Inefficient in Sofia

Lack of planning finally caught up with me. Frusterating :(

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Sofia (pronounced SOFia with a soft “o”)

July 24 2015

To get to Sofia from Trikala, you have to first take a three hour train to Thessaloniki (or bus but the train was nice) and then a five hour bus to Sofia.

Ollie and I were taking the same train to at 835AM but we parted ways at a statin in Greece and he went south to Athens and I of course continued north to Thessaloniki. We had a long chat about Greek sororities and (American) football games :D

I arrived to Thessaloniki like an hour and a half later (1130AM) and had to figure out if the information about the bus that I had researched two days before was accurate. It was off by an hour, I was expecting 1430 but it actually left at 1630. As a sub 26 year old too, I got a discount :D

So I had four hours to explore Thessaloniki a bit. I had the map downloaded, asked the woman behind the desk to point me in the direction of downtown! I was even able to leave my pack with her free of charge! So that was a pleasant surprise because I would have had a heatstroke if I had tried to walk with my 15 kilo pack (I only know that because I had it weighed in Europe).

At first, the city again was dirty…  but as I got closer to the center (and restrained myself from walking into the store with wonderful clothes at ridiculous prices…. I did buy a bathing suit because I have a problem) it was quite interesting! I of course didn’t do much research especially because I wasn’t planning on having energy to explore after so many high intensity days, but as most of you know how I am, I have to do EVERYTHING TO THE MAX! I would make for an exhausting travel partner if you aren’t use to my determination --- Good luck Robby in Turkey with me :D

Not knowing what you even do in Thessaloniki, I used the map to see where the “tourist attractions” are (yeah these maps download wiki articles too that you can see offline!)

My favorite part of my short excursion was this outdoor market with fruits and vegetables and FISH! The sellers yelling “Parrakalo parrakalo!!!” which means “please or no problem” or I guess also used as a sales pitch.

I am really sad I didn’t eat more fish while I was in Greece!

Then I walked torwards the White Tower, and to be perfectly honest, I still don’t know its purpose, but everyone that I have told that I visited Thessaloniki has inquired if I saw it, so I guess it’s good that I did!

It was also right by the water, which had a very nice breeze coming off it so I hung out there since I tired of sweating and walking.

Bye Greece! Thessaloniki has been added to my shoe since I walked around in my (now off) white converses!

The bus ride to Sofia was… rough to say the least. There were maybe 12 people on the bus, all Bulgarian. I know this because when we crossed the border, everyone just showed their ID and I had to give my passport and they took it to the little house and did who knows what. No stamp though :(

The bus driver and co pilot (I have noticed many buses have a driver and another person maybe for moral support, who knows) did not speak ANY English…. This will come into play later…

The bus had barely any air-conditioning, reek of cigarette smoke (bus driver + sidekick were basically chain smoking) and the way to Bulgaria was SO windy. I tried to nap briefly because I was of course exhausted, and woke up DRENCHED in sweat and very nauseous. The route though was very nice, through mountains, over rivers, and past seas of sunflowers.

With many bus trips, and even train trips, that are longer than 3 hours, it is customary to stop for 10-20 minutes for a bathroom break, smoke break, getting something to eat/drink. The bus driver told me 20 minutes. Okay cool, so I went inside just to sit in some airconditioning and buy water because I was going to throw up. Maybe 10 minutes later, the bus drivers buddy came in, made some hand gestures, and walked towards the bus. SHIT- everyone was already on… so they could have left me! Maybe that is the buddy’s job- to round up the herd and chase down clueless foreigners. When I got back on the bus, this old man that was sitting two rows behind me just  giggled at me basically saying “HAH, you poor fool!”

When I finally got to Sofia, I could not WAIT to get out of my sweaty clothes and shower. Went to a delicious pizza place that a Bulgarian named Miroslav that I met through couchsurfing (he had many positive reviews, so no worries not meeting anyone sketchy!) recommended. It was DELICIOUS! I slept very well that night. 

July 25 2015

Miroslav also told me about a free! walking tour of Sofia. It was at 11, and since I know nothing really about Sofia or Bulgaria as a whole, I thought it would be a great thing to do first. I still woke up early, at like 8am, because as soon as the sun rises, the room warmed up. And again, I am like a child before Christmas excited about my new adventure! I spent a bit figuring out how I was going to my next destination of Kotor in Montenegro! What I should have been doing though, was doing research on Sofia so I wouldn’t go to the city basically blind.

