After more than two and half years working in Ukraine, and
another three months working across the Polish border, the Diplomat and I have
completed our assignment in Ukraine. An assignment like no other, marred by a
global pandemic and brutal war. This is not how we wanted to leave. The emotions
are too high and too raw to express here, so I will simply say that we have left
physically. Mentally, we will remain in Ukraine until the war is over.
Our first task upon departing was to drive to Bulgaria to
see Son and Grandma and to offload the two Silly Cats. (To catch you up on the
past 3 months in one sentence – since the start of the war, Son has been in
Bulgaria with Grandma, going to school, and the Diplomat and I, along with the Silly
Cats, have been holed up on a hotel in Poland).
Our fully loaded car - 4 big suitcases, 2 small ones, one box with wine,
three plastic bags with random stuff, one purse, two Silly Cats in carriers,
one litter box in tow, and a giant tennis bag – was the envy of any self-respecting
nomad caravan. Our route would take is through Slovakia, Hungary, and Serbia before
crossing into Bulgaria:
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In case you wonder how one drives around with two Silly
Cats, it is easy. For one, they hold their bathroom needs and refuse to eat. To
test that theory and show my humane side, at a rest stop in rural Slovakia, I
took the vehemently meowing Emotional Cat to the bathroom, and unpacked his
litter box, which he scoffed at and went on the inspect the suspicious spots on
the walls. After unsuccessfully trying to cajole him to use the litter, he was promptly
and unceremoniously brought back into the car and the experiment never
performed again. It seems that most hotels nowadays allow pesky pets to stay
along with their owners, so we would unleash the beasts in the hotel room, set
up the cat food and water in the bowls, pull the litter box from the giant
trash bag into which it was packed, and put some sand in it. In one Ń…our, all
cat business would be done and the two silly creatures would be chasing each
other comfortably all around the hotel room but mostly in the bathtubs.
In Belgrade, we stayed at the spectacular Metropol
Palace, which features an equally spectacular spa. After driving around
1,000 km, we decidedly enjoyed a swim in the glittering warm pool, with a
brief visit to the wet sauna and the ice room. The night was appropriately capped
with a dinner at the Madera restaurant,
in whose beautiful and cigarette-smoke filled garden we sampled Serbian rakia, and
ate cevapi and a giant pleskavica. The next day, the Diplomat was stopped by an
amused Serbian traffic cop for speeding quite a lot above the speed limit but
then let go with a smile and a reluctant admonishment not to do it again.
Penitent, the Diplomat crossed the Bulgarian border and promptly got stopped
for speeding AGAIN by an equally amiable Bulgarian cop. Which is all very odd
given that, generally, the Diplomat drives like a 75-year old lady. It may have
been the bleating cats…
We got to Sofia without much further incident and spent two
happy days with Son, Grandma, and the Silly Cats who broke only 2 porcelain things in
Grandma’s house by the time we left. We are eternally grateful to Grandma for
agreeing (not particularly enthusiastically) to care for the frisky beasts
while we continue our gallivanting around Europe for the next one month. Our
next destination – Montenegro.
