Tag: Walking

A Walk in Dark Sofia

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments

The Pig

There’s a wave of protests in Sofia against the oligarchy, and particularly against a few obese politicians who have been in power for decades. The statue is not fat-shaming. We have a some long history with the usage of this word to describe evil humans. It predates Animal Farm.

The Pig was defaced by structures with other goals. The paint under it was from people trying and failing to keep it pure pink. So one layer under of the fight with the government, there’s a fight about what’s written on the pig. BTW, the yellow pavement is falling apart and is not safe for the crowds that will gather around it.

The Tall Lady

I don’t know who she is even though there’s a very clear text explaining under the sculpture. The AI doesn’t know either. I was close to citing it but I accidentally remembered that the AI result points to another sculpture I’ve seen and remembered, and it is not this one. Let’s say she’s called “The Tall Lady”.

East Plaza Hotel

I’ve always wondered what do they protect with the rusty barbwire. Behind that wire is a building where you go to pay your heating bills and a large, empty lot. There’s a tunnel with a dirt road, going down 2 levels under a bridge, reaching a dog park with abandoned buildings on both sides and then a highly questionable closed bridge. Deserves its own post. I will try to figure out why do we have rivers up to around this wall but then do not have any after. Where do they go?

Oh, Hi

I didn’t see the young lad but he saw me and waved. The Roman ruins are dry and protected from rain, a good place to hang out.

7:2

Someone painted the name of their favorite football club and as it always happen in Sofia, the graffiti got vandalized. CSKA lost to Levski with the crushing 2:7 in 1968, some 57 years ago. You have to be around 65 to remember this event, maybe more given that few had access to TV at that time. However, the ugly walls of Sofia keep the memory alive.

Not the same void

I’ve not walked this particular path in months so this fluff has not been featured here before. Featuring her here to brighten the mood from the overall dark post.

All the fluff is thinking about is the good of humanity.

I hope you enjoyed the unusual tour of Sofia and reached the end of the post. Have a nice day!

Daily Sofia

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

I did almost 15K steps today, pretty happy with the accomplishment. All I wanted in the morning was to stay in bed and not do anything, and wasn’t that far from attempting it. A couple of highlights:

  • There are USB-A charging ports in the park. I don’t know how to test them without risking to brick a device
  • The difference between Rook and Western Jackdaw is enormous, once you see them next to each other. However, neither posed for a photo. I was not fast enough (bottom photo, 5 seconds too late)
  • I have a new photo of the void but will share it as a separate post because it is worthy

Dancing in the Rain

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This is a nice statue from the socialist period. It’s named Victory to be politically correct but we can rename it to Dancing in the Rain – after all, it rains and she looks like dancing.

I’m not sure I encountered much today but I surely soaked wet. Didn’t want to walk with an umbrella. My thinking in the morning was that I will get wet anyway but without the umbrella, I will at least not hold my hand up for 2-3 hours.

Water finds its way in and if you try keeping it out too hard, it starts building up from the inside as well. I think it was okay. The shoes held up.

The Wildlife of Sofia

~ Veselin ~ 10 Comments

I was lucky to have good weather this morning and saw all kinds of nice little things, more than I can squeeze in a single blog post. As long as one has the eyes to look and the curiosity to keep the look for longer than a second, all kinds of findings start coming up. Dogs with jackets, weird graffiti, animals, plants and who knows what. Here’s a selection of photos.

Friends

These birds, a magpie and a rook flew together above me for quite awhile. I had the chance to see 3 of their landing sites and a couple of playfights.

The one in the back was braver and didn’t run as far as the ginger.

Mushrooms

Shaggy Mane (Порцеланова копринка) and some other kind of Coprinaceae (копринка) – two types of fungus that are related but not the same species, found in a place where the grass gets cut, and is sprayed against any undesired form of life. I’d guess this particular lawn has some kind of an issue, maybe water or rot, helping the mushrooms grow. Next to office buildings and a multi-million skyscraper construction site.

Blackberry

It’s red but who notices such things.

An important political message

The sign says: “No, darling, you’re sober as a little fluffy penguin”. I found it amusing.

The Antichrist

The sign says “Petar Danov – Antichrist”. Petar Danov’s philosophy is a christian-esoteric mysticism from the late 19th and early 20th century, one that has zodiac signs and people dressed in white who dance around lakes. What makes him an Antichrist is not clear but perhaps the people dancing around the 7 Rila Lakes in July and August are very dangerous.

Love and Hate

~ Veselin ~ 3 Comments

My daily walk was short. I captured only a few photos.

This is a palindrome sculpture in Sofia Tech Park, where I briefly visited OpenFest. I somehow missed the meaning of the sculpture the last few times I walked past it. I think it’s pretty cool, although I wish it was painted and not with this rusty color. I suspect the sculptures in the park have a shared meaning, like things are not what they look. There are other elements nearby with a clear dual meaning.

For example, this is either a violoncello, or a piece of metal that fell off, depending on the point of view. I wasn’t sure which one so went back and checked the welds – clearly welded this way, very solid sheet of steel, not broken and dented.

And and out-of-focus animal, probably a squirrel.