Some quick facts:

-Bulgarians use a different alphabet- Cyrillic

-With that, Bulgarian is VERY hard (for me) to pronounce- I had no trouble with Greek pronunciation, the words were just long… but on the bus ride to Sofia I tried to quickly memorize some basic Bulgarian reallly to no avail.

-They have a different currency- leva (1 Euro = 2 Leva) 

-Food is VERY cheap even compared to Greece- my 12in pizza was 10 leva, 5 euros!

-75% of Sofia was destroyed due to the Allie bombing.. 75%... think about that.

-Bulgaria was communist so that was bad. When they were “freed” of communism, they still suffered A LOT economically so it was still bad. They are bitter about all of these things.

So I should have at least double checked the time and location for the tour… I arrived to the place that I was told the walking tour would meet at around 1045…. I waited until 1115 and nothing. I asked someone that worked in a café in the square and she literally had no idea what I was talking about and sent me to Alexander Nevtsky (the oldest and most famous church in Sofia) where there were bus tours for 20 leva (10 euros). Okay, I literally know nothing about this country, whatever I will pay…. So I waited for like 20 minutes and still it hadn’t started. They were waiting for more people to come…. So I get my money back and try to figure out what to do! I have squandered away my morning and still haven’t seen/learned anything! I googled the free tour things, and found out that while many of the tours did meet where I was waiting, the one at 11am met in front of the Palace of Justice. So then I spent the next 30 minutes trying to run around Sofia following the list they had posted of the sites they visit on the walking tour to see if I could catch up! I couldn’t :(((

It’s like 12 so I finally just start going to these places on their list, and use my map that has the wiki articles to know what I am looking at. It was actually pretty nice, but if I had any other questions, I was unable to find someone that could understand my question or answer the right question….  I also got yelled at a few times for doing things that I am sure are common knowledge but as a foreigner that can not even READ the letters… it was frustating.

I did find some very nice things though… They are really investing a lot in the city and it is so clean!

I thought it was interesting- they had a mosque, a catholic church, and a synagoge (that I got yelled at because it was closed on saturdays and I tried to go in) on the same square.

^this used to be a public bath house but it has now been coverted to a muesuem that is still under constructin

I eventually ran into one of the tour guides around 1330 and he explained to me about the different meeting points AND he told me about a FREE Balkan Bites food tour! I hadn’t eaten anything yet so it was a very welcoming tidbit of information! I met them in the place that I had been to that morning, and met some really cool guys! One guy was from the USA, one Dutch, and one Swede (HIS NAME WAS WALTER!).

We stopped at 4 different family owned restaurants and tried traditional Bulgarian foods!

The first was a cucumber, dill, yogurt colds soup called tarator at a restaurant called Supastar!

It was actually really refreshing, especially with the hot weather outside. I love cucumbers! As everyone knows, they ARE a great source of water (lol@marist friends).

Also did you know after communism fell Bulgarians were trying to find ways to make money so they decided to start selling products out of the basement of their house? Now you can find these "squat shops" all over the city of Bugaria. Called squat shops because you gotta squat to get to the window!

Stop number 2 was to try what Bulgarians like to eat for breakfast…. Banitsa and a yogurt drink!

The banitsa is delicious- it’s a salty pastry filled with cheeeeeese. So basically like a huge fancy grilled cheese. I wasn’t too keen on the yogurt/water drink called __... Literally it’s watered down yogurt. The Bulgarian’s I met told me that the way you know it is good ___ is if the straw you have in the glass remains upright when you put it in the middle of the drink- so it doesn’t fall to one side when you put the straw in.

Stop number 3 may have been my favorite It was of two famous spreads both with based on red peppers. Red peppers are a very big part of their cultivation and there is a part of the year that they broil them to preserve them for the winter…… They were both SO good! It was like the Bulgarian version of chips and salsa…

Our last stop was a traditional Bulgarian restaurant. The decorations..

^you can hang a tray from those chains- so you get a two leveled table! I am having this at my house.

Here we tried this super sweet desert wine and some breads with cheese based spread. Plus we were told they had traditional dancing at dinner time! So we made plans to go back :)

^Balkans bite tour group!

