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'Bruderscaft' Sneezing in Budapest | Vitali Vitaliev | Hungary, Budapest, Budapest
"Ah-tishoo!" I was woken by my own sneeze and realised, with horror, that I had the 'flu. I looked out of the window. It was early morning. My train - 'Pannonia Express' - was stationary. A sign with a frightening word 'Szekesfehervar' was in front of me. A station name like that could exist only in one country - Hungary.
Amsterdam | Vitali Vitaliev | Netherlands, Amsterdam, Amsterdam
I committed a common boo-boo of a first-time visitor to Amsterdam by asking for a cup of espresso (and nothing else!) in a seedy coffee shop next to my hotel, and the barman eyed me with scornful disbelief, as if I had ordered a cup of sulphuric acid
Around the World by Private Jet | Vitali Vitaliev
I had four seats at my disposal with enough combined legroom to accomodate a couple of basketball teams. My fifth - smoking - seat was at at the back of the plane, where I would often retreat
Brighton Beach | Vitali Vitaliev | United States, New York State, New York
Spiritually, linguistically and psychologically, Brighton Beach is not part of the USA. An American, arriving there by accident, stands out and gets stared at - like an Eskimo in the streets of Abu Dhabi...
Dresden | Vitali Vitaliev | Germany, Saxony-Anhalt, Dresden
On my first visit to Dresden in October 1992, I was mistaken for a Princess Di's bodyguard.
Faking It in Vegas | Vitali Vitaliev
The power of illusion was so strong that it took me a while to realise that everything in that fake Paris quarter - the shops, the cobbles, the houses, the trees, the street signs (“Les Toilettes”) and even the mannequins of the “Parisians” – was made of plastic
Falkland Islands | Vitali Vitaliev | Falkland Islands, East Falkland, Stanley
Despite, or maybe because of the minefields surrounding it, there is an immediate charm about Stanley, with its multi-coloured roofs, with its quiet streets running down the hill towards the harbour...
Flight from Hell | Vitali Vitaliev | United Kingdom, Cotswolds, Wiltshire
The adventure started in Swindon, Wiltshire, where I was waiting for a bus to take me to RAF Brize Norton airport for a Tristar military flight to Mount Pleasant - the quickest - if not the cheapest - way to get to the Falklands
Last Shop in Europe. Much Cheapness! ran a tattered sign above the entrance to a tacky souvenir store-cum-café at the very edge of Europa Point in Gibraltar
Hotel from Hell | Vitali Vitaliev | Poland, Baltic Coast, Gdansk
The hotel was just a five-minute walk from the station. ‘Lido. Restaurant - NightClub’ ran a bright pink sign on its roof. Two burly security guards with square shoulders and broken noses blocked my way
Island legacy | Vitali Vitaliev | United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Jersey
It is well known that the island of Jersey boasts Europe’s highest per capita rate of privately owned cars. It is less known, however, that the island also operates the world’s highest number of 'occupation museums'
Leaf-Peeping in New Hampshire | Vitali Vitaliev | United States, New Hampshire, Concord
But a big business, such as the New England autumn has become in America, has no place for fairy tales
London | Vitali Vitaliev | United Kingdom, London, London
I love London's velvety summer nights, when nightingales scream their little lungs out in Berkeley Square, and a podgy full moon mooches about in the brandy-coloured sky, like a pot-bellied drunk trudging home from a pub
Meet the Bears | Vitali Vitaliev | United States, Alaska, Fraser Lake
In quantity and variety of natural wonders, Alaska resembles a huge shopping mall of beauty.
Moscow, Pennsylvania | Vitali Vitaliev | United States, Pennsylvania, Moscow
There are about a dozen little Moscows all over America, and Moscow, Pennsylvania, where I decided to terminate my journey, was no different from many other small American towns
Newry: Don't Mention the War | Vitali Vitaliev | United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Newry
I was instinctively curious about the first town on the northern side of the border, separating the euro-zone from the pound-zone and Ireland from … er… Ireland
Not a Pretty Face | Vitali Vitaliev | Ireland, East Coast Ireland, Dublin
If architecture is indeed a “frozen music”, Dublin's chaotic cityscape is an ear-grating cacophony, played by a madman
Oktoberfest | Vitali Vitaliev | Germany, Bavaria, Munich
'Beware of Australians at Oktoberfest!' they told me at the German National Tourist Office in London. 'What’s so dangerous about them?' I inquired, not disclosing the fact that I was an Australian myself
Old Believers in Alaska | Vitali Vitaliev | United States, Alaska, Anchorage
Had Alaska stayed Russian and then Soviet, paradoxically, it would never have become home to the world's most obscure community of Russian outcasts
Perfect Day | Vitali Vitaliev | Greece, Mainland Greece, Mount Athos
Having visited over 60 countries of the world in the last seven or eight years, I often fantasise about an ideal day, spent in the places that I liked most of all
Prague | Vitali Vitaliev | Czech Republic, Prague, Prague
Not far from U Fleku, in Kaprova Street, I spotted a small pub called U Mestkiy Knihovni (‘At a Local Bookshop’). What an ingenious name! Imagine an angry wife questioning her wayward husband: “Where have you been all evening?” “At a local bookshop,” he answers meekly and the would-be row gets quickly defused...
Tallinn and Riga | Vitali Vitaliev | Estonia, Tallinn, Tallinn
What a curious substance, human memory! It can be compared to an overflowing rubbish-bin, which our brain, this amnesiac dustman, chronically forgets to empty.
Venice | Vitali Vitaliev | Italy, Veneto, Venice
Yes, let’s face it: Venice is geriatric and slowly dying. This 800-year-old town-sized toy was never intended to last that long. Its founders built this baroque equivalent of Disneyland for their own delight and hedonism, without giving much thought to the future
Vermont | Vitali Vitaliev | United States, Vermont, Cavendish
It was like chasing a ghost - at least, it felt like that in the beginning, as I was driving through the forests of the Black River Valley which, according to New England tourism officials
Vitali Vitaliev's America | Vitali Vitaliev | United States, Louisiana, New Orleans
Initial impressions gradually transformed as I was dining at Arnaud's, the much-celebrated Creole restaurant in Rue Bienville, where the waiters were so friendly and intelligent that I felt like inviting all of them
Vitali's Ireland: A Brief Guide to Corkonia | Vitali Vitaliev
We are constantly open to surprise. As a matter of principle we are always open to the unexpected – after all, that is why we live in Cork
Vitali's Ireland: An Irish Village | Vitali Vitaliev
It was my first ever night in a 'typical country pub in a 'typical' Irish village and I was speedily approaching my personal best in Guinness consumption
Vitali's Ireland: Last Breakfast at Bewley's | Vitali Vitaliev
On the outside wall of a public toilet shed right behind the church, there were two signs: “Drinking Water”, with no tap underneath, and “Holy Water”, with a tap firmly in place
Wales | Vitali Vitaliev | United Kingdom, Wales, Hay-on-Wye
If anyone at all could shed some light on the mystery of the Red Dragon, it had to be Jan Morris, who knew Wales like the back of her palm. It took me three hours to drive across Snowdonia to Llyn Peninsular
Weekending in Salzburg | Vitali Vitaliev | Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg
Salzburg is an undisputed gem of Central Europe, “the heart of Europe’s heart”, as it was put by an Austrian poet