Day 3…all about The Mall, taxis and random photos of Annikah

Today we went to The Mall (that’s the actual name) in Sofia. We were there for over 3 hours! Annikah did great! We went in A LOT of stores. We found some great places to buy Bulgarian keepsakes and other little gifts for family and friends.

If you’re coming to Bulgaria and want a place to buy things about Bulgaria, this is a one-stop place to go. On the parking level floor (the main floor if you take a taxi to get here), there is a store called Public. You can’t miss it. It’s a huge store, in the back corner on that floor if you go right when you come in the door. It has a big orange sign…pretty easy to spot! They have books about Bulgaria, calendars, post cards, magnets, maps, Bulgaria guides, coasters and several other things along those lines. I got a C-U-T-E 2012 calendar to hang by my desk, amongst several other keepsakes and gifts for people. Depending on the season when you visit, they also have books about relevant holidays. There were tons of Christmas books out right now. This store also has children’s board books in Bulgarian. They had the picture books that have the big photos of items with the words under it. They had number books too.

There is also a book store called Orange. It’s on the same floor. Again, you can find books specific to current holidays (and any other topic).

There is a toy store on this floor too. They have Disney stuff, Fisher Price stuff(MUCH more expensive than in the US) and all kinds of other toys.

There are some REALLY cute children’s clothing stores too. If you like all the children’s tights that the kids wear, there are several places to purchase those, including Carnival Kids. 

Level 2 is the “food court”. There is a Burger King, Subway, Dunkin Donuts and KFC, along with several other places. Annikah had her very first “American fast food” today from Burger King

Annikah’s view from where she sat to eat
(notice that the view includes a McDonalds…lol)

If you go down to level –2 there is what is basically Bulgaria’s version of Wal-Mart. That place has anything and everything that you can think of!
We browsed the Christmas section, the book section(yes, again..lol), the candy aisles(I do love chocolate from Eastern Europe) and several other sections. We didn’t get through the entire store because we had to get back to the hotel so that my kids back home could meet their little sister via skype before they left for school this morning (which was 1530 here!).

In the WM type store, I bought LOTS of stuff. I was able to get Christmas gifts for several people, pick up something small for each of the kids, bought Annikah a really cool toy phone that does colors, shapes and numbers in both Bulgarian and English AND I bought an elephant!

If you have somehow missed the significance of the elephant, I collect elephants. I also buy an elephant every time I go anywhere. This one is actually the biggest one that I’ve ever bought. It makes an elephant noise and everything!

FYI: If you’re bringing children who are still in diapers with you to The Mall, there is a baby changing station room on every floor. Yep, Annikah decided to stink it up while we were there! Must.focus.on.potty.training.first.thing.once.home.

We had a great time at The Mall today! If you have some down time or you want a place to buy some Bulgarian keepsakes, this is a good place to go. You can call a cab to take you to The Mall and there are tons of cabs lined up outside The Mall to take you back to your hotel.

A note about taxis in Sofia:
The Mall was too far for us to walk to. Also, it’s very windy here right now, so we’re trying to keep Annikah out of the weather as much as possibly(trying to avoid her getting sick!). So, we’re taking taxis when we venture off the street where our hotel is. Two suggestions about taxis in Sofia for families who are traveling here and may want to use them (to avoid getting ripped off): Our Bulgarian friends suggested that we use taxis from the OK taxi service. This logo (a big “OK” is written on the door of the taxi). They are one of the good taxi services that charge a fair price. One of the receptionists at the front desk of our hotel (LOVE the staff at Hotel Budapest! They’re always very helpful) said to always look at the tariff prices that are required to be posted on the outside window. On the top line, the rate should say 59-70. The top number should NOT be more than 70. As long as you get in a cab with these numbers on the top line, you’re getting the best rate. 

OK, now for some random photos from today……

Annikah was putting her feet in this clear bag and putting them next to Meredith so that Meredith would tickle her………

Here she is rocking out to what looked like the Bulgarian version of American Idol. She was dancing and shaking her booty. This girl has a seriously big booty! I had to go buy different diapers today to cover her big ole booty!

This would be a different kind of “rock”. This is the “orphan rock”. She doesn’t do this too often and she’s easily redirected. She was actually rocking in this instance because she’d just gotten in trouble and was having to sit in the chair for a few minutes of “time out”

Here she is after time out when I went to sit with her and love on her. She is quite the good little snuggle bug! I’m still in awe that this precious girl is going home with ME!
 

She went to sleep quickly tonight! 3+ hours of shopping, lots of play time at the hotel, no nap(though I honestly don’t know if she’s used to a nap or not) and she was out cold in less than 5 minutes!

Tomorrow we have another jam packed day planned! We’re going to keep this high energy Bulgarian princess busy all week so that she’s good and tired by Saturday morning. Likely, it’ll be me and Meredith that are exhausted by Saturday and she’ll still be going strong!