Monday - First Day with Aishe

 I finally got my camera out.  We drove to the shopping district near the park.  We stopped to talk about her family.  She had no idea she was getting 5 siblings. We had an album printed just for her.  So we pulled it out and as Sveta said "sure, now's as good a time as any."  She handled it really well.

Within the modern areas there are remains of "old Dobrich"

 I LOVE them.  The people are so friendly.  And it's really beautiful.

 Her social worker picked out a neat little restaurant in one of the areas of old dobrich.  We liked it so much we went back there to eat another day.

 A couple of pics of the park.  The park is located between our hotel and the shopping area that Aishe likes to go hang out at.  In "the center" as she calls it, there is a 3 story mall.  She took us shopping.  It was funny.  She wanted some new sunglasses.  So, she took us to the Chinese shop.  So, I taught her a couple of phrases to say to the ladies - they all thought that was cute.  We got the glasses & even a little dress, which we will see the next day. lol

 She liked us enough that she wanted to stay with us after lunch.  Her social worker had to leave so she called in another guy to come so we could spend the afternoon together.  We decided to just hang out at the park.  We brought a few games that we thought might be easy and not need alot of communication.  She played along well, but she admitted some were baby games. lol

 I just love that dimple in her smile.  TOO CUTE!!!!!!

 She is very animated when she talks. 

 Back at the center in front of their little flower garden.

 She wrote out the names on the book so she could read them.  The only thing I put in Bulgarian was the word "family"  

 The next series of pictures is my absolute favorite of the entire day & probably the entire trip.  We are sitting outside of the fence of the center waiting on our ride.  We decide to get one last picture of her with us.  And these are the pics Andy got.  I can't tell you how much this means to me.

 She likes Andy, but she didn't warm up to him at first like she did with me.  It took her a bit longer with him.  After her sisters have been such Daddy's girls, it's been hard for me to get used to this reaction so soon.  It felt GREAT. ;0)

Just from our first day together, I think she is going to fit in perfectly with the Morris clan. ;0)

Sunday, a day of rest, ahem TRAVEL & Monday - THE DAY

Sunday we flew from Paris to Sofia.  The flight wasn't bad, thank you Jesus!!!!!!  We were supposed to have a little bit of a layover, like 4hrs or so.  But due to weather we were delayed.  We were in the airport about 6 hours.  The funny thing about that is the flight from Sofia to Varna is only 35 minutes and the drive is about 5 hours, which our guides did.  They drove and picked us up that night.  Bwahahaha  The ladies are WONDERFUL.  Our daughter's file was with VESTA ngo (non-governmental organization) so we didn't pick which agency we used.  They picked us up and then took us to our hotel.
 I think it was like 9 or so at night.  We dropped our bags and then walked down about a block to get some food and discuss the plans.  The food was delicious.  It was a chain restaurant that had authentic food plus western food.  Menus had both Bulgarian and English.  Definitely wanted to remember that for later in the week when we had a day by ourselves. ;0)  After we ate and had the plans for the morning, we headed to bed.

 Andy eating breakfast

 View from the window of our hotel room.

 Andy waiting to meet our guides to get this show on the road!

 This is the entrance to the Plaza.  I always looked for the 911 sign. lol

  We got up the next morning way before time to meet our guides so we walked down to see about breakfast and how much of the Black Sea we could acutally see.  Our hotel was just down from one of the main entrances to the park there on the sea.  It's beautiful.

(Pictures are a bit out of order, but at least I found them. lol)

We got into the van and headed back to the airport.  We had to pick up the Italian couple who would be traveling with us.  Our daughter is in the city of Dobrich and their daughters were in a smaller city right outside Dobrich.  But they had to drive back and forth everyday because there isn't a hotel in the small community.  The countryside between Varna and Dobrich is really pretty.  It reminded me of our farmland here at home.  

