you should just try to walk through at least part of it.  The website had told me that it cost 2.00 leva to get in but that Mondays were free.  The website (and my experience in Sofia, 6 months ago) had me prepared to pay 5 leva to be allowed to take photos inside.  The odd thing was, when I walked through the gate, the little booth was empty, and the entrance to the museum was not clear.  I gave a group of men the "what's up" head nod, that I do to everyone here, most people think it is pretty weird, but who can really stop the midwesterner from coming out of me??  Anyway one of them said, "muesum?" and I said "YES".  He jumped in the little booth and grabbed some keys.  He then lead me to some HUGE doors, and unlocked them….then walked ahead of me to turn on some lights.  throughout my visit a staff person followed me around from room to room turning lights on in front of me and shutting them off behind me.  In certain areas they would pass the torch to the next person.  I wasn't too werided out.  I asked the first man if I needed to pay him for the photos and he said normally yeah 15.00 leva…huh, he didn't press me for money so I didn't pay him, as I got the weirdest feeling that if I did, he would just put it in his skinny jeans and keep it.  At some point they found someone who spoke English who explained to me the layout of the museum and that his colleagues would be following me around :)

The first floor was all super old stuff. The things that remind me how young my country truly is and that Roman things didn't happen in just books.  There were actual people leaving behind buildings made of marble and statues, that at one point were probably not headless, and gold crowns, bracelets and belt buckles.  So first floor, roman antiquity and then moving to the late 1800s.  they had wonderful displays of rooms in homes through the ages and the main hall throughout had different outfits from the regions in Pleven.  Wedding out fits and socks and belts through the ages.

When I climbed the marble stairs to get to the second floor and began to see things turn more, what I pictured, "British European" I was instantly not as awed.  Which I thought was odd, until it occurred to me, this is when my country's history starts, so I suppose it makes sense that I am not as excited to see old chairs from Jane Austin movies :)  I also began to notice some of the items were being imported from the good old USA, then I laughed to myself a little, and said no wonder I didn't think this was as "foreign".

Here are some pictures from my experience.  Some of my best ones could not be opened on the computer which was rough. I would really recommend this place to anyone traveling to Pleven.  It gave me TONS of history on the people here and LOTS of things were marked with English tags…..which helped :)  Oh and in the end I did end of paying 10 leva to take pictures.  It was worth it. I wish these photos were in a better order.  But I am very tired of trying to work on this post….so in no particular order here are some pictures:

Here is the outside of the museum, it goes on down both sides of the block.  It is huge!

See photo below for a picture of the houses they are describing.

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I am sad that this is the only photo that I have taking about the ottoman rule.  It is amazing that 500 years of ottoman rule can be described in a few sentences.  There was a black and white painting there, that depicted the oppression of the Bulgarians under the Turks.  It was a very intense photo.  The Bulgarian, with the help of the Romanians and Russians were able to declare their Independence from the ottoman empire in 1877.

On the top floor there were lots of displays about the arts, music, dancing and theatre.  These are some puppets.

belts…I bought a belt today, but I went a little more present day :)

traditional socks, if I can find some of these on the streets, I will buy them!

Here is St George, he is kind of my Pleven orphanage theme icon.  So I pay attention when I see him!  By the way, St George is no longer in the entryway to the Pleven orphanage, he has been replaced by some flowers and butterflies...

This is a picture of toys from Roman times….pretty interesting

To the left is the "washing machine" you can see below that it was an import from the USA.

Some Bulgarian traditional Bulgarian garb.

Hospital stays and international travel

Well it has been while since I have blogged.  I want you to know that I have composed several blogs, but just haven't finished them, I don't know if that makes my silence any better or not? :)

On Wednesday Simon started throwing up, while it is always bad to have a vomiiting child, it was especially bad because he has been losing weight.  We had a "modivational" talk from the peds office about his need to gain weight just last thursday.  We had a family meeting, made our plans and then found ourselves unable to fully implement them because Simon was sick....AGAIN.

By Thursday, Simon threw up if we put any food or water in his mouth.  In the afternoon I called the doctor's office and then took him in, they then sent us to the hospital, for an iv and monitoring overnight.  I wasn't really thrilled to be taking my son to the hospital and was very fearful that once we were here they weren't going to let us leave!!!  However, things have gone really well.

Once the iv was in him last night his color looked so much better.  They ran some tests and found that he has pneumonia :( So he was coughing the night away last night and was pretty tired in the morning when they came to draw more blood.  But this afternoon he started acting more himself. He was laughing at Ishmael and smiling again, and even rocking in his bed :)

He still has a bad cough, which is making feeding him slow, I also don't really think he wants to be eatting, but that is the key to us going home, so that is what we are doing!!  If he keeps, keeping down the formula, then we are going to be good to go in just a few hours!!!

Here is Simon looking pretty cheery and showing off his big IV protector!

this is Ishmael, just before he got busted for standing up in Simon's crib. :)

One reason I really want to go home is that I need to pack, I am leaving to go to Bulgaria for a week with my friend Grace!! She is adopting a handsome little boy named Tony, from Simon's old orpahanage.  (this is the same Grace for whom this blog dirived it's name, from my first visit to Bulgaria where Grace was meeting her daughter Sam for the first time!)  I am getting excited about our trip, just in time to get ready to go!  But I will say, last night I was a little full of dread.  Our friend group has been under attack health wise, and this was kind of too close to home and too close to our trip.  But I can tell people have been praying, because I am NOT a basket case right now!

So there you have it. I have completed a blog. WOOO HOOO.

Please check back, as I hope to have some travel photos coming up here soon.  Also be sure to read Grace's blog for her latest news as she meets Tony!!  www.lovesransom.blogspot.com

Please keep Simon in your prayers as he heals from this illness and his mom leaves for a week!!  Pray for my hubby and for Ishmael too!!  I have to have faith they will all be okay, so I can get on that plane!!!