Ideas and Travelling

It is not a secret every day people celebrate something. Besides constant birthdays and personal anniversaries and official state celebrations every day of our calendar is devoted to a certain occasion. Seriously or not but there is Mole Day, Reptile Awareness Day and White Shirt Day.  People created so many holidays that in different countries on one day you can celebrate more than two or three events. For example, today is Information Overload Day, World Day of Statistics, International Day of the Cook, International Day of the Air Traffic Controller, if you are an employee of the Road Economy you are welcome to celebrate your professional day in Russia today. What else can we think up to make our life more vivid? 

Souls, by T.A. Life is a kind of travelling. This is a short way in the comparison to infinity, the way forward in a tremendous pace. No matter how hard you try to seize the moment, Dr. Time doesn't let you do it. You can only rely upon your memory as a source of your vivid or vague recollection that causes inner joy or fear. One day a person wakes up in the morning and realizes that Today is a new day full of events and opportunities. The sun is shining whenever the weather at his place. He may enjoy life. But he misses his far away Yesterday. The very yesterday when his best half was alive. When he finally had clear plans for the future, the sad Tomorrow decided to cut off the tiny hope for everything that could bring those both happiness.  Time flies without mercy. People, like constant passengers, get off a time-plane for doing a tour full of exciting, useful or boring and terrifying events, and after all they have to return on board and leave for t...

If you want to find yourself in a specific museum of one of the most famous drinks in the world, you are welcome in the Museum of Russian Vodka in Smolensk. Though it works from 13 p.m. to 17 p.m. and you can face the closed door on Mondays and Tuesdays, it's quite easy to get to the place on time. It is situated in Studentcheskaya St. not far from the river Dnieper.     I should add, there is a great fortress wall in Smolensk with its towers and gates. Earlier instead of the museum, in 1812, there used to be a gate called Pyatnetsky Watergate, unfortunately the French troops exploded it while retreating. (As you remember, 1812 is the year of the Russian Patriotic War against Napoleon.) Later, in 1865, a church was built at the place of the former gate. Time passed, morals remained. In 2003 the representatives of one local factory producing spirit organized a museum known nowadays as the Museum of Russian Vodka. It is a one-room museum which give...

Nowadays, we have the power of the Internet to do tours of famous museums, castles and some other places of interest. We should thank the inventors of such brilliant things. A few years ago, students enjoyed only the postcards, printed photographs, illustrations and numerous descriptions placed in journals and books of far away countries. We had to think carefully about every detail of monuments, paintings, buildings, sculpture to do the written or oral report or a composition very well. And we coped with it. We might have never been to France, but we could speak a lot about its history, literature and culture. We had to go to the non-electronic libraries, to read non-ebooks and to chat with non-virtual friends. Perhaps we were not so cool and advanced users, but we managed to multitask :)  Today I want to speak about a noteworthy monument named ‘Greatful Russia – the heroes of 1812’. It is situated in Smolensk, a boundary town in Central Russia. By the way, the town cel...

Warsaw, by T.A. As a schoolboy or a schoolgirl we had to learn about plenty of things that we had never seen in our lives. We studied the Ancient Civilizations being in the 3d class. We had to look at numerous masterpieces of the Renaissance and to write compositions about what the genius had had on his mind. Lots of information disconnected with our surroundings was knocked in our young heads. I admit it is very helpful for enlarging one’s outlook, developing an aesthetic taste and training mechanical memory. However, not every reproduction in a colourful or black-and-white illustrated book can produce the same impression on its viewer. It is almost useless to make students speak up frankly about their feelings according to the soulless copies. It goes without saying, one look is worth a thousand words. Travelling and learning should go together. Try it once and you will not resist temptation of carrying it on.

Despite the fact that all modern world lives in a furious pace and our scientists try hard to make our existence easier by inventing newer facilities and conveniences , some people still prefer using terrestrial means of transport to travelling by plane. And there is not only economical reason. Continual bad breaking news about all kind of crashes has been thrilling the superstitious minds all over the world. A common person would think twice before booking a flight. It is easier with businessmen. To travel as fast as to make decisions is highly important because of a constant competition. Ice-cream-like, by T.A. Uncountable social surveys rank buses and cars as the most dangerous means of transport, while trains are on the 2nd position, water transport enjoys the 3rd position, finally, airplanes take the last rate out of four positions in the statistics list. In the sky, by T.A. Shall we speculate about advantages and disadvantages of travelling b...

The Quiet Nest Palace in Balchik is known as Queen Maria's summer residence. Maria, the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania, was so impressed by the beauty of the Black Sea shore in Balchik, that she ordered to build a summer villa there. It was constructed in 1920s.  Queen Maria's Palace Tourists can find the residence approximately 2 km south-west of Balchik in a beautiful locality between the Balchik rocks and the sea. The place represents an architectural park complex. Take a long walk around the Botanical Garden where you can see a few residential villas, an Orthodox church, a wine cellar, a holy spring, a chapel, a bridge of sighs, Roman baths and many other interesting objects. Old Roman baths There is a great opportunity to enjoy watching various ships, waves hugging the rocks, picturesque rose gardens and Kaliakra Point (Cape Kaliakra) alluring you at the distance. Rose Garden and the view on Kaliakra Point In the garden there is one...

  “Beer is made by men, wine by God.”                                                                                     Martin Luther It is not a secret that wine is one of the national drinks in Bulgaria. In its turn, the country is a leading wine producer in the Eastern Europe. Travelling around Bulgaria you can see vineyards in all its parts, except for the region around the capital city Sofia. For example, the Northern Region is well known for its white wine and the Southern Region is famous for reds. Bulgarian wines are divided into three ...

The Sacred bonfire Firewalking is a well-known ritual in many cultures. It has been practising for centuries in such places as India, Bulgaria, Polynesia, South Africa etc. As we know, fire is a symbol of the sun and light, the hearth and home. It is also connected with goodness and evil. Fire gives strength and purifies one's soul. In Bulgaria there is a great opportunity to meet Nestinarstvo, an ancient ritual of a barefoot walk on smouldering embers by nestinari. Traditionally it is performed on the day of Sts.Constantine and Elena. Though, nowadays, you can see it more often as it takes place in some areas specially for tourists.  The ceremony of such a barefoot walking over ashes symbolises a close connection of one's body and mind. It is believed that only nestinari have the right to perform the ritual. They are considered to be gifted people endowed supernatural power that can be inherited. So, before firewalking make sure you belong to t...