We were headed up into the mountains from Shipka to find the Freedom Memorial. It is the place in Bulgaria where one of the final battles was fought to free the Bulgarians from the Ottoman Empire. On the way we encountered this strange sight atop a mountain. It looks like a spaceship or flying saucer with a smokestack, but what is it? David and James hiked the steep path up the mountain to find out. After they got up there, they heard people inside and found a way in though a broken window. They came back with exciting tales of an abandonded and vandalized communist memorial or building. The next morning we went back because David and James had seen cars up by the memorial and knew there was a road that could take us there. They wanted Allison and I to see it. We found the way up and were there early in the morning. It was still foggy and drizzly and very eerie since we were the only ones there. This was by far the weirdest thing we came across on our week long travels around Bulgaria. Once we got back to Sofia later that day, we got online to find out about this place. It is called Buzludzha. It was built by the communists and was started in 1974 and finished in 1981. After the fall of communism in Bulgaria in 1989, the memorial/socialist meeting place was vandalized and much of it was destroyed. You can read about it here.

In our travels around Bulgaria, it seemed that nearly every little village and town had at least one stork nesting on a pole or rooftop. Most often these storks created their nests on the top of utility poles, but in Bansko, their was a huge nest on a ledge by the church steeple. I found these storks very interesting, especially since I’ve never seen something like this in the states. I’m guessing that the common presence of storks nesting in a village is how fairy tales of storks delivering babies originated. Kids saw these large birds nesting somewhere in town, and when a baby was born parents just made up a story saying that the stork brought the baby.

Cousins

Susan and her family (minus Rebecca) arrived on July 5 and spent the week with us. Susan came not only to visit but also for her 30th year high school reunion. We had a fun week, but they left yesterday. Today I have been in “high gear” getting ready to leave on our trip to Europe. First we’ll go to London, and then on Saturday (our 34th anniversary) we will fly to Sofia, Bulgaria to visit James and Allison. We are very excited about spending a few weeks with them!

Our family gathering this year for the 4th of July was a little smaller than usual. Jacob has been noticing the smaller family groups at several events lately and has commented on it. I think he misses everyone, too. My parents were out of town, and since most of my kids have moved away, there were only nine family members here. Although, Lisa did her part in adding to our numbers by inviting some college girls to join us. We had hamburgers with all the trimmings, including something new – zucchini fries (a new recipe I tried, since I have so much zucchini).

After dinner, the kids (including the college ones) made red, white, and blue tie-dyed t-shirts. Once it was dark we enjoyed some fireworks, both ones John shot off and others our neighbors were doing.