There are some cities to explore

Traveling has become my obsession, I've already written about it. So, I've traveled, can't say, that a lot, but using every chance to do it and it seems much for my ages.  One of my friends once said: "Every trip begins from choosing a point of your stay", and that's what I did. I've chosen the points for some times. There are:

Helsinki. This is the place of russian activity, every citizen of Petersburg has been to the capital of Finland. It's quite nice, calm and cosy, there are H&M and all this scandinavian stuff, which seems better to us. For me Helsinki is a window, the place where you definitely should go if you want to travel to Europe and I like this place.

Stockholm. It's my place. I can walk in the Gamla stan for hours, taking photos and falling in love with the city. It has everything, my favorite cafe Nova, art galleries, a girl down the street playing on a strange instrument the music that will remain deeply in your heart, people, who smile to you on every step, shops and courts, ice cream, sculptures. Everything to make an impression of hospitality.

Oslo. It doesn't even look like a capital. It's huge, but it's something strange and northern, but I love it for Munch, a-ha, Frognerparken, its Opera-house and many other things. It's light, it doesn't ask anything from you, it just gives you a delight impression of the city which is glad to receive you.

Berlin. I came there by accident. I wasn't going there, but life decided for me, so I agreed to travel there. I can definitely say that I've found myself there. I tried everything I was so afraid of and I liked that. I've experienced my life, to tell the truth, at first time and since then I can't stop exploring. 

Barcelona. During these times I was obsessed about art. So, I decided to look at the Gaudi's masterpieces yo misma. I've stayed there for two weeks and used to make everything, from meeting new people and staying at the beach for hours to visiting the museum of Salvador Dali and looked at the cathedral of Sagrada Familia.  It was terrific! 

Paris. I went there with a great expectation to avoid the cliche and NOT to fall in love with the city. I failed! I can truthfully say that it's my city, a place where I could live. Everything that was said about Paris was true! It's marvelous and I dream to come back there. One day I gonna live in Paris. 

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973)

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone.

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling in the sky the message He is Dead,

Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

The journey to three countries

When my parents faced the moment of choosing the country to travel to, there were no hesitations, they have chosen Norway. This choice has been done, 'cause we've been dreaming for years to see the beauty of Norway, we've heard much about it from my dad, who was in the army on the frontier between Russia and Norway. I've been listening to his stories about northern lights and the beauty of fjords. So, we decided to travel to Norway. Our trip ran through two another countries, Finland and Sweden. We were traveling by bus, in the reason of saving money and enjoying beautiful views. To get from Finland to Sweden you have to set on the board of a ship. I remember very well my amazement and endless happiness at the moment when my dad gave me a board ticket to the ship called Silja, I even cried, 'cause I was suprised and happy.

So, we started our journey from Petersburg to Helsinki, Finland. I remember very well all my anticipations of future trip, I was packing my clothes and things to the case during the whole night, it was for the first time, so everything seemed so special. My dad, mum and little brother, they all were expecting for this moment during a long time. We started our journey from the Moskovsky railway-station at 5 am, it was too early for me to get up =). We were driving the whole morning and crossed the frontier with Finland. I remember very well my nervousness during my first passport-control. It was wonderful to see the stamp in your passport which has broken the past rules of prohibited journeys and allowed me to travel in the future. 

Our first stop was in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. We were on excursion around the center of the city, took many photos, and saw the Nikolsky cathedral, which I liked the most. Everything seemed so new to me, I thought that people in Europe live another life, which is so different to mine, every place of my glance was new and special to me. I was full of this strange feeling of happiness to get a new experience to watch, feel, glance for hours, smell, laugh and to get to know some new place.

After a walk in Helsinki, our group moved to Turku, the city where we had to board the ship. In the evening we were on the board, I was absolutely striked. I have never pretended myself on the board of a ship, and at that moment I was swimming from Finland to Sweden expecting for new journeys and discoveries. After supper we returned to our cabin and went to bed. As usual, the first day of a journey seemed to be the longest, so I slept well, 'cause I was full of emotions and openings. We were swimming the whole night and woke up in the capital of Sweden - Stockholm.

The whole morning we were exploring Stockholm. To tell the truth, for me it seems to be very similar to my city Petersburg, all these cosy streets, art galleries and the architecture, but still something seemed to be so special. At every corner I was met by a smile of  a person I haven't got to know. Everyone was smiling to me, it seemed so strange and opened to me, that I couldn't stop smiling too. I was really happy. It was just a simple walk in the center of the city, taking photos and exploring, but to me it was a real discovery of my own feelings and expectations. It was a process not only of discovery, but also of self-discovery. What is another city looks like? How do I look in the other city? What can it bring me? Whom can I get to know here? All these questions have been asked during years, and for the first time in my life, I got a chance to answer them.

This trip also gave me the first experience of speaking a foreign language. I've been learning english since I was 5, but I had some strange language barrier, which haven't let me to speak properly and without confusion. So I was sent everywhere by my mum, who knew the importance of breaking the language barrier, to ask for coffee, to pay for the souvenirs, after some time this barrier had been broken and I was using every possibility to speak english. I liked this very much. So, since then, it's absolutely impossible to make me keep silence, when I speak english =)

The next stop was Norway! The country of my dreams with its nature, fjords and culture. I've heard so much about this place, that I couldn't even believe my eyes when I saw its beauty at first. It took me some time to realize that I was traveling to Norway. I don't know why, but I feel very calm and agreed with myself there. This amazing union of water, mountains, snow, grass, trees, ice, animals, everything that we used to call nature gives me a wonderful and priceless feeling of freedom and the faith in myself. I will always think about this place as it was my home. People speak the language which I don't know, they have another traditions, another culture, but I love this so much, all this differences seems to be so native, I won't ever stop exploring this amazing land of contradictions and combination of uncombined things. I was traveling by Norway during a week. It was my first trip ever. I liked it so much, that I kept every detail of this journey in my memory, I can still remember many things which are usually get to be forgotten during some period of time after the journey, but I still remember the heather near the road, the view of  Northern Sea, glaciers of far away places, waterfalls, norwegians and the beautiful cities of Norway. 

The first one

It's already october, it's time of coming back to my writings here, to tell the truth, I'm glad to write here again.

So, I have already written a lot about my obsession of traveling and what it means to me, and now I want to write about my first journey, about the time when my passion have taken place.

I live in Russia, which has been the part of the Soviet Union during about 70 years. In 1991 USSR has broken up and all the soviet republics have become the independent countries, but there is still a bad mark on our history, 'cause too many rumors connected with the socialistic past do still exist and do not let people get the real view on my country. Unfortunately, nowadays russians still continue to face some troubles and cliches connected with our past, that's why sometimes we are not so likely received in other countries.

I was born in 1991, so I can remember some troubles with which my family had to encounter with. For example, there were huge queues near the shops, on the shelfs of the shop only the same products could be found, the information about our new president and the government was kept in secret, people were shooting near the White house in Moscow... yeap, this was the part of our history, but fortunately, nowadays, everything is fine, we can live in our country normally without facing such troubles anymore.

The worst disadvantage of Soviet's Union politics, in my view, was the prohibition to travel.  Simple people were not allowed to travel, to be tourist, USSR was a very closed country with its own rules, politics, culture and prohibitions, all this was directed to make life of soviets people better.  To my mind, it wasn't a great decision of the past government, but so it was. During many years people were not allowed to travel, my family faced this problem too. So, in 2002 after storing up some money my family decided to make a journey at the first time. 

When my parents faced the moment of choosing the country to travel to, there were no any hesitations, they have chosen Norway...