This is the hotel in Dobrich.  It's located on the edge of this major city park.  It's probably the nicest place in that town.  It's famous for their tennis.  Lots of famous players have stayed there and even some of our diplomats and politicians have stayed here because their signed pictures are displayed for all to see in the lobby.  
After getting everyone situated, we headed towards the center.  OH BOY.  We knew we were going to have a meeting with the director first.  But, they didn't let us know when she was coming in.  So of course, I don't have a picture of our first sighting.  But I can guarantee that Andy & I were both so teary eyed I probably couldn't have gotten a good one if I tried. lol   She came in and thought the translator was her mom. ;0)  She went right to her.  Then they explained that we were her parents & she had the biggest grin.  She kept telling us all day how young we were and how beautiful we were.  I don't know what she was expecting, but I'm glad she was pleasantly surprised.  

Saturday in Paris, Part 2

 There she is.  WOW

 The tent in front of Notre Dame was set up for a bread festival.  OH MY WORD it smelled so good around there.  

The detailing is unreal.  Pictures do not do it justice. 

 Notre Dame was built in sections & over MANY years.  But they were resourceful.  All the stainglass windows open so it doesn't get too hot no matter when you are there. 

 This is the front and the picture below is the view of the back looking at the pipes from the organ.  MASSIVE!!!!!!

I really think I could have stayed there alot longer.  They have this display that takes over half of one side that tells the progress of how it was built.  So many people were there, I didn't get to read it all but if I ever go back I want to take the time to check more of it out.  I was really fascinated by it. ;0)

The Arc de Triumph. 

We started to get tired at this point so we only walked to the road across from it.  I would have loved to gone over to see it, but it looked like it might start to rain.  Did you know there is a museum inside?  I had no clue it was this big!!!!!  

 I tried to imagine being there on Vday when the soldiers marched down this path.  Now it's so populated - it's crazy how crowded this area is.  We stepped inside the McDonalds for Andy to get some coffee.  OH MY WORD.  It made the one in Beijing look like ours.  There had to be at least 1000 people in there.  You got in line to place you order at one of the 15 kiosks THEN you got in line to go pick up your food at one of the counters.  They were very efficient though.  At home, we'd just walk away. lol  Andy had to get into a DIFFERENT line for the coffee.  And it was like a huge starbucks back at home.  I've never seen anything like it.  And I have to admit - I hope I never do again.  (I needed some personal space there.)

 Our chariot for the afternoon coming to get us.  It was cloudy as we got on the boat, but then the clouds broke and the beautiful sun came out.

 All the bridges are adorned with either gold, sculptures, or both.  

Those are locks on that bridge.  Couples will lock them on & then throw the key into the river never to have their love broken.  AWWWWWWW 

 More details for the bridges.  Why don't we gussy up our infrastructure like the French?  I'm sure there are some stone masons who could use some work.

View of Notre Dame from the river. 

The Grand Palace 

 More cool bridges

 Are words really needed?

 I just want to point out that Hollywood once again has messed up.  If you've seen the National Treasure movies, then you know the scene where Riley and Ben are on the bridge with the drone/remote control camera trying to read what is on Lady Liberty.  Well they took some liberties here!!!  I was so disappointed.  There isn't an angle of a bridge anywhere near there - we looked.  But it was still cool to see. ;0)

 Look what we found next.  Bwahaha.  It's right down from our hotel.

 We then walked to our hotel to freshen up and get ready for supper.  We walked to this cute little place.  Of course we ate outside again.  It was getting a little cool that night so we did sit under the heat lamps.  But still, Audrey Hepburn would have been proud.  This is where the funny story comes in.  We were sitting there minding our own business and just enjoying dinner, when a British couple comes and sits beside us.  Now let me start by saying, it wasn't really crowded.  They didn't have to choose the seats right beside us.  Anyway, we traded pleasantries and went on with our meal.  She was kind of rude to the waitress and we did notice that they sat across from one another - which we never saw anyone do.  So, as we are leaving we hear her say "stupid americans."  WHAT?  I mean really!?!  What in the world did we do to deserve that?  We got the biggest kick out of that.  We could name several things that seemed to be a faux pas on their part, but for the life of me I can't figure what we did that set her off.  Anyhoo... Since then that's been our new mantra.  "stupid americans"   heeheehee

Then we headed over a couple of blocks to see the Tower with it's light show.  Once dark, every hour on the hour it lights up for a two minute show.  Lots of proposals and picnics happen around this.  It was sweet to watch.  

Paris is an amazing city.  But it's time to move on.  Bulgaria here we come!!!!!!!!