So at this point I am like coated in sweat so time for shower number one of the day before meeting someone I had chatted with on couchsurfing.

Iva, a recently university graduated Bulgarian, really was a crucial part of my Sofia trip. Really, until now, I felt like I had kind of run around Sofia with my head chopped off… The Balkans Bite tour was great, but I think it really would have had more value if I had been at the right place for the city/history tour.

After a coffee and some like chats about our dreams of traveling and living abroad, she basically gave me the walking tour I had missed.

Sofia is actually very beautiful! And during the summer, the Bulgarian people run for the coast to avoid the summer heat [which really was quite mild compared to Athens and Thessaloniki lolz]…. Sofia is also not the biggest tourist destination, although I would argue it is up and coming, so really the capital of Bulgaria was quiet! Nice change from the buses of tourists in Athens, Delphi, and Meteora!

I was with Iva for more than 3 hours, and was an excellent tour guide! She was very knowledgable and really wanted to make sure I was enjoying what we were doing. Couchsurfing is so cool for this reason! I will give quick summary for my new readers – Couchsurfing.org is  a website that you can make a free profile. The purpose is to meet people in different places than you, either by hosting travelers, or staying with residents of the city you wish to visit (or also just meeting up with someone in a city like I did with Iva). As you meet more people through, you write references for the person you met and they write a reference for you. So basically, you build a profile and the more people can vouch for you, the better it is to find hosts etc. II know many people that haven’t tried it think it’s a bit dangerous. Don’t get me wrong, it can be, if you are an idiot and decide to stay or meet up with someone that has no references and made their profile this morning. If you take advantage of it, you will have a friend in every city you go which adds a whole new dimension to your travels.

I had made plans with Walter for dinner and he brought an American from his hostel that had been living in Turkey for 6 years [again, people in Europe are so cool!]. We went to one of the restaurants that we had gone to on the food tour, the traditional Bulgarian restaurant with live music and singing. I ordered something called lamb delicacy which was delicious… but I am 100% sure I was eating lamb intestines and maybe tongue? Still not sure because their were two lamb declicays on the menu and I thought I had ordered the normal meat one…  Whatever.

Before going back, I checked out the king that I had seen earlier… 

at night...

In case you want some nightmares ^

July 26 2015

Thanks to Iva for being wonderful, she sent me exact plans on how to get from where I was staying to the top of Vitosha, the mountain right outside of Sofia. During the winter it is a skiing resort and during the summer a great morning hike to see all of the city and beyond! I have REALLY enjoyed my trip so far because I have been able to balance city tours with nature :)

It was actually pretty hard to wake up this morning, my legs were dead… but I managed to get myself to the bus station past downtown by 9am. I passed out on the 40 minute bus ride and the driver chuckled at me as he shook me awake.

The lift to the top of the mountain was about 20 minutes! And really beautiful!

I of course did not think to do much research outside of what Iva had sent me, because her directions were perfect. I decide to wait for Walter at the summit so we could hike up together. He had missed the bus I had taken and I was having a coffee enjoying the sunshine and amazing breeze :) But, after 1 hour of waiting and still no Walter, I decided to start hiking up around 11 and just meet him at the top. 

^lol this guy wearing a speedo

Well my bus to Nis, Serbia was at 16h and I had plans to meet Miroslav for lunch…. At like 12 I decided I had to turn around. I was so close to the top though! But I made sure to take plenty of pictures.

UGH why did I not do research …. -_- Another example of my how not planning can bite ya in the butt.

^yum?

Any who, overall I was very impressed with Sofia! I will DEFINITELY need to go back with a better plan and understanding of the culture and history. There is also SO much beautiful nature in the area. Google the Seven Rila Lakes if you don’t believe me.

Things I noticed:

1. They are doing a LOT of development for tourism- building many museums, renovating some old buildings while maintaining the external structure of historical value.

2. The city is basically EMPTY in the summer. Run for the coast!

3. People will speak English 50% of the time and understand what you are actually saying maybe 25% of the time

4. Bulgarians are not quite so friendly as the Greeks (IN MY EXPERIENCE). But it’s not just aimed at tourists. Even when I was with Iva and Miroslav, the servers gave more attitude than not. But it may be because they don’t work for tips and are bitter about not being at the coast with the rest of the Bulgarians. Miroslav also mentioned that many Bulgarians aren’t quite over the whole Communism thing and the aftermath… so then the whole expenditure on tourism doesn’t quite sit right with them.

