Bulgaria: Day 2

On the half-an-hour long gondola ride from the village of Bansko up to the slopes.

Bryan being a trooper and waiting for me yet again on the ice sheets of Bansko ski resort

Lots of ancient soviet vehicles on the tiny, cold, wet, dark, smelly streets of Bansko

Having arrived in Bansko in the late evening, we then spent several hours wandering around looking for a rental shop that we found out didn't exist.

The next morning we got up and hiked through town to grab some rental skis (Bryan skiied alpine! Not good ones however... I really missed my beautiful skis back at home... ) and then went to get on the gondola up to the lifts. They recently redid the resort so everyone carries an electronic pass, and to get onto all the lifts you have to ski through a huge block of turnstiles and get beeped through or you smash your legs on the bars. A less than graceful system.

The weather was not quite ideal ... and the combination of ice sheets for runs, howling winds, and skis with edges like sausages made the ski trip memorable if nothing else. We had fun though, my first time skiing in Europe!

We booked it early to catch a bus to the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, to make the 10 pm train to Thessaloniki, Greece.

The rode coach on the train to Greece - which was just normal seats in a compartment. We happened to be with some Romanians who were nice fellows, but because everything was open we (Bryan) stayed awake to watch our stuff. We weren't sure how long the ride would take, but we had estimates from 10 to 14 hours.

We hit the border to leave Bulgaria around 2 am. The gaurds came through, took our passports, and about a cribbage filled hour later we motored on. At the Greek border 30 minutes later, they came and took our passports. This time, however, we started moving before we had our passports.... worrisome until we started going backwards again. We got our passports and made it into Thessaloniki... in 7.5 hours!

5:30 am in Thessaloniki.... what are you supposed to do at 5.30 am?!