Explore the World

Explore the world and discover yourself. Extend self through travel, conversation and thought.

Ищут Россию: народ, церковь и государство

2017/11/11
By
Modified: 2017/11/05
Fallen-Russia 2014

Пишут ли люди ещё что-нибудь кроме  text messages?  Оказывается – пишут.  Здесь перед вами email обмен из 5 посланий.  Отец пишет из Москвы, а двое сыновей отвечают из Америки. Поводом для этого обмена послужил сборник статей  “Монтаж и демонтаж секулярного мира”.  Книга это более 400 страниц, но мы предлагаем начать прямо со статьи Морозова  – Легенды и мифы российской истории . . . Олег Морозов Легенды и мифы российской истории: историческая политика руководства Русской православной церкви в начале XXI в. (в книге Монтаж и демонтаж секулярного мира)   =01= 2014-12-22 8:23 GMT-05:00    Отец: Дорогие ребята, решил переслать вам один материал. Интересно, как вы к нему отнесётесь. Папа. From: Carnegie Moscow Center Sent:…

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Aug 23 THU – Cinque Terra [… in progress …]

2017/11/10
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Modified: 2017/09/16
Monterosso al Mare - Seashore

[…in progress…] Our bus to the train station was scheduled for 09:10, so we woke up at 07:30 and went down to have a large free breakfast. Fruits and eggs, and several cornetti (croissants).  Very good. At the front desk I did buy  2 LEVANTO – LA SPAZIA unlimited one day train tickets with rights to use the Park trails (€10×2 = €20 cash). Five for usage of the park, and five for unlimited rides between La Spezia and Levanto. We took a free hotel-provided shuttle at 09:10 to La Spezia train station, and at 09:26 I already validated the tickets in one of the yellow machines on the platform.  Single…

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Trip to Montreal – July 2011 – Through New Hampshire

2017/11/08
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Modified: 2017/11/05
Place-des-Arts

There are only 3 warm long weekends in a year - Memorial, July 4-th and Labor Day. Get an extra day off and get away from the city every time. This article is about wonders of Sawyer Pond in New Hampshire and fantastic Montreal in French-speaking Quebec. Read all about 2 bikes, 4 nights, $700 and 800 miles.

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Aug 22 WED – Lucca (Toscana) – La Spezia (Liguria)

2017/11/06
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Modified: 2017/09/16
La Spezia - Hotel Ghironi

  Today we woke up at 9:15 in Lucca.  This is a middle of a second week and it is a midpoint in our trip.  This is night number 12 out of 24. Right now (10:37) we are finishing our fruit breakfast in the kitchen, and planning to stroll around the city over the city walls.   Lucca – City walls are so thick that a wide comfortable boulevard is forming a unique circle around the center Lucca – Basilica di San Frediano – 13:16   First, we climbed the city wall (11:52) near our hotel (Corso Garibaldi) and walked our marry ways along with other pedestrians and bicyclists. The walls…

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2015 BMW 535i xDrive Gran Turismo – Dark Graphite

2017/11/05
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Modified: 2017/11/05
Test-Drive-Day-2015-06-14-S

This article is to record all the random and wonderful coincidences and events that led to finding and purchasing a new 2015 535i xDrive Gran Turismo on Sunday, June 14 2015. This article started on Wednesday, June 17, 2015.  This car has a few days of history with me, but it was sitting in the showroom long enough to be discounted and get into an “attractive” zone.  The earliest date on the documentation provided is 2014-09-19 when this car went through inspection before entering a showroom.   Date Event 2015-06-01 MO 15:01 I received an email from BMW to schedule a routine free service appointment for my 2013 BMW 320Xi. 16:12 I…

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Crossing Pemigewasset Wilderness through Twin Brook Trail