Anyways- thank you Iva and Miroslav for showing me your city :) Hope to see you again soon with more time!

Greece Afterthoughts

For the countries I spend a couple days in, I am going to summarize some things I noticed about the country and culture. You may or may not find these posts interesting, or grossly stereotypical, but whatever; perhaps when you visit these countries you will know what I am talking about.

1. The Greek people are so incredibly hospitable and friendly. 

I spoke with SO many random Greek people, both men and women, that were genuinely interested in me/where I was from/going/what I thought of Greece/ was I going to the Greek island. Even when the had no idea what I was talking about when asking for directions or information, they would make something up just to TRY to help! I was really amazed, I was not treated poorly once nor was I ever harassed.

2. A surprisingly LARGE majority of people speak and/or understand English.

It makes sense though: Greece is a huge destination for tourists and have so much to offer. I was still rather amazed that everyone I asked for help at least understood what I was saying! 

3. The two big cities I was in, Athens and Thessaloniki, are dirty. 

There is really graffiti everywhere! Which is a shame because although it is an older city, it doesn’t have to look that rundown. Road signs, signs for the archeological sites, even buses are just covered! And most of it is literally just like squiggles with spray paint.. I did not find this to be the case in the smaller cities I visited, like Delphi and Trikala.

4. The crisis really is affecting the country in a hugely negative way.

I spoke with Ioanna about this because as a tourist, the economical mess in the country really goes unnoticed unless you are very observant. I think it is very important if you are visiting a country in turmoil, even if it may not directly affect you, you should still try to figure out what is going on so you can appreciate their struggle instead of just jumping to conclusions based on biased news stories.

 Many many many people lost their jobs, especially if you were younger and less experienced. For example, Ioanna’s mother is a teacher at a public school. They had to let go almost half of their teachers. The ones that had been working for several years (20+) kept their jobs [tenure basically] but several of the newer teachers lost their jobs and because public funds have greatly decreased, public schools (and other public institutions) have shut down so they literally can’t find jobs! Also, EVERYTHING is on sale and many stores are closed indefinitely.. And, as far as the banks, they appear to be open. However, Greeks are only able to take out 60 euros a day in order to avoid the banks to collapse…. So every morning at the banks and ATMs there are long lines of people trying to take out money. As a foreigner, it doesn’t affect you at all- I was able to take out as many euros as I wanted without any issues.

One more thing on this before I move on, from what I understood from someone that is obviously very sided on the whole issue, the reason that the new Greek government did not want to pay what they owe to the European Union is because the EU is trying to implement government plans and policy that do not take into consideration the culture and history of Greece. FOR EXAMPLE (and this is a very bad example but I am trying to make sense of it) Greece spends a lot of money on restorations of archeological sites because obviously Ancient Greece is hugely important to the culture of the world. Germany does not have many popular sites of the BC era (they probably do, but I have never heard of any). So it would be like if one of the policies that they implement would greatly reduce the money Greece could spend on these restorations because Germany does not spend that much on this in their own policies.. This would then have a snowball effect because tourism makes up 25% of the country’s  gross income so if the  sites that people want to see are falling apart, not as many people would go, and the country would be even worse off. Again that is a very wrong example because UNESCO and the EU obviously appreciate the cultural value of these sites, but it’s just to show how one size does not fit all. SO the new government did not want to pay all the money because they were hoping to come up with a different agreement that would be easier to adapt to Greece’s specific needs. They don’t have much to bargain with, so I guess we will see what happens. Please don't quote me on these things this just what I understood from the people I spoke with.

5. They are really trying to maintain and cultivate their tourism restoring many monuments and ruins. 

Great for them :)

6. Something happens when  a man turns 50.

I am convinced that on this birthday, a group of older men pay a visit, give them a pack of cigarettes, a pass for unlimited coffees, and a button down shirt. In every square and road, wherever there is a café, you will see a group of older men just sitting and watching the world go by, chain smoking, and drinking coffee. Of the places I visited in Greece, this phenomena was consistent. I don’t know WHERE the women of this age group are, but I suspect they are at home cooking and cleaning and watching grandchildren if I use Ioanna’s family as a reference.

