Travel Space 4 U

I went to Romania in 1985, when there still Chaushesku was the dictator of the country. I saw the country in the period of stagnation. Nothing then changed, “perestroyka” was only beginning in the USSR. My first impression of Bucharest, and in fact shock, was on the first day of our arrival, on Sunday in the middle of September. Our group then just came by train from Russia. In the morning a group of tourists went by foot to a supermarket without our guide. I had a small bag in my hand, where half of my permitted sum of Romanian leus (then a Soviet citizen could have only a limited sum) was in a purse. It was my first trip abroad, and as it is known, only “nomenclature” could go abroad and with a special permition in the Soviet Union. Nobody had told me about the danger of robbery and pickpockets. In an instance I was robbed by a thief and I did not notice it. My companions saw a little boy of about five who opened my bag and took the purse very skillfully. I tried not to be disappointed. In the supermarket my college was almost robbed by a cashier, who did not want to give her change, a rather big sum. But she and I were persistent, and at last the woman gave in. Not everything was so bad. On the next day we were taken to the country and visited a kind of museum: a typical peasant house  with a lot of objects made by craftsmen.. We went by bus about the country and watched wonderful views and nice small towns. We could even buy clothes, in the USSR that was a problem. We were in Romania only three days, our next country was Hungary.

As we travelled from the South to the North, we were staying in very good hotels with good and diversified breakfasts. A very new and modern hotel “Ibis” near Rome was a little sophisticated with a system of turning on and off the light that had to be learned and a modern system of locking the door with a card. In this hotel there happened a strange mess in the morning when our guide hurried us up, while we had to find and wash cups and plates for our breakfast, there were no waiters at all. They said it was a kind of strike. A wonderful hotel “Grand Plaza” near Florence was a restored ancient building with high wooden windows and doors. It combined ancient grandeur with all the modern comfort and services.
The architecture of Venice was unique and beautiful in its own style. Venice was the last place of our tour, and we were to depart from Verona.

Italy was the country we had dreamed to visit long before in the Soviet Union, where there was iron curtain and it was impossible to go abroad. At last our group of relatives managed to make this tour in six days with a very good guide. Our guide Boris M. did his best to show us the country in such a short period. Italy made an impression of a country without strict rules: it was strange to see cars and buses on tram rails, then trams themselves on the same rails. People are lively and open. There are difficulties with languages, often we could not communicate, but still somebody knowing English could be found. We were told that in Naples mafia controlled restaurants, and in fact on our first morning in that town in a café I saw a man walking about and watching attentively.
The tourist objects were in good order. In the forum of ancient Rome there were  lots of tourists, and at some moment a woman from our group was lost. She immediately came to a policeman and very soon joined our group again. After a day in Rome we were taken to Tivoly, villa D’Este with 100 fountains of very special construction. In the evening we had a dinner in a restaurant, where we listened to very good singers, one of them a young girl, a singer of Rome Opera.

Summer is coming, my dear friends, isn’t? Obviously each of us has started to plan already to realize the most wonderful vacation dreams. Great idea! Because the universe is filled with so many wonder and magical things we have not seen but still want to discover.

What is the place we want to visit again and again? It’s London of course, because every time one meets this fantastic city he or she discovers something new without fail. Like a resonance of its very name suggests history and might London provides infinite opportunities for entertainment by day and night go on, exhilarating and intimidating, stimulating and irritating in equal measure again and again. It’s undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and mysterious cities in the world and everyone who takes its contrasts and cacophonies once then will be charmed with it for good. Anyway whether you’re going away on a family vacation, a short getaway, romantic, honeymoon, business or leisure trip it is worth to contact Tour Guide for the premier choice for all your travel needs and successful vacation. It will help you to figure out your splendid holiday in London or any other place you’ve chosen for and to be perfectly guided around its wonders.

