Black Sea

Arrived at Kraimorie in the afternoon. Could see the sea from our hotel. Nice family running it. Baba Elena (grandmother) was busy knitting a sweater in preperation for the winter. I helped her iron out the sleeves before she attached them to the main body of the garment. Then we hit the beach. Kraimorie is a wonderful non-resort getaway for the Bulgarians, so the prices were unbelievably cheap.

After the beach (the water was quite comfortable) we cruised around main st., which is about 100 meters long. Jim ordered some shrimp and when they arrived we could not believe the size of them... no folks not big, but microscopic. The jumbos of the group were about the size of a healthy pea. The trouble it took to remove head and outer shell seemed so absurd that I thought they should just be eaten whole without all the fuss, but Jim refused to eat the heads. Pretty funny.

Slept really well after reading the whole book, A Year of Thinking Magically, which I quite enjoyed. Woke up the next morning and accidently orderd tripe soup for breakfast, along with my espresso and peach juice it was quite a challange not to have thoughts to gag me. I managed to put enough spicey peppers in vinegar so that I could consume about one third of the bowl.

Spent the day on the beach eating rasberries then went on a paddle boat ride later in the day. In the evening we took a bus to Burgas and had a nice meal. My menu: cheese, toasted bread, garlic yogurt puree, caviar, smoked salmon, (and for some down-home comfort) mashed potato and corn mixed together and a mineral water (I had an uneasy stomache since the tripe for breakfast and didn't want alchohol, go figure).

Had a freaky ride home in a taxi that went the opposite direction for about 15 km. before I realized that the moon was on the wrong side and spoke up. Seems to have been a miscommunication having to do with the stressing of sylables, which is very important here. Lesson learned.

Made it home. Went to bed.

Until later...