Among the things I learned this week:

* Sofia is old–it dates to before 7th century BC–and there is evidence of its history strewn all about the city. (Courtesy: EZ and Sofia)

* Bulgarians know the last-clap game. (Courtesy: Crowd at a National Opera and Ballet performance)

* The interpretive variety and latitude of ballet performances is vast, the details of which I learn more and more about as I continue to explore. (Courtesy: Joan Acocella’s Dance Notes about Swan Lake in The New Yorker)

* Computer-guided matchmaking dates to at least the 1960s. (Courtesy: Nick Paumgarten’s The New Yorker article Looking for Someone).