Our excursion included also Oxford and Stratford upon Avon. Oxford is a very clean, nice and beautiful town with one- or two-storey buildings, we were in University campus and felt the atmosphere, in which students of old times learned. After that we went to Shakspere’s  native town and visited his wife’s Anne Hathaway house. In the centre of the town there is a remarkable monument to the immortal writer with many personages of his plays. There are 3 theatres in Stratford and the town looks nicely. What about theatres there are very many theatres in London and they are always full.
On one of the evenings we were taken to a restaurant-show “Beef-eaters”. There we tasted an ancient English soup and other good dishes and excellnt wine and bread. There was a show of knight tournament.
We were again in the Trafalgar Sqare and dropped for a short time in National Gallery. On the last day of our excursion we went to famous British Museum, where we met groups of French schoolchildren, that came from France for weekend. Dickens museum was not far from our hotel and there we went and were the only visitors of it at the time. Only one black woman fulfilled all the charges.  

We arrived in London in the morning. Our bus took us to the hotel. The first impression of London was of a whole region of small houses made of red brick, all of them having chimneys on the roof. Our guide told us that it was an old region and now mostly immigrants live here. Our hotel “Imperial Hotel” was in the centre of the city, Russel Square. The hotel was not new, but placed comfortably and gave us good breakfasts. What I noticed, the personnel was rather strict and even didn’t permit to change places they gave us for breakfast. This feature was characteristic for English clerks further on. In the evening we visited Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Sqare with Nelson column (really very high), Green Park and looked at Buckingham Palace from outside. At that time the old queen, queen Elizabeth’s mother, still lived there.
Westminster Abbey was a very long hall, containing graves of heroes and noble persons, well-known writers and scientists. There is a grave of an unknown soldier in the centre. All the coronations are being performed here.
There are 33 regions in London.  There is no municipality, the regions have their own administrations. In Whitehall there are ministries and buildings for Queen’s guards. Queen’s guards are very picturesq in their red clothes and big fur caps. Parliament House and Big Ben known all over the world are placed on the Themse river. They were built in the X1X century. Tower bridge near the famous Tower is decorated with small towers and chains. In the Tower we watched the quieen’s jewelry and crown with lots of jewels. In the Tower yard there was earlier execution place, where noble persons and some king’s wives were executed. There live ravens in the Tower yard and it is said that while they live there, England will live, so they are taken much care of.
We visited the old Hampton Court palace, where in the kitchens we saw big old kettles, the rooms look rather modest. Windsor Palace not far from London looked better, the rooms decorated nicely, but the throne looked like a simple arm-chair. It gave a good impression, the oldest monarchy did not need luxury.
Saint Paul Cathedral is the second big cathedral in Europe after Italian Saint Peter. Madam Tussaud’s museum is the most remarkable place. Lots of historical figures made quite naturally from wax, numerous rooms, I was especially impressed by the figures of Maria Antoinette and her family. You couldn’t escape riding on the “taxy”, where London spirit is expressed uniqally.

Very often  after the lectures I walked about the centre and went to Hermitage, the wonderful museum, known all over the world, where I usually went first of all to see my favorite picture “Danaya” by Rembrandt. After the Rembrandt collection I turned to the neighboring room and watched the pictures of famous Italian artist Titians. I became rather well acquainted with the museum with its labyrinth arrangement. The big windows gave much light in the daytime, the halls and rooms with lots of exquisite tables, arm-chairs, mirrors, clocks made by ancient European masters, all of them guilt with gold - really not only the pictures attracted the viewer’ attention. You could see the wonderful view of the Neva embankment from the windows.
The whole picture of the city centre with Winter Palace (a part of the museum), the wide Neva river, Petropavlovsk fortress, the Admiralty and the statue of the founder of all this beauty, Peter the first (the Horseman of Brass) made the impression of grand and strict beauty.

It is necessary also to mention the suburbs: the Tsar village with Katherine Palace and park and Alexander Park, Petergoff with a great number of fountains and much greater Pavlovsk park with its long alleys and strict planning.
In that special “Socialist Paradise” of Soviet Union most of the population received miserable salary, but the culture was accessible, as the people of art also got the same small sums. We had Kirov Theatre of opera and ballet, the Philharmonic Society, the houses, that left from tsarist time.
I was last time in Leningrad 18 years ago, I hope it is still as attractive as before. 

