Chilling in Varna!

Today we decided to have a chill day so we got up for breakfast and walked to the post office to get stamps. We walked around the city a little bit to shop and explore. We found this really cute old lady who was selling table clothes, and she was just the cutest. Katie and Rachel ended up buying stuff from her. She couldn’t speak any English, but her granddaughter was there to help translate. She was so nice. After that, we went to visit the aquarium. That was really interesting. It cost 4 leva to get in which is really cheap, and it was really small. I felt really bad for all the animals that were there. The tanks were all really dirty, and it was just not a good environment for animals. There was a tank for turtles, and I almost cried when I saw it. There were like 30 turtles in a tank that probably would have been good for about two of them. It was awful.

After that, we continued shopping and I found this REALLY cute pair of sandals that I am in love with! Yah! They are green and blue and so cute! After that, we went back and took a short nap and got ready to go out. We went to this restaurant that our friend from TLC recommended called Alba. The whole menu was in Bulgarian, so we had some problems when we were ordering. Luckily, we found one waiter who spoke a little bit of English, and he translated a few things for us. I ended up getting this Bulgarian dish that is cooked in this little pot. It had broccoli, cheese, chicken, and mushrooms. It was really good. Candice, Nicole, and I also split a bottle of wine which was called No Man’s Land and was really good. I tried everyone else’s food too, and it was delicious. Just as we were leaving the restaurant, this guy came up to our table and was clearly American. He introduced himself, but I forget his name. He has been living in Bulgaria for the past two years and teaches English. I think he wanted to talk for us longer, but we had plans, so we talked for a little, and left.

We went back to the really eclectic bar called Bapb. It was a little weirder this time because no one was there, but it was way later. There was just a small group of locals watching a soccer game, but we still got drinks and talked for a while. We were with Amanda, Nicole, and Rachel tonight, so we had a bigger group which was really fun. We talked about snow while we were at the bar which Megan isn’t used to because she is from California. She is thinking about moving to Boston, and we were warning her that her love for snow will probably disappear if she moves back east!

We left that bar and headed down to the beach. At this point, Candice and I were definitely in the mood to drink some more, so we stopped at a convenience store and bought a bottle of wine for the road. As we were walking, we walked past this bar playing live Latin music which I was really excited about. Amanda wanted to go down to the beach, so we didn’t end up stopping, but we walked along the beach for a little instead. It seemed like we were kind of heading back to the ship which I didn’t want to do since it was our last night in Bulgaria, so I said I wanted to go back to the Latin bar. The majority agreed, and Maggie and Amanda wanted to head back, so they did, and we headed to the bar.

It was AWESOME. It was actually a restaurant, and there wasn’t much of a dance floor, but it was really fun. There were a ton of older locals there, so we grabbed a table and sat down. I sat there for probably about two minutes and decided it was time to dance. So, I was dancing with these old people by myself for a few minutes before everyone joined in. They were playing some music that we knew and some we didn’t, but Candice made a serious connection with this old man that we were dancing with. I am pretty sure he was drunk, and his wife definitely hated us, but it was still really fun. We also danced with these two little old ladies, and even did a traditional Bulgarian line dance! Well, I think that is what it was. Nicole and I did it with the other people at the restaurant. She caught on a lot better than me, but at least I tried! It was a really fun night though. After dancing the night away we went back to the ship to go to sleep!