OnTheRoad

After having some difficulty finding my way around Belgrade, due to the Cyrillic signs for street names and the Latin labelled maps I was using, I've taken a more proactive approach this time around. A quick lesson out of the lonely planet on the Cyrillic alphabet and a day out wandering the streets has provided an ideal learning ground. While I might not pronounce it quite right, and I'll normally have no idea what it means when I do, at least I can now read most of the Bulgarian Cyrillic words out aloud. My knowledge is displayed for all to see in the new spelling of my name - Лийм. If you can't read that, then your web browser (or email client, whichever you're reading this in) doesn't support Cyrillic characters.

So I'm settled into Sofia for the New Years; with continuous delays on my trains, the trip ended up taking around 44 hours. Two nights sleeping in trains isn't good for you. Especially when the second night is in an unheated compartment; I was in my polyprops and multiple layers and was still cold!

Vitosha, the mountain above Sofia, is unfortunately a little short on snow for boarding (surprise, surprise), but Bansko is open. We've got a wicked deal on what sounds like a great apartment down there a week into the New Year. The temperature is cold enough that conditions should be passable, but a little snow before then wouldn't hurt. So Kiwis and Aussies, you know that mid-summer snow that you're getting? That snow is ours send it back up this way!