Travelling
Millions of people all over the world spend their holidays travelling. There are two view points on travel. Some people like to go to one place and spend their holidays there. The place may be an interesting city, a picturesque village, a remote island or some other attractive place. Others believe in seeing as much as possible in the time they have. People travel be train, by boat or by car. All means of travel have their advantages and disadvantages. And people choose one according to their plans and destinations.
As for me I prefer travelling by car. I travel to see other countries and modern cities and ruins of ancient towns, I travel just for a change of scene. It is always interesting to discover new things, different ways of life, to try different food, to listen to different musical rhythms. I think that every sightseeing tour of a big city includes visit to place of historic interest. I would advise my friends to visit Moscow, the capital of our Motherland. What impressed me most of all – it was the Tretjakov Gallery. The Tretjakov Gallery is a major research, artistic, cultural and educational center. The Gallery takes its name from its founder, the merchant Pavel Tretjakov, who began to collect Russian paintings in 1856. The collection was donated as a gift to the city of Moscow in 1882. Later it was supplemented by collections from other museums and private citizens. The Tretjakov Gallery has a rich collection of old Russian Icons from the 11th to the 17th century, many fine examples of Russian paintings from 18th to the early 19th century. The Gallery contains halls devoted to old Russian paintings, to great master such as Ivanov, Serov, Surikov, Repin and Levitan. Levitan was one of the first painters of the Russian scenery to reveal its beauty. He is a real poet of the Russian countryside.
Levitan is a very special sort of painter. There is something in his landscapes that reflects our moods. He deeply felt what he wanted to depict. A master of landscape, he never introduced figures into it. Though if you look at "The autumn in Sokolniky" you will notice the figure in the center. Everything seems to underline the loneliness of this figure: the trees loosing their leaves, the remote indifferent sky, the path going off into the distance. But the fact is that it was not Levitan who painted this figure. It was Chekhov's brother Nikolay who did it. Levitan's influence over lyrical landscape painters can't be over estimated. His paintings have won the love and gratitude of people.
The Tretjakov Gallery is really worth visiting. Other attractions for me are shopping areas or streets that are intended mainly for pedestrians and where cars are not usually allowed. Such areas and streets can provide people with facilities they need for leisure, sports, education and sightseeing. I like to take a camera with me and take pictures of everything that interest me – the sights of the city, old churches and castles, views of mountains, lakes, waterfalls, different kinds of trees, flowers and plants, animals and birds. Later I will be reminded by the photos of the happy time I have had. In my opinion adventure is necessary for us all. It keeps us from growing old, it develops our imagination. One of the aims of travel is to go in search of beauty. And then there is for the traveler the great joy of coming home again. So the traveler besides the delight of travel has the warmest feeling of returning home.