Sofia is very flowery these days

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments

The wet and long spring resulted in an explosion of roses everywhere. Sofia is a bit jungle-like, most green areas do not have central maintenance or it is minimal, part of the anti-tick controls. What we end up having is grass, usually green but sometimes yellow, and some shrubs, except where a local takes care of an area and it looks nice and maintained. But this year the roses shine well beyond anything I remember seeing.

Roses and a linden branch.

It’s beautiful season here.

New trains in the Sofia Metro

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

I finally saw the new trains! I knew we had them, but since most of the trains are still the old ones, I hadn’t had a chance to try them.

The new trains are Skoda. The ride is smooth. They’re all connected from the inside, unlike the old trains. Each door has a screen, that shows where you are and how far you are from all the other stations in minutes. They’re quieter from the inside.

Samuel Vimes is a character from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. His shoes have thin soles and he can identify where he is by the feeling of the pavement on his feet. I have a similar feeling about where I am by the noise the trains make that changes depending on the tunnel. With these new trains, the noise is much lower and my internal GPS gets scrambled.