Snowstorm

Climate change has brought softer winters to Sofia. It is the first time we’ve had two days with snow this season, and the snow barely hides the grass. It was, however, very windy, so the few snowflakes and the modest -2°C felt quite unpleasant. We could call it a snowstorm, in the absence of a real one.

I also managed to see a protest against our mayor. Equal parts protesters, journalists, and police stared at a tiny pile of trash. I walked by piles larger than this on my way to the center.

From left to right:

  • The National Library, which I’ve only visited once in my life
  • The anti-trash protest with the modest pile of trash
  • The Levski Monument, with a photo that deserves a post in the Communism series because of the iconic Serdika Cinema
  • The Church, with a bit of the Square 500 gallery to the left
  • Sofia Tech Park with one of the surrounding office buildings

And in all the photos, the sky, wondering why anyone would go outside on this dark day.

The Underpass

The St. Anna underpass had no lights today. Hordes of people were walking in the dark one way, like in a scene from Pluribus. I was embarrassed to take the photo and only clicked once.

Morning Walk

I managed to get out of bed earlier this morning. I took a few magical photos while the smog was still fresh.

This is the church, the tourist magnet of Sofia. It shines.

A hidden garden behind Tzum. The building on the left was the shopping mall of the communism period. You couldn’t do much shopping in there before 1989 but it was a good walking destination. You could watch things that you’d never buy.

Very different protests, mostly against the Pig and the Pumpkin, but also the Euro. The migration to the Euro is glitching right now. I hope it goes well.

Sofia Today

I walked to the Book Fair today (well, skipped a few bus stops, but mostly walked). I was under the impression that I’d taken some pretty cool photos on the way there. After all, I crossed the city center. This is what I actually found later in my camera roll.

Three photos in total.

A colorful building on Lyuben Karavelov street. I twist my neck every time I pass by because the people who restored it painted outside ACs. I don’t know why but I find it cool.

Sticker graffiti with USA’94 near the Romanian embassy. It’s ironic because I ordered a gamebook called USA’94 a few days ago. After seeing the photo, I googled the book to see if there’s any resemblance – none. Whoever does these stickers is unrelated to the gamebook community.

And a Twingo 1. Renault is about to revive the Twingo 1 car (1993-2007) as Twingo E-Tech. The concept car has eyelashes by design. I owned a similar car when I was younger. It’s great for parking.

This particular unit is the facelift version from around 2001-2006.