detail from: KRK Art dizajn

EXPERIENCES ON WORLD TRAVELS

Poland

Just before finishing my studies at the Faculty of Technology in Novi Sad, I got the position of International Student Exchange (IAST), for a holiday internship at the Goplana chocolate factory in Poznan, Poland.

I started my first day of work on July 19, the day of my birthday, which I didn't even remember. I received an invitation from the Technical Sector of the factory to visit them. I expected that they needed my information and I immediately left, knocked on the door, and when I opened it, eight girls shouted loudly: "Happy Birthday". They totally surprised me, they actually already had my data before my arrival. Immediately, one after the other, they began to congratulate me, kissing me, and one of them, a blonde, Domicela, recklessly put a note on my palm. It was only when I left them that I read what she wrote to me: "Kino Baltik, 8 godјinj". I understand, she scheduled a date for me.

In those days, there was an earthquake in Skopje, and I asked someone to take me to the ambulance, where I could give blood for Skopje, and they did it to me. The same day, in the evening, they took me to the Radio Station, where I told them what I had done, and as it was a show for the evening news, many heard it, and the next day about 80 workers of the Goplan factory also gave blood for Skopje. Well, that happened to be my contribution to the injured Skopje.

Greece

After finishing my studies, when I got my first vacation, I traveled to Greece with a colleague from the faculty. In those years, there were restrictions on the amount of foreign currency that could be taken out of the country, so our spending was proportional to the amount of money we had. However, we visited everything we could and we were satisfied. To return to Yugoslavia, we had paid for shipping to Bar in Montