A Trip to Sofia for a Passport

The trip to Sofia was a success. I managed to accomplish what I set out to do, namely to order a new international passport. The details of the journey follow.

I arrived in the capital of Bulgaria by train at six in the morning. It was too early to go anywhere, so I sat at the station for an hour and a half listening to the latest, "Farewell", episode of the "Vmistozher" podcast.

Then I walked into the city to a cafe. At first I wanted to visit one of the top cafes in the recommendations, where you can work and charge your gadgets, but after reading the reviews about the food, that there might be problems, I remembered the cafe where we sat last year and decided to have breakfast there. The service there was definitely good and the food was good, the only problem being that it's cramped and there aren't many seats, but I was planning to get in right after it opened.

I walked down the street that runs straight from the station, I hadn't walked it last time and it was interesting to see something new, though little of it registered after a sleepless night on the train. When I reached the river, I didn't cross it but walked along it to visit the Lions' Bridge, visiting which has now become a tradition :)

At the same time I was listening to the latest episode of the War on the Rocks podcast, where the hosts had just returned from the frontline areas of Ukraine, it was interesting to hear a more neutral view and analysis of the situation.

I came to the Fabrika Daga (Veselka) cafe about ten minutes after it opened at eight. After the bridge I turned off the main street almost right away and walked through the narrow streets of the city center.

There were free seats in the cafe, I took one by an outlet to charge my tablet and phone after the night and before the day. First I ordered French toast and a matcha cappuccino. Another reason to visit the cafe was that I had liked this tea drink. I try not to drink coffee drinks, so as not to make my health worse once again.

Right before going into the cafe I saw that my boss had tagged me in the work chat, that I needed to answer a question from a huge client and solve a problem. Since there was no one on shift for the next few hours and there was nothing to do in the cafe besides breakfast, I decided to solve the problem myself. It was interesting, a new experience, editing records in a database on a tablet with only a touch interface.

Then I decided to eat some more, otherwise near the embassy it wasn't a given that there'd be time and a chance to deal with the matter of food. So I also ordered a salmon sandwich and a matcha cappuccino again. The salmon was an unusually dark red, I'd never seen any like that. It came out tasty and filling. By then I'd downloaded a couple of episodes of TV series that I'd forgotten to download before the trip. I also downloaded the game Before Your Eyes, which had been recommended on a podcast.

From the cafe I set off for the embassy. There was plenty of time and I'd eaten well, so I decided to walk one metro stop through the city, since I had to ride one stop there anyway and change to another line, so I went straight to the transfer station, saw a bit more of the city and walked down the pedestrian street, noticing little because of being out of breath, and besides I'd already walked there a couple of times last year.

The metro station was familiar, it's the one where I had mistakenly bought a ticket on the wrong line and when I tried to use it on my line, it got voided and wouldn't let me through, and when I went to the attendant, she just let me into the disabled passage onto the wrong line, not the one I needed, which I then had to cross over from. And here I now needed to ride on the very line I'd ended up on by mistake back then. Luckily, last November they introduced NFC payment in the Sofia metro, which still works, so you don't have to bother with tickets.

When I arrived in the part of the city I needed, Ovcha Kupel, I walked to the embassy on foot. There was still plenty of time and it was interesting to see something new. And I didn't want to bother with public transport for the sake of a couple of kilometers. On the way to the embassy the sun had already risen high and started to bake, in the sun it clearly went above 20, when in the morning it had been less than 10 degrees. In the park on a bench I changed my winter socks for summer ones and took off my warm sweater.

By the embassy there were several people asking the attendant various things, the one who was letting people into the consular section. I checked with him that I was signed up for two o'clock and went to print a photo, because I hadn't managed to print it correctly before, at first I'd literally understood that the face should take up 60 percent of the photo, I thought it was about area, but actually it's about height, that the face should be at 60 percent of the photo's height.

They printed the photo at the Koteta (Kittens) bookstore, which had a notice posted across from the embassy and the attendant sent me there too, when he found out I didn't have a photo. I knew about the store from Facebook, so visiting it was already in my plans. If something hadn't worked out with it, the plan was to go to the nearest photo studio.

I found the store without any problems thanks to the navigator and to noticing the sign. If not for the sign at the turn, I might have missed it, I saw others miss it too. The store owner was printing someone photos of a wrecked car and they kept asking her about it for a long time, but I wasn't in a hurry either, I was warming up in the sun.

I didn't get my photo taken there, since after a sleepless night on the train hardly any decent photo would have come out. I gave her a photo on a flash drive that I'd taken myself at home beforehand. It turned out its size still needed to be reduced. I suggested using the larger version of the photo that I'd also taken, but the woman who was handling this had already started processing the photo she'd opened first, she shrank me, moved me, copied and added shoulders along the edges, fixed the brightness and did a color correction.

She printed the photo as required and it was inexpensive. cheaper than near my home. Then she also made copies of documents for the guy who was behind me and was getting a criminal record certificate. Meanwhile I browsed the books some more, since it is after all a bookstore. I asked whether there was anything in English, or something to help learn Bulgarian. She offered me bilingual books in English and Bulgarian for very young children, thin and inexpensive, a lev and a half each. I took all three, since one was grubby, they gave a discount on it and it came out to three for four levs.

On the way to the embassy I stopped at a supermarket and stocked up on water. At the embassy I again checked that they wouldn't let me in earlier and that I had to wait my turn for almost two more hours. Then I went to the edge of the park and sat there on a bench, ate a couple of apples that I'd taken with me on the road. I watched a black squirrel for a while as it ran above me through the trees. And I thoroughly cleaned my shoes, discovering that it was about time to replace them and that a lot of debris collects under them, which had started to bother me when walking. Good thing I now always carry a spray with alcohol and easily cleaned my hand after the dirty work.

I came back to the embassy at twenty to two, at first I sat alone, since the lunch break is until two, then people started to gather. The new attendant didn't know about me, so he didn't let me in first, but they'd signed me up this Monday and I was added by hand at the end of the list, which is easy to overlook.

Another man was signed up for this time, this turned out to be my accountant's husband, with whom they are the heads of the city's Ukrainian diaspora. A very strange coincidence, considering that we both live in a city on the other end of the country. I didn't recognize him right away, although I'd seen him on Facebook and at rallies in support of Ukraine, but my memory for faces isn't great, I only realized once I heard his surname from the attendant 😀

On the other hand, those signed up for after lunch were the ones who had called the embassy in advance or after the Facebook announcement that you needed to call. That somewhat raises the likelihood of such an overlap, but it's still a strange and small probability of meeting like that.

We couldn't have ridden together anyway, because his car was crammed with parcels, the whole cabin packed to the top with packages. Probably something for Ukrainian refugees, the diaspora actively helps them, or maybe not for them.

When ordering the passport it turned out that I needed to provide a copy of my Bulgarian ID (Lichna Karta). It was written in the requirements on the website, but I'd asked in a letter, where they'd copied me the standard reply, not noticing that I'd indicated I have a permanent residence permit in Bulgaria. They made the copy for me without any problems 😀

I see there's a digital camera in the office too, for taking passport photos, but instead they require a 10x15 photo on a white background with the face at 60 percent, which they scan and place on the passport. It's even better that way, you can photograph yourself in a controlled manner and look more proper on the document.

Then they sent me to the bank to pay 130 dollars for making the passport, the bank was a bit closer than the bookstore with the photo printing, but not nearby. I decided to buy the dollars in levs, since I didn't have that sum in American currency on me. There was also a commission of 5 dollars. The bank earns well, even this branch has commendations for its volume of work, maybe that's related.

At the bank I withdrew a bit of cash from my card just in case, since I'd spent most of my cash on paying for the passport. Then I carried the receipt to the embassy, I arrived a few minutes before three o'clock, when the reception of the live queue began for those who needed to collect documents ordered earlier, so the attendant was in no hurry to come out and I had to wait another ten minutes or so, after which I left the embassy for the metro, to spend the rest of the day at the Mall of Sofia shopping center.

At first I wanted to take the metro, but I saw that for that I'd first have to ride far past, then change to the line I needed and ride back on it. And the public transport navigation app showed that in three minutes a tram would be passing nearby that goes straight to the mall, so I took the tram, and saw some more of the city. I no longer had the strength to walk four kilometers.

I wandered around the mall for a while, noting where the outlets were and that there were few of them. I got to the food court and there at Pizza Lab I ordered a pizza, which they made in two minutes. I decided to order a pizza from a set recipe, so as to talk less, I'm asocial as it is, plus I hadn't slept, it was hard to think. The pizza was called Pi, it had sour cream, chicken and blue cheese. I'd never eaten such a tasty pizza. It also wasn't burnt, at a similar fast-food place of another chain in the city where I live the pizza always comes out burnt.

With the pizza I sat by an outlet, put my phone on to charge, shared mobile internet from it to the tablet and joined a work meeting to stay up to date on matters at work, there was nothing to do anyway, although because of the noise in the mall they couldn't hear me on the other end of the call.

After the meetings I walked around the mall, visited the bookstore of the large chain Knigomania, this particular branch turned out to have the largest number of books in English, all the others have many times fewer English books, but here there are lots of stands with them, the whole wall. Nothing caught my eye at the time, I wandered the shopping center a bit more, got water, didn't find new ones.

