Balabanova All Over

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[Rome, Italy] Besides going to Galleria Borghese, I had no grand plans for today. There were many other things I wanted to see but I wasn’t sure how much energy or enthusiasm I’d have, nor where the day would take me after the gallery, so I played it by ear and it couldn’t have turned out any better! For a planner like myself, it was nice to have a less structured day…. Read More

[Vatican City, Italy] No visit to Rome is complete without a visit to the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. If you have only one day in Rome and have to pick between this and the Coliseum/Forum, I’d pick this (although with some planning, they are both doable in one long, exhausting day). To get to the Vatican, I took Bus 64 across the Tiber river. It was about… Read More

[Rome, Italy] Arriving in Rome was a breeze. I set off from LA on an early-morning flight to Washington, DC, where I connected directly to Rome. I slept for the majority of the second flight and when I landed at 8:30 in the morning local time, I was ready to go! My Bulgarian passport gave me access to the EU customs line. It was not actually a customs line but a series… Read More

[Waterton, Canada] The forecast for today was cool (50s) and rainy, so we decided to keep busy by driving to the Canada side and checking out Waterton National Park. Glacier and Waterton sit on either side of the US-Canada border, respectively. Together, they are a UNESCO World Heritage site and the first International Peace Park.This means that the two parks are managed jointly,the idea being that if nature doesn’t have borders, why… Read More

[Kazanluk, Bulgaria] We left the medieval capital of the Bulgarian rulers on Saturday morning. We were headed to Kazanluk, about 90 km (60 mi) South. In the process, we had to cross the Balkan mountains and planned on visiting a magnificent monument at Shipka pass, which commemorates a battle that turned the Russo-Turkish war of 1877. On the other side of the Balkans, Kazanluk valley awaited us. Now known as the place… Read More