#Friends Archives | Chasing the adventure

St. Petersburg is like Tomsk, only bigger

…Trip despite the coronavirus

Usually when someone finds out that I’m from Russia, they assume I’m from Moscow.

Foreigners have generally heard of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, two largest cities in Russia, the country’s capital and cultural capital.

I’m from Tomsk, but I love Saint Petersburg as much as my hometown. I think it was my father’s fault. He liked to quote Pushkin’s poem ” The Bronze Horseman”: “I love you, Peter’s Creation.”.. These words were about the city of St. Petersburg, created by Peter the Great. But my father’s name was also Peter, and I was his creation…. it was a pun, but that’s probably why I fell in love with the city.

When a quantity does matter

…five-thirty in the morning, the first half cup of coffee, I scroll the FB on the phone and see a friend request from a man from Indonesia. He has 3 posts-photos: he, he and a woman in a headscarf, he and a woman in a headscarf with a child in her arms. Not a word in Russian, and only the name of the place of work in English. And … 1284 friends! 1284! I stare at the phone in surprise: how did he “make” so many friends, and most importantly, why?