Then I needed to attend a webinar with a bonus lesson on the Product Owner course, since the session is a bonus one, its recording won't be available and you can't miss it, and the course is paid for by the employer and the chance to attend is there. I bought tea at a coffee shop and sat next to it in the passage of the shopping center, again by an outlet, to recharge my external battery. I took notes in a notebook, drank tea, and the instructor ran the lesson from Kyiv in the dark in a server room with no power. A unique experience 😀

After the webinar I went to the bookstore again, where I also noticed a stand with books on psychology and self-development in English. I wouldn't have read a full book and didn't want to carry one with me, those I mostly listen to in audio format. But for memory's sake I bought the journal Do One Thing Every Day That Makes You Happy. I'm not sure I'll manage to keep it, but the advice and thoughts on each page there are interesting and useful, there'll be some benefit, a nice souvenir-memento of the trip.

There were still over two hours left until the train and I set off for the station by metro. This was the third public transport ride where I paid with a bank card via NFC, the money was debited the next day, on the day of use there was only a card check. Three rides came out to 4 levs, when one ride is 1.6 levs.

At the station I wandered around at first, I didn't really feel like sitting, the train's track was posted on the board about an hour and a half before departure, the train was in the same place where I'd gotten off in the morning, but it turned out to be a different one, because the carriage was newer, not as shabby as the one I'd ridden to Sofia on. I'd bought a round-trip ticket in the same carriage and seat.

I didn't board the carriage right away, although it was unlocked, but it was empty and dark. After wandering around the station a bit, I did board the carriage, and one man came in along with me, who wasn't sure this was the right carriage. For a while I sat alone in the dark, and then half an hour before departure they turned on the lights in the carriage.

I rode in the compartment alone, the carriage was a first-class seating one, since I was alone I was able to lie down and sleep for about three hours, on the way to Sofia there had been people in the compartment and I'd had to try to fall asleep sitting up, which I didn't manage then. And here it was well heated and I could lie quietly on my own, after about thirty-six sleepless hours I managed to fall asleep.

I slept for about three hours and an hour and a half or more before arrival they added two grannies to the compartment, who had gotten cold in the second-class carriage and the conductor moved them to first class. One of them talked actively, started talking with me too, at first she was curious how much a smartphone costs, since she wants one too, but her pension doesn't allow it, and when she found out I was from Ukraine she started talking about the war, about the politicians.

A person already quite advanced in age, positive, with idealistic views of the Soviet era. Very much against the war, she wants putin hanged, just like Zelensky, the USA is to blame for everything, manipulating everyone, setting brotherly peoples against each other. She considers Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians one people, just like Macedonians and Bulgarians. She's displeased that putin called Cyril and Methodius Macedonians, since Macedonians are Bulgarians, and the Macedonian language is a dialect of Bulgarian. She wants the people of the whole world to speak one language, Esperanto, so that there'd be no wars and borders, as I understand it. She considers nationalism the worst thing. She remembers and sings Soviet songs from films in Russian, although she doesn't understand Russian very well, like me with Bulgarian, though maybe that's a problem in my pronunciation, even native Russian speakers can't immediately understand my Russian. And besides, I try when I can to use the Bulgarian words I remember, which may make understanding even worse than just Russian, considering my pronunciation)

I'd already heard most of these thoughts from Bulgarians before, and some not only from Bulgarians. I'm not sure that at such an age you can change a worldview just with words, one that was laid down over decades in Soviet times, when the person was young. What's heartening is that she's for peace. After all, the Soviet Union instilled peacefulness among the controlled and allied peoples, so that there would be no uprisings, destroying identity and cultures.

I was surprised that she asked whether there really had been a genocide of Russians by Ukrainians in Kherson before the war. To me this is utter nonsense, what genocide of the Russian-speaking population in a Russian-speaking city, where I myself had to learn Russian and switch to it. This is already a result of modern Russian propaganda and it's saddening that it has such influence and spread in Bulgaria among those who consume classic sources of information, although I think in the case of access to a smartphone it would all be worse, considering how propaganda plays on emotions.

At the station in the city I said goodbye to the grannies, I got on a city bus and they got on an intercity one. Before that, the active granny remarked, after talking with the minibus taxi driver, that there's also a war in Bulgaria, that the country is captured by swindlers and you can't trust such people. Again I'm reminded of Varna on the day I moved to Bulgaria, where a taxi driver at the station stole money from me with the standard swindle of exchanging old currency, I was completely out of it then after 20 hours on the bus, on top of that with my height, my brain wasn't working.

This time I got home on the city bus just fine and near my building I felt real cold, my breath was steaming, there hadn't been such cold either in the morning in Sofia or here. The main bitter cold turned out to be in the suburb by the sea. At home I've already fallen ill and now I'm recovering.