Off to Bulgaria!

I'm in NYC visiting Hannah - tomorrow we leave together for a couple weeks in Bulgaria, with a quick day or two in Istanbul.

Hannah had suggested I take a taxi from the Newark airport but I found the bill - $80 if you include tip and tolls - simply staggering. I can fly from RDU to Boston for that much when I'm lucky! Luckily, there's an alternative: the Sky Train, the NJ rail system, and the taxi. It took almost as long to get from Newark to Manhattan as it took to get from RDU to Newark, but I wasn't in a hurry. I have to admit I wish she lived in some place that didn't discourage entry the way Manhattan does.

We had dinner with the Companionable Atheist, after debating the Afghani restaurant that has a "creepy proprietor" versus the one Afghani restaurant with slow service which is directly across the street.

CA was hungry so we braved the creepy proprietor's joint and I had the best lamb I have ever eaten. (Except maybe in Bulgaria in 1972.)

Then we went to his apartment and I made friends with his cat - the Companionable Atheist, being proud owner of a book called, approximately, "Kitties for Dummies," seems to be doing a fine job as a new pet-owner.

He wanted to watch tv and offered two odd shows. The first featured a high-functioning narcissistic sociopath who flips houses in Los Angeles. Our interest flagged so we tried the other, about a polygamous family (Mormon, I presume) and Byzantine intra-sect political machinations.

Walking up 9th Avenue six blocks, I was bemused to see that fully 3/4 of the storefronts are restaurants, and they all have people in them! How can there be enough people, even in Manhattan, to eat this quantity of food?

Pratie Place will probably go dark for these next two weeks. See you then.