On to Varna

We played a great concert on Thursday night at the academy in Ruse. We had an enthusiastic and appreciative audience and were thanked with a buffet spread and champagne reception. The translators provided to us in Ruse were a tremendous help, showing us the best restaurants and entertainment that Ruse has to offer. An evening at the piano bar was filled with "interesting" interpretations of English pop music.

We traveled to Varna yesterday, which was a beautiful 3 hour drive through farm land and small towns. Varna is a large city with familiar surroundings like McDonald's and KFC, although for some reason we seem to be eating every meal at the hotel restaurant. We played another great concert last night at an art gallery. The audience was warm and friendly with a lot of smiles, video recorders, and 2 standing ovations. On the bus upon our departure, we were entertained by a rap performance written about our trip by Steve L., Russell, and Nick which we are calling "Bulgarian Rapsody".

Our rooms have views of the Black Sea, which some of us were able to swim in today. There was a warm current and the water was clear; we found that our American swimwear had a little too much coverage to fit in with the locals. Some of us went to the Balchik gardens in the morning where we saw a plethora of flowers and plants from all over the world put together by a Romanian queen. Others went to the local park in the main center, where they played music with Christian missionaries from all over the world. Tomorrow we are on to Dobrich.