We woke reasonably late following the feast and free flowing wine the night before. After gathering ourselves and our packs, we headed down to our homestay family’s small dining room for breakfast.
Refreshingly, what was expected of her was the same thing that was expected of Lara Stone: to take a beautiful picture.
We were making our way to the Rila Mountains, where we were visiting the Rila Monastery where we enjoyed scrambled eggs, toast, mekitsi, local jam and peppermint tea.
We wandered the site with busloads of other tourists, yet strangely the place did not seem crowded. I’m not sure if it was the sheer size of the place, or whether the masses congregated in one area and didn’t venture far from the main church, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed by tourists in the monastery.
Headed over Lions Bridge and made our way to the Sofia Synagogue, then sheltered in the Central Market Hall until the recurrent (but short-lived) mid-afternoon rain passed.
Feeling refreshed after an espresso, we walked a short distance to the small but welcoming Banya Bashi Mosque, then descended into the ancient Serdica complex.
We were exhausted after a long day of travel, so we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
I had low expectations about Sofia as a city, but after the walking tour I absolutely loved the place. This was an easy city to navigate, and it was a beautiful city – despite its ugly, staunch and stolid communist-built surrounds. Sofia has a very average facade as you enter the city, but once you lose yourself in the old town area, everything changes.
IF YOU HAVE IT, YOU CAN MAKE ANYTHING LOOK GOOD
Clothes can transform your mood and confidence. Fashion moves so quickly that, unless you have a strong point of view, you can lose integrity. I like to be real. I don’t like things to be staged or fussy. I think I’d go mad if I didn’t have a place to escape to. You have to stay true to your heritage, that’s what your brand is about.





Too much work. Let’s burn it and say we dumped it in the sewer. Bender, being God isn’t easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you, and if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch. Like a safecracker, or a pickpocket. Meh. I barely knew Philip, but as a clergyman I have no problem telling his most intimate friends all about him.
Now, when you do this without getting punched in the chest, you’ll have more fun. I care deeply for nature. Guy’s a pro. I’m half machine. I’m a monster. But I bought a yearbook ad from you, doesn’t that mean anything anymore?
In my experience, there is no such thing as luck. I can’t get involved! I’ve got work to do! It’s not that I like the Empire, I hate it, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now. It’s such a long way from here. Red Five standing by. You’re all clear, kid. Let’s blow this thing and go home! You mean it controls your actions?
Moving along… Fry! Quit doing the right thing, you jerk! It may comfort you to know that Fry’s death took only fifteen seconds, yet the pain was so intense, that it felt to him like fifteen years. And it goes without saying, it caused him to empty his bowels.
Oh, how I wish I could believe or understand that! There’s only one reasonable course of action now: kill Flexo! They’re like sex, except I’m having them! Uh, is the puppy mechanical in any way?
Calculon is gonna kill us and it’s all everybody else’s fault! OK, if everyone’s finished being stupid. Then throw her in the laundry room, which will hereafter be referred to as “the brig”.
We need rest. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised. Say what? Stop it, stop it. It’s fine. I will ‘destroy’ you! Oh yeah, good luck with that. I just want to talk. It has nothing to do with mating. Fry, that doesn’t make sense.
The long, spaced-out fades of Under the Pressure and Disappearing provide dreamy interludes worthy of Tangerine Dream. The decaying guitars and analogue synthesisers create a crepuscular melancholy.