7. Greeks LOVE their café fredo. 

Their ice coffee is amazing and like 1.5 euros if you take it to go. I had a couple because iced coffee in 40 C/100 F weather it is perfect to fight the snoozes.

8. A large percentage of the population smoke.

Subsequently, many are missing teeth, so that guy I met when I arrived in Athens that told me he was a professor but I doubted him because of the missing teeth was most likely a professor who has been smoking since he was 13.

^the break on the train, more than half got off the boat to smoke 

9. Deodorant may be optional.

Or perhaps Greek brands aren’t as strong as American deodorants. Again, with the hot weather though, it wouldn’t surprise me if it is just sweated off.

10. People drive like maniacs

I was holding on to my seat even in the buses around the city! It’s like a constant game of chicken! I didn’t even see one car accident though- so I guess since everyone drives crazy, they know how to avoid collisions. Also, as a pedestrian you have to be confident and just cross the road whenever there is a small gap between cars…. They don’t even LOOK to see if they cars are stopping (they always do). I had mini heart attacks everyday.

I LOVED Greece and the culture and the people. I will definitely be back soon to spend more time in this lovely country with so much history [now as ever]!

Magnificent Meteora

[sorry for the delay- I normally write these on trains and buses after I leave the city but the bus to Sofia had no airconditioning and was on super windy roads so I thought I was going to vom]

Meteora: one of the things I would have never found on my own without my father´s jedi mind tricks. I mentioned this briefly, my father was the one that “suggested” me to fly into Athens and then “suggested” for me to visit the monasteries of Meteora. I literally thought this was his way of "suggesting" I should go pray while I was in Europe.. Instead he is just living vicariously through me and since he is unable to take a month to backpack, he sends me places he wants to go.

One google image search had me sold on visiting Meteora, and since my next stop after Greece is Sofia, Bulgaria, visiting these monasteries is kind of on the way.

Background on the monasteries of Meteora: there were a total of 20 something monasteries built on top of these crazy rock formations between 1100-1500 all in the Byzantine style. As the rest of Greece, there were many issues with looting and invasion so overtime many of these monasteries were unfortunately abandoned. However, there are currently 4 LIVING monasteries and several others have been restored (the monasteries are considered a UNESCO heritage site). Now it’s a big sight for tourists to see this amazing landscape with these Greek Orthodox monasteries.

Meteora is located between the small towns of Kalampaka and Kastraki. When I was looking at hostels in these two towns, they were kind of outside my price range… But I did find a hostel within my budge (15 euros/night) in the town of Trikala which is 10 km away. [This is the last hostel I booked in the USA]

July 22 2015

I took the 1415 train from Athens to Trikala and arrived around 1730h. Made friends with a cute Taiwanese couple on the train which made the rather long trip go by quicker. I LOVE meeting people from different countries and just learning about their lives and how the culture differs. They were staying n Kalambaka though :( 

If you are planning to travel in a country where you will not have unlimited data, I HIGHLY recommend  you to download an app called CityMaps2Go. You can download the map of the city you are going to visit along with any articles that would give you information on different tourist attractions/hotels/entertainment/dining etc. (you should preferably download this BEFORE you arrive to the city- so you are not super lost like I was my first day in Athens). Even when you are not connected to Wifi, your phone is able to know your location and tell you approximate distances from where you are to where you are trying to go. My favorite feature, besides always knowing where I am, is that you can star locations on the map! So, for example, when I arrived to the train statin in Trikala, I put a star on my current location so I would be able to find it when I left. 

The hostel was super easy to find. Just 20 minutes straight down the road, and I noticed a backpacker got off the same train as I and was walking in the same direction- my suspicion that he was headed to the same hostel as I was correct. We later met, his name is Ollie from the UK. (Oliver- how much more British can you get??)

Trikala looked like a small town, but the main pedestrian walkway was lined with restaurants and coffee shops  full of people enjoying.

I was SUPER exhausted, so I just went to get a 2 euro pita gyro (healthy :] ) and stayed at the hostel and planned my next leg- Sofia, Bulgaria. The people at the hostel that worked there were super helpful! They explained where the bus station was, and for 2.60 euros each way, we would be in Kalambaka in less than 45 minutes to hike up to see the monasteries. They recommended going on one of the early buses to beat the heat, and there were several people from the hostel that would be taking the 515AM bus the next morning. 

