Chuckk needed to leave the country and reenter to extend his visa, so he and Irina hatched a plan to go to Ruse, Bulgaria for the day... and we tagged along for the adventure!

Allen and Chuck pondering their first-ever menu in Cyrillic script. Happily, the menu came in two versions, one with English "translations" and one with Romanian "translations." I had fun comparing them and teasing out the meaning of some basic Bulgarian phrases.

Seeing how many of Ruse's 19th century buildings were still standing, like this villa overlooking the Danube, suggests to me that Romania's shortage is due more to Nicolae Ceausescu than to earthquakes.

These coins from Bulgaria, once ancient Thrace, remind me of those found in a collector's trove near Mangalia, on the Black Sea coast of Romania. The museum there has some of the hundreds of coins found nearby buried in a pot, placed in the ground in the 4th century AD.

Allen's one year of Russian allowed us to figure out that this was the "Something" (Sdevna?)Palace at Ploshtad Svoboda (Liberty Square).

When we needed a ride across the border (long story), Costache, a boat captain and ship's cook on a border patrol boat, took us all in his brave little Dacia 1310. Once we got into Ruse, he offered to come back later, to give us a ride back over the Danube and into Romania.

The signboard at the Mehana Chiflika restaurant, where we stumbled upon an unexpectedly delicious lunch.

A plate of mixed vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms and eggplant), brought sizzling to the table at the Mehana Chiflika restaurant.

The Mehana Chiflika restaurant had stone walls, exposed beams, textiles in earthy colors covering cushions on the long bench - and a wooden covered menu full of some delicious foods.