2017/11/04
By
Modified: 2017/09/16
Stone-Profile

Crossing a huge body of wilderness often involves a question of returning back to your car.  This itinerary suggests such a crossing, if you have one car, one bike and 3 nights to spend in the woods.  At no point you are required to carry your tent and your sleeping bag on your back.  Instead, you will stay two nights in a campground and one night in the hut, where they have beds and blankets. New Hampshire White Mountains are only 2 hours from Boston (140 miles to Lincoln, NH).  They are close enough and large enough to explore several times a year. Here is a bird-eye view of your itinerary:…

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Aug 21 TUE – From Pescia to Lucca

2017/11/02
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Modified: 2017/11/03
Collodi - Old Town I

  We are in Pescia in a Villa Vezzani somewhere near even smaller Collodi.  We added this village into our itinerary, because we thought that there is a link exist between Collodi the village and Collidi the author of Pinocchio.  There are none. We woke up at 7:30 and took a quick walk around the villa.  We contemplated the sun and the eternal summer.  We slept with all three windows wide open (second floor) and did not have any bites from insects.  Temperature has never fallen to a chilly level, just comfortable.   Rise and shine Pescia – Villa Vezzani Where is Juliaetta on the balcony? This was our fist experience to live…

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Cold comparison of Soul destiny under Easter and Western traditions

2017/10/31
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Modified: 2017/09/16
Cold Comparison

Communists abolished the religion in 1917 and advanced a new world vision.  Here, in this cold emotionless article I want to compare several world religions (including communism) in just one aspect – origin and destiny of soul.   Several generations of Soviet people were living and dying without promise of afterlife. How did they do it?   Let us compare how various concepts of afterlife can work from purely statistical point of view?   Communist Faith   Under Communist regime, you work and die for the benefit of next generations, and your soul (you thoughts and your deeds) will be carried forward in the hearts and minds on the next generations. …

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Aug 20 MON – Firenze (Day 3) – Collodi

2017/10/29
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Modified: 2017/09/16
Firenze - Via del Proconsolo

  We woke up at 6:45, and were out on the streets at 07:07.  The heat is gone. What a relief from afternoon heat.  It is nice and breezy on the streets at this hour.  We wanted to see all major Firenze sites one more times before the crowds. We saw 3 young (most likely German) tourists next to the wall of the Duomo.  They were just waking up and gathering their colorful sleeping gear.  They travel on a very low budget, and no one bothered them sleeping in front of the Duomo. Quickly we reached Piazza della Signoria and realized that arches here (Loggia dei Lanzi) remind us arches on Odeonsplatz in Munich,…

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2013 July 03-07 – Hiking from Gorham to Wild River Trail – Biking back

2017/10/27
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Modified: 2017/09/16
07-11 First picture of the day

  July 3, Wednesday Around 13:30 on Wednesday things seemed slow enough at work that I saw an opportunity to make an early start for the White Mountains.  I quickly gathered all the things, and departed by 15:00. Around 15:20 a phone call caught me on route 128, and I made a stop on a Rest Area to connect to work and do some fixes.  The connection was unusually slow, and I couldn’t get close to the windows (for better signal) because of the sun.  Around 16:46 I was done, traffic became a solid menace by this time.  Instead of braving the traffic for several hours on the way to New Hampshire, I decided to…

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Aug 19 SUN – Firenze – Day 2 – Uffizi Gallery

2017/10/25
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Modified: 2017/09/16
Uffizi - Guide for the Blind

  Today we are going to Uffizi and Academia.  We woke up at 08:00, and quickly finish with our breakfast (no fresh fruits though).  We started out to visit our car around 09:30.  On the way there, we drank coffee and ate watermelon (€6.40).  We crossed the river through the picturesque Ponte Vecchio. We even found another house were Galileo apparently lived or was experimenting with gravitation on Costa San Giorgio.  Kids!  Do not experiment with gravitation at home.  You might end up as Galileo did.   We were searching a short cut on other side of Arno river, and all of a sudden we found another Galileo house and museum…

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