July 23 2015

I COULD not sleep that night… I went to bed late planning, and then felt like a little kid before Christmas because I started getting excited about Meteora and then Sofia and then the rest of my trip…. So waking up, slash sitting up because I am almost positive I didn’t sleep that night, at 430AM was welcomed! There were several people in my room (3 of 7) that were already up and ready. I officially met Ollie (the guy from the UK that was traveling in Greece for three weeks), Ben (this guy that has been traveling for a year ALL over the world and is now biking through Europe), and Gioanna (an American girl who had been living in Istanbul for two months as a student intern). People traveling in Europe are so cool.

It took like 20 minutes to get there and dawn was just starting to break and it felt cool which was a nice change from the 100 degree weather I had been enduring in Athens. I split off from the other people because I am really obnoxious with pictures and don’t like burdening people to take pictures for me several times or holding people up… Basically I wanted to do it at my own pace, and I would see them later at the hostel. 

The map I received at the hostel had no  street names, no square names.. Just a color pencil drawing of a small town. I also didn’t really know what I was looking for… So I tried unsuccessfully for a good hour to walk along the base of the rock formations assuming that the footpath would be obivous. Nope. At least it was a nice view.

I did literally walk through bushes and briars thinking that maybe it was overgrown.. Nope. My legs are covered in scratches -_-

After about an hour, its like 7am now, I finally start asking people (because nothing was open and no one was around at 6 in the morning). A nice old man basically walked me the correct path and off I went! At the time, I was kind of annoyed because I wanted to do the foot path…. I was instead walking the road that cars and buses took to drive to the monasteries. And it wasn’t very direct…. Anyways. It was really bizarre and amazing with the sun rising and changing the colors of the rocks from gray to orange.

I reached the main monastery, Grand Meteora, around 815 and it didn’t open until 9am. Luckily, I had brought some of the snacks Ioanna forced me to take… and I took a little cat nap. Plus you could see a monestaery that was nearby.

Then I wake up and there are MILLIONS of tour buses! What? You don’t deserve to make the line long you took a bus! 

Anyways.

Going to stereotype a bit but I have found it to hold true in every city that I have been to. So there were a lot of Asian tour buses, and many many many of them have selfie sticks and all are taking selfies next to each other, each with their own selfie stick. It looks ridiculous.

This one woman was taking a selfie with her husband (instead of asking one of the million other tourists walking around taking pictures….) and for whatever reason her phone comes loose. She tries to kick it down but IT FELL OFF THE SIDE OF THE ROCK MOUNTAIN (like 300m, 1000ft). Her face was just stunned at what had happened. I had to walk away so I wouldn’t laugh in her face. All the lost selfies!

The monestary was nice.

Once I had had enough of wearing all the extra clothes (since it’s living, women must cover their shoulders and wear a skirt), I decided to walk past the rest of the monasteries and the other points of interest. Decided not to go into anymore of them because Byzantine art makes me sleepy.

It was getting hotttt though so I stopped at the “sunset viewing point”

^unreal.

And then literally was falling asleep so decided to find the foot path, which was MUCH easier to find from the top.

I kept running into these Spanish kids that were also at my hostel and I was walking at awkward distances from them for the majority of the day….

I got back at 2pm to the hostel beatttttt. Siesta time and then decided to explore Trikala a bit.

Nice spot for my first meal of the day overlooking the city

The people at the hostel that night were super cool. A guy from Switzerland had just come in and he had basically done all of the destinations that I am planning to do so I got some tips :] I was actually able to give him some ideas for Athens and Delphi :)

Later that night I was convinced to change out of my pajamas to go out for  drink. An American girl, Alyssa (who has been living abroad for almost 2 years traveling and doing odd jobs), was leaving Trikala after working their for one week so Beniet (a Spanish guy that was working at the hostel for one month) was rallying a group to go out in her honor. It ended up  being two Portuguese guys, an Argentine, Ollie, Alyssa and I went down the block and literally were out until 330AM just talking and very casually drinking. Literally I had 2 beers, so I was far from crazy- but discussing life with people you may never see again that share a passion for traveling and people makes for a very interesting night ! 

lol at Ollie

I was just dead the next day but whatever- take advantage of situations as they arise!

P.S. I literally walked over 40000 steps and up 209 floors for my fellow fitbiters :P