I was born in Leningrad.  At that time almost everybody whom I knew lived in flats, called  “communal”, which meant that each family in the flat had only one, rarely two rooms. Our family of parents and three children occupied a 18 square meter room. Then the owner of all houses was the state, there was no private living area. After the revolution of 1917 in Russia every private ownership was abolished. There were 7 rooms in our flat, and 7 families lived in it. Then, in the thirties, before the war, when I was a child, even the former owners of the flat still lived in it. They occupied two rooms, their family consisted of three generations. We lived in the centre near the famous Technological Institute. When the second world war began, our family escaped from Leningrad, which was already shouted, to a small settlement near Saratov on the Volga. After the war we returned, our life almost did not change: the same small room, the same poverty. My school was good, the teachers educated. Though I had to work for my living at the age of 16, I finished evening school in time and decided to enter the Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages, I chose English as a specialty. I liked the language and worked hard, and became one of the best students. We hadn’t to pay for the studies, the education was free, and even students, that were successful, received a small sum as an allowance. Now I had more free time, and often went by tram to see beautiful streets, the Neva embankment, pictures parks of Leningrad and its suburbs. In summer alone or with a friend I liked to go to Kirov Islands, where a big park with many attractions, such as concerts of music, dances etc. impressed with its cleanness and fine arrangement. There were beaches and sometimes, when the water was not very cold, it was possible to bathe. We also liked to go with my neighbor and friend Tanya to the beach under the wall of Petropavlovsk fortress, it was very popular with young people of the city. We often just stood near the warm wall and enjoyed the sun, which was rather rare in Leningrad with its regular rains even in summer. The water in the Neva was always cold. Sometimes we hired an oar boat together with cousin’s or friends and floated on the river or ponds.

13.08.07 We leave the hospitable house in Rappersville and go back to Munich. Misha sees us off. Again the change in Saint Gallen, and we are in the train to Germany. We found the train very crowded. The most of the passangers were muslem families, returning to Germany, probably, from  temporary work. It was quite near evening, when we came to Munich. It took us a lot of time to find the reserved hotel because of some mistake, as the order Julia had made in the Internet. It was rather unpleasant to go by tram to and fro with luggage in a big street, and at last we understood, where to go after a lot of consulting with local citizens. At last we reached the hotel and found it nice and comfortable. We left the luggage and went out. The hotel appeared to be very near the railway station. In the street parallel to it, we tried in vain to find a German café, all of them were belonging to Eastern people. At last we found one and bought drinks and ice-cream. Contrary to our first day in Munich, when it was morning, now we were rarely meeting a white man in the crowd, moving in front of us. We turned again to the walking street. There were a lot of metal chairs, fixed to the pavement with chains, women in long black dresses were sitting on each of them, their children were playing near. I guessed that their husbands were those, talking and doing business in small groups in the street near the railway station.  We again found young musicians, this time an orchestra of three, plaing wonderful classic music. They were working for money, and the public payed generously. The crowd of listeners stayed for a long time. At last, two babies about a year and a half went in the centre and danced till their parents took them away. It was the last day of our leave, we returned to hotel and on the next morning took the train to airport.

10.08.07 Luzern, a most good-looking town. The river Reus and a unique wooden roofed bridge with pictures, painted on triangle planks under the roof. They are genuine pictures of historical scenes. It was constructed and painted in the XY111-th century. There are many old houses, a lot of painted ones. This time we could use a most attractive side of our general ticket: an hour trip on a boat on Luzern lake. The team of the boat consists of a captain and a young girl, performing all the services on the boat.
11.08.07 It was  Saturday. Misha took us to a walk in the forest. We met a lot of people, some of them jogging. All of them greeted us with a cheer “Grutzy”. The forest is very clean, it is constantly renewed: the old trees are cut out and there are many new plantings, carefully barred, the wood-processing is popular here. We also saw workmen in the wood. 
12.08.07 It is the last day. We feel a slight enxiety before leaving. Julia offers to make a trip to Losanne and Lugano, three hours way there and as much back, this end of the country we didn’t see.  But Rachel and I are against it, and on the recommendation of Rachel, who is responsible for another guide-book, we go not far off to Zug and Swits. The first is more interesting, there was a Christian celebration, there were tables and benches in the square, food and drinks were sold. It is on the bank of lake Zug, there are boats as well. The second town Switz , the name of the canton, it gave its name to the country.