Some may even wonder if I am alive or not:-)

Well, to make the long story short, I’ll explain in brief here the reason for my silence and what happened since February 21st:

I had to fly to London, UK (via Milano) on February 26th, and I came back to Sofia on March 6th. It was a trip related to my work, so I hadn’t much free time in London for sightseeing – actually, my only free time there was in the early morning, while walking to the office of GreenNet, late in the evenings, while walking back to the cheap hotel I stayed at (near King’s Cross), and also one free week-end…

After my return, work and some problems caught up on me almost 24/7, so I hadn’t no free time for blogging or anything else (let me just say that only yesterday me and my wife saw for the first time some of the photos and videos from my trip… and some more are yet to be seen)…

So here I am – just a couple of words, my dear readers, after this long break in my writing. Later (I hope so) I will sort out some of my best photos, and will tell a couple of small stories about the things which I’ve found interesting and worth to be mentioned, while there – including, maybe:

• My visit to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b, Baker Street;
• the London Eye and Big Ben (one can’t really pass through London and then not to mention them;-);
• the incredible number of cyclists on the streets of London, which are exremely fast (and extremely cautious, at the same time – all of them ride with front and rear LED lights at night);
• the funny adventure with the squirrels in the St. James Park (and one photo which my wife liked so much);
• the Guiness beer, or why people like to drink this really terrible beer (I do not know the why, actually, but it was interesting for me to try it for the first time);
• and a couple of more impressions from this big, old, colorful city.

For now, that’s enough, I believe.

Now I am going to put on my jacket, to fill up my Aldo Morelli pipe with some aromatic tobacco, and go on a slow walk with my lovely wife - because calm, peace, and not to be in a hurry for some time is what I lack the most, lately.

The sun was shining bright, there was no wind, and in Sofia the temperatures were way above zero (Celsius, not Fahrenheit;-) – so we decided to go out with friends and see Vitosha mountain.

So, how do you write a post about how you went to the zmountain, and how beautiful it all was? I don’t know. I confess that Dan Cederholm’s post post about how he climbed a mountain inspired me a bit.

So, here I present humbly to you some outline of this day’s adventure, and a couple of photos to enhance the story. I’m sure that this is not the perfect style, that some things could be told better, some omitted, and others – added. But this is how I did it. Enjoy:)

***

Since a short (but very adventurous and interesting trip) to Rila Mountains and the Seven Rila Lakes last October (I’ll write about this adventure later, maybe), we didn’t see any mountains. Work caught us up and so until this Saturday, we stayed mostly in the city, when friends have invited us to pay a short visit to Vitosha mountain, which is very near Sofia.

We accepted the invitation. We started at around 10 in the morning, had to change a tram and a bus to get to a point where we could continue by walk. We also used a chair lift to get to Bay Krystyu châlet [pronounced: ...] easier and then continued on foot. Air became colder and colder, as we moved up, although the sun was shining. I am a pretty good walker, but I took very inapropriate shoes this day, for a couple of reasons:

• First, we were told that this wil be a casual walk, nothing extra-fatiguing or long, and
• second, I do not have any appropriate shoes for winter;-)

Soon my legs were wet and cold, but I bravely continued with my wife to climb up, to Kominite peak (the Chimneys peak, height above sea level: ~ 1620 m).

It was snowy, temperatures dropped below zero, the sun was still shining and the air was incredibly pure and transparent. I felt very well going higher and higher.

Soon we reached a place, which is known for its avalanches, but at this time of the year it was relatively safe. After that, some 15 minutes more and we were at the top, looking down at the city of Sofia below us. Kominite peak offers really splendid view of Sofia.

This day the air was so pure that we could see accross the valley where Sofia lies, and the mountains at the other side were visible!

At this time, suddenly the sun disappeared behind clouds, fog enveloped us and as we started to go down, the cold began to bite harder. Soon we were again at the châlet, and we had outside a very good lunch – the inside of the châlet was overcrowded, plus there were lots of people smoking cigarettes (which is a thing I never accepted to be done inside of a house).

After that, we returned by foot to the bus station, instead of taking the lift.

When at home, a hot shower saved us from catching a cold, and a pizza and a couple of Kamenitza pilsner beers made the evening perfect, not to mention the DVD with the concert of U2 live in Boston from 2001, which I was very curious to watch:)

As a bottom line, let me make my own observations as to the mountains in general, basing on Dan’s original notes:

• Mountains are tall.
  Yes
• Mountains are cold and cloudy at the top.
  Yes, and not always at the top, especially in winter!
• It seems that people generally enjoy walking up a mountain, then walking back down.
  Very true!
• You should wait to eat your lunch on the way back down, rather than at the top, where it’s cold and windy.
  Fact established as well
• The first 20 minutes of walking up an incline are the worst.
  Well, no, sometimes the whole climb from the start could be fun.
• Hiking up a mountain with dress shoes and a tucked in button-down shirt is insane (I did witness this).
  I agree; hiking up a snowy mountain with low shoes could be even more insane, but in depends whether you can afford better ones;-)
• Water. Yes.
  Water and some whiskey is a good idea, especially when not wearing winter shoes (see note above)
• When you reach the bottom of the mountain, the feeling is so great that you forget how hard it was going up. There is even a casual mention of “doing this again”.
  Three words: Yes. Yes. Yes.

And I could add here some of my own general observations:

• If you try to smoke a pipe on the go, while climbing or descending the mountain, the whole pleasure could be most certainly dubious, and you’ll have to spend at least 2 packs of matches to keep it lit for at least 10 minutes, not to mention the difficult process of filling and preparing the pipe, trying to keep yourself in balance while going through the snow and slipping from time to time:-)
• The view from the top is worth all the climbing, falling in the snow, cold feet and freezing face, subject to the high-speed wind
• No matter how much pictures you will try to take with your small digital camera, and no matter what words you’ll try to find for the feeling of being there after all the efforts, you most certainly will be not able to describe even one tenth of it all:-)

And yes, I’ll do this again, I am sure of it! :)))