Eastern European Cars

This post is for my brother (he knows which one). I wasn't necessarily looking for cool old eastern European cars until he mentioned it. Then I started seeing older cars everywhere....okay, maybe they all aren't Eastern European...and maybe they all aren't that old.

(Not sure what this one is...anyone know?)

(ZAZ 968M - Soviet Ukraine)

(Wartburg - East Germany)

Okay, maybe some aren't that old

(Lada - Russian)

(another Lada)

(I was told this was a "Soviet truck")

These old buses delivered the military troops to the parade on St. George's Day

Saw alotta Lada sedans (hahaha, get it?)

I thought I saw a Trabant as well, but I can't find the picture at the moment.

And then there are newer cars with makes I haven't heard of before

 But then I'd find an older one

(Skoda - Czech)

Even saw some cute old cars in Rome too

(Fiat)

(Mini)

PACK in Sofia!

I heard that the local animal shelter here welcomed volunteers on the weekends to come help walk the dogs.  Unfortunately the shelter is a ways out of town and difficult to get to if you don't have a car.  So it took me a few weeks, but a coworker wanted to go (thank you Jackie!), and I finally made it!!  My PACK withdrawal was starting to get to me...

The shelter is fairly new, just a few years old I think, so the kennels are actually quite nice.

Although they have multiple pups in pretty much every kennel.

The first dog I walked - George - was blind.  There were many obstacles walking around the shelter, so I had to be careful.

It was no Rock Creek Park, but the property was fairly large, so you could walk a decent loop.

Dog #2 - a puppy!

Although he wasn't very happy about being on a leash. 

 After the walk, the puppies got to hang out in one of the outside play areas for awhile, and we got to help socialize them. 

It was great to see so many volunteers there to help walk the dogs!

The pups patiently waited their turn to be walked.

And there was a second kennel full of puppies!

I of course had a favorite (don't tell the other pups), this sweet girl, Mommy Eka.

She would not let me leave, continuing to jump up and "hug" me.

I'm happy to report that she made her way to a shelter in Germany where she'll definitely find her furever home soon!

[If you haven't heard me talk about PACK before, then I'm very surprised ;-)  But you can read about it in my 2014 and 2015 posts.]

Rila Monastery and Boyana Church

I went on a day trip to Rila Monastery, with a stop at Boyana Church on the way back to Sofia.  It was one of those small group tour things, but was helpful to have someone explain everything to you, since the signage wasn't that great there.  It was an amazing setting and a beautiful monastery.

This tower is the only original section remaining from the 14th century...although the rest was rebuilt in the 1830's after a fire, so still old as well.

The murals were colorful and elaborate. 

Boyana Church is even older.  The first part was built in the 11th century.  Inside were original frescoes, but unfortunately couldn't take pictures of those.