Sofia

From Veliko we took a bus to Sofia and arrived in the early afternoon. We arrived to find that a lot of work had been done on the train station since we had last been there and this work was still in motion. As we walked back to the hostel, we reminisced about our last trip to Sofia and wondered what would have changed and what would stay the same.
We stayed at the same hostel: Hostel Mostel, but in a different part of it and it was a completely different experience. Additionally, we were both still getting over our cold so we couldn't experience it the same. Of course, nothing's the same the second time around but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. You can't recreate the past.
Like us, the city has changed a lot in the past two years - it's more modern and wealthy and there is a hint of grungy hipsterness that I'm sure the college students of the coming years will love. For example, they had a bar that was an apartment that was set up like an apartment with different rooms and couches and tables, and even a kitchen. Kind of cool, but also kind of awkward. Where do you order the drinks? We didn't stay.
The first night, we did a little walk around the close parts of the city and then relaxed. The next morning, we did the tour of the main attractions.

Some things had changed quite a bit...

and some things not at all...

We had planned to spend our second and last night in Sofia going out after cooking for ourselves at the hostel (chicken nuggets, couscous, and peas)... but in fact, we only went to one bar (which had pretty gross beer, to be honest) and then we went home, because I guess we're old.
And that was Sofia -- finished again in a flash.