Stara Zagora The heavy rain stopped during the night and the sun broke through the clouds. The weather was definitely improving. Today was going to be a traveling day, no sightseeing. My goal was to get from Stara Zagora to Blagoevgrad via the shortest route, i.e. without going to Sofia. I was in Sofia before, […]
Bulgaria 2017 (Stara Zagora – Blagoevgrad) Read More »
It was sad to leave Byala. The past few days were sunny. The Black sea calmed down after a storm; its waters became clear and inviting again and everyone in the city headed for the beach to use perhaps the last chance to have a swim this year. The weather changed overnight. It was drizzling
Bulgaria 2017 (Byala – Stara Zagora) Read More »
Colombo to Kandy In spite of the conditions in which we spent the night I woke up rested. Both of us showed no ill effects from eating the local food. Our breakfast consisted of power bars and tea from the same glasses that we used the day before. Our goal was to visit Sigiriya, an
Sri Lanka (Kandy – Sigiryia – Kandy), April 2016 Read More »
Colombo to Kandy From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia we flew to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. This island country was first partially occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century, then in the 17th century by the Dutch. In the early 19th century the British seized the entire island, made it a British colony and
Sri Lanka (Colombo to Kandy), April 2016 Read More »
In spring 2016 we planned to have a driving vacation. The Death Valley, Zion, Bruce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks were on our bucket list for several years. We were dead serious about going there this time. One day my husband Sergey came home from work and said that he saw online cheap tickets
The backstory The application The interview The permanent residency visa Any migrant knows what a daunting task is to wrap up everything in one country in order to start a new life from scratch in another country. First of all I needed an exit visa. Russian citizens were not free to leave the country without
From Russia to Australia by freighter: departure Read More »
Day 1, Munich Day 2, Füssen The jet lag caught up with me and I only slept until 3 am. After a blissful sleep on the previous night in Füssen,” I thought that my body clock already switched to the local time. Well, it did not. I tossed and turned hoping to get another hour
Three days in Bavaria: Augsburg Read More »
Day 1, Munich Day 2 I opened my eyes with a start. My phone showed 6.58 am, time to get up. Füssen is the home base for visiting two castles that were built by the royal Bavarian family. After reading travel reports about people standing for hours in line to buy tickets to the castles
Three days in Bavaria: Füssen Read More »
As it often happens before a trip I did not want to leave home. It was a little over one month since I returned from my last trip to Bulgaria and I was flying to Europe again, this time to Munich. The night before the departure I checked if everything was packed. The backpack felt
Three days in Bavaria: Munich Read More »
Watching the solar eclipse was on our calendar well before the event. My husband Sergey who is an atmospheric research scientist wouldn’t miss it for the world. The question was whether to watch a 93% of obscuration of the Sun in Boulder, Colorado where we live or to drive to the neighboring state of Wyoming
The total solar eclipse on the 21th of August, 2017 in Wyoming Read More »
