To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries
Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963)
The Prism
Everyone has a prism of how he/she feels the world. I’m absolutely sure that it’s also valid for traveling. When we travel, we all see things differently, everyone on his own way.
As I decided to recount you my travel stories, let me tell you first why I love to travel. Let me tell you about MY prism. And you will understand why traveling makes me dream.
I have been strolling in Europe for a few years now and I would like to tell you something, a story.
My Story
I am coming from a former communist country. We were under that regime when I experienced my first travels abroad and I remember them: URSS, Greece, Poland.
My very first trip abroad was in Russia (URSS at that time) in St. Petersburg. I remember perfectly the “Nevski Prospekt” (minster Nevski) and Peterhof. I also remember how I was surprised by the communal apartments (flats shared by many families). I was really surprised!
But the first trip that truly had influenced me is the one in Greece, in 1990….Not because of the monuments or the landscape.
No! It’s because I found out Barbie! Barbie
Barbie, the doll that “was born” in 1959, was still unknown in Bulgaria. More than 30 years later !
Later, I went to Poland. By accident, I met a few nuns. Thanks to them I understood the difference between the Christian courses and the other religions (which absolutely was not the object of the trip).
So, 3 trips at this young age and so many new things. Surprising yeah?! Very, very surprising for a young lady! 🙂
This is when I felt I love traveling, and I still do! 🙂
City, countryside, mountains ?
I love them all! I love cities, countrysides, mountains.
Still I prefer the city tourism may be because I come from a big city, and I was always living in a big city. Or, it’s just because I found cities so alive!
What affects me and excites me in a city – that’s the houses, the buildings, the people on the streets who hurry up to go to work, to school or something else. I examine their faces, their way of communication. I feel how the place ”soaks me up”.
I can even say I learn better from “the streets” than from the museums. The last ones reflect the past, the street – the present. But don’t take me wrong, I love the museums too.
In the city I love to search for a logic, for a city center like I would find the people gathered together like in the Ancient Greece trying to solve the society’s problems.
I also love to search for the signs of an economic development because I would like to understand thanks to what the city lives and how, is there an industry and what kind of it.
Why I am telling all of that?
Because I would like to explain that everything am telling you about, all my stories are proper.
I don’t want to speak about politics, nor religion, nor the differences between the people whatever they are. When I approach a topic this is only for its historical value, there isn’t any judgment. I don’t judge, I hope nor you do!
Alex
PS: A special thanks to my friend Mihaela Zaharieva to whom I owe the wonderful picture on the top of the page!
