On board the train, we found our cabin. Inside were two bunk beds, pillows and blankets. A small sink in the corner was covered by a drop-down counter (you had to lift it up to get to the sink). We were also given "goodie bags:" slippers, washcloths and bars of soap. It was really cute. The train was creaky and made lots of interesting noises, but I was able to sleep pretty well. (Mom wasn't.)
Customs and immigration people came to our cabin at around 4:45am when we finally reached the border. The Serbians stamped us out without asking many questions. The Bulgarian immigration people didn't really care much either. The two Bulgarian customs officials wanted to question us, but couldn't. The first guy said something I didn't understand. My mom told him that we only spoke English. We were holding our US passports open to the photo page with the inch-high "USA" above our pictures. The man looked at us and shouted, "Ah, Australia!", to which I replied, "No, amerikanka" (which I'm pretty sure means female American in either Serbo-Croat or Bulgarian - or both - .....maybe). Anyway, he figured he couldn't do much, so he split, leaving the other guy to try to ask us where we were headed. I put a huge smile on my face and said, "we're going to Sofia for one night and then we're flying to Spain!" He grunted and moved on.
We arrived in Sofia at 7am (we later figured out that it was actually 8am). At the train station, Mom ate a McTasty (two pancakes with ham and cheese melted between them). There were a bunch of British guys from our train who were eating the same thing. She also got an orange juice, which amazing tastes just like McDonald's oj in the states.
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