I'm in Cologne Airport again. It's one of my favourite bus stations. Good signage for buses, seating, pretzels and coffee, power and wifi (mostly), and warm fuzzy memories of all the other hours I've spent here between unreasonably long bus rides.
In reply to: https://rhiaro.co.uk/2020/01/bus-days
Me: mentions being just off the nightbus on the first leg of my journey from Turkey to the UK
Colleague: but you're going to get on a plane eventually right?
Me: ..... a what?
Okay imma go be on a bus for a couple of days (literally), see you on the other side.
Burns' Night and Chinese New Year are at the same time this year, and I'm gonna be in Scotland. This sets all my favourite food senses tingling.
At a cafe in Sofia, the biggest cat I've seen, possibly small tiger, has made herself at home on me. My legs are numb, and at one point she wrapped her arms around my waist under my hoodie and stuck her claws in. I guess I'm never leaving. Btw nothing makes me happier than this exact scenario.
Sofia is one of my favourite cities to do nothing in. I've only ever spent short stays here, and did a walking tour the first time for an overview. There's probably tons to do really but there's nothing obvious so it's easy to just chill out and rest in nice cafes. Which is what I need this weekend. (To start to recover from Turkey, Country of Lovely but Socially Demanding Extroverts.)
🗁Added 31 photos to album Turkey, Jan 2020.
My last days in Bursa came all at once. I squeezed in some more museums - the Ataturk House (which is nice to visit but has no signs or information, just furniture and pictures, and took me all of 5 minutes to go around); the Archaeology Museum (which has plenty of info in English and is as good as archaeology museums always are); the Textiles Museum at Merinos (which is in an old textile factory, and incorporates a lot of interesting social history about the local industry as well as technical information and old machines); and the Immigration Museum (on the top floor of the Textile Museum; not much in English, but fascinating exhibits all the same).
I worked from Good Call and At Kafe. I spent my final night in Gorukle at the meeting of Bursa Speaking Club, saying farewell to all of the amazing people I met this month. I stayed over at Juli's and in the morning Fatih came over to make us delicous soup for breakfast. What a sendoff!
In the Mado cafe by the bus station, I discovered a vegan ice cream menu; they didn't have any of course. The last thing I did before I got on the bus was eat cig kofte... of course.
I hate how Turkish bus stations are such a hustle. Like you're surrounded by bus company reps all trying to talk you into taking their next bus to wherever. As if you've turned up to the bus station without having already decided where you're going and when. I mean occasionally, sure, but it can't be often enough to justify the amount of effort they put in.