Monday, 11th June, Sofia

We are woken by a 21 (?) gun salute to George Bush and, almost simultaneously, by the dustmen emptying the hotel rubbish containers. We have a late breakfast, return to our room and switch on the television to be told of a small demonstration by critics of globalisation politics that was taking place far away from anyone who mattered and that George Bush had spent the night in the villa that was once the home of Todor Shivkov while visiting the city where the mayor used to be the his bodyguard.

We walk around the city centre for most of the day, visit the Palace of Culture which is closed. The park in front of it contains a monument that has been abandoned and is in any case less exciting than the graffiti on the fence surrounding it.

Later we walk through another park and, unplanned,  come across the monument to the Soviet army. A Soviet soldier on a high column appears to be leading a Bulgarian couple into a socialist future which has come and gone. The interesting thing here is that the Soviet army never occupied Bulgaria and neither was it stationed here.  I remember reading that there was a time when the city council wanted to remove it but decided not to because of the cost of removal. Shortly thereafter we arrive at the hotel to pick up our luggage and, thanks to B’s father, head for the airport using an indirect route thus avoiding the road blocks and congestion resulting from George Bush’s warp-speed exit.