Spring Visit and change of life plan!

I really wanted to show Jenny my best friend what all the fuss was about, and I needed to check the jobs that we had left Charlie with during my last visit with Rich in February!

We choose to go at the end of March and we booked a coach from Sofia to VT and Charlie would pick us up in the car that we had said we would buy from him! Great seven seater which will be useful when people come go visit!

I also allowed Jen to arrange all the accommodation so we had an exciting week ahead of us!

Coach journey went well, we had a bit of trouble getting to the city coach station as we got on the wrong bus, however saying loudly "does anyone speak English" worked well and 3 ladies came forward and even took us off the bus and stood us in the right place for another bus and told us which number we needed! Friendly and helpful, I really do love the Bulgarians!

Charlie was waiting as we arrived and we heading into VT town and found our first place to stay which is Hostel Mostel! Here is a link as this place is great and amazing value!

We headed to the house but stopped to buy some spray cans so that we can make some drawings on the walls to help to explain to Charlie what we want the builders to do!

Shower, sink and new window!

New layout and the kitchen decided on! 

Charlie in action in the basement room.

We can see the front of the house for the first time as the jungle has gone!

Seeing the house at this time of year kicks into action the changing moment in our life! I said to Jenny that I wanted this to be my main home and not Spain, possibly not what she wants to hear but I also want to go with my gut. What will Rich say though, lets see when I get home!

We have a road trip over to Plovdiv which is over the mountains in the South of BG. We stop off at an old momument called Buzludzha, it was built in the 80's by the communist party, it now lies falling apart! We battled with the remaining snow to walk to the high point and it was certainly worth the visit! Loved it!

Jen in the snow in March!

Ceiling now!

Ceiling before!

Out walk way before!

Walk way now, such a shame but should be left just like this!

Plovdiv is a great city/town to head over and visit, the main high street could be anywhere in Europe with all the same shops, yet the old town is like stepping back in time and the street art could be a whole blog in itself!

Such great street art! 

Roman stuff all over town! 

Heading back to VT Jen and I spent one night spoiling ourselves in a posh hotel that Rich and I like called the The Studio, follow link to see how nice it is. We had bought tea in a box from the supermarket and settled down for the night! I then saw a flash of green light through the curtains, I shouted "Jen, move quick!" she jumped up without asking why, grabbed her camera and rushed up to the roof of the hotel to take photos and enjoy the light show over on the castle. This only happens every now and again so I guess as Jen was with me out luck was in!

Amazing light show on the castle ruins! Jen luck as I call it!

Jen finds a chair that just fits her long legs!

Looking out across my new town! 

Last day in Sofia before we fly home, a great trip but crap photo! lol

We have a stupid early flight back to Alicante and as I did not sleep too well the night before I arrive with a terrible migraine. We drive home and I head straight to bed and sleep. Later that afternoon I wake and Rich comes to check I am ok. I turn to him and without any warning I say to him "how would you feel if we made BG the base and moved over there lock stock and barrel?".

In normal Rich style he looks at me and without giving it any thought he says "yeh, cool why not!" Now that is my amazing, crazy, husband who I love more than anything, just going with the flow!

The house under a blanket of snow!

Although the view from the house in Spain is truly amazing, it never changes, Spring, Summer or Winter it never changes! Hence getting all excited when we find out that the house in Musina is covered in Snow! Also we are told its minus 30 at night, WOW!

We land at Sofia and the roads are clear but it is knee deep all around us, we hire a car and set off to drive the 3 hour drive over to the house. The main roads are all in great condition and the trees covered in snow look just like the alps, so excited about getting to the house and taking a look at the garden.

However, the weather literally changes through the night we land and the temps start to rise and we have a suitcase full of the wrong clothes!

We head straight to the house and it looks so cute! The land looks so much bigger too as the trees have all lost leaves of course and we can see things we didnt notice before! We take our first trip to BG B&Q which is called Praktiker!

Rich using the hammer which lasted half an hr! Nails way too strong! 

We arm ourselves with gloves, lots of bins bags and a crow bar to start removing what feels like a million nails! The snow is literally disappearing before our eyes and the temperatures are high enough that we can start to move stuff around inside the house, which is colder than outside in the sun, guess we need to sort some heating for the Winter months, or better plan move back to Spain.

I started to clean out the bathroom first and at first glance it looks like old clothes and books. I carefully started to take it all out into the light and soon realised that it was a lot more exciting than that!

Little stool, oil lamp with tiny mirror and much more....

A suitcase full of little coloured wooden pegs! A game I think, a suitcase with old linen dresses inside, massive and a bit plain! Some letters one from Ohio and one from the USSR. A few old books with lines of writing like a ration book.

Cleaned up outdoor Kitchen

Then it gets really exciting and I find an old piece of paper dated 1898! WOW, no idea at this stage what it says but later you will see what it is! I find odd pieces of string things wrapped in old linen! Below are the photos which shows some of the amazing finds from this great house.

We have a great few days cleaning up and Charlie comes around again and we agree that work that we want to do for when we make the move over in May. At this stage the plan is only to come for the summer and then head back to Spain to spend the winters there, large logistic nightmare moving 2 horses and finding a home for the ones we leave behind!

We then went exploring the area around the house in our village and in the village very close called Hotnitsa! Some great water features and caves, really hoping we can get the kids and grandkids over in the summer to go playing in all this water!

exploring in the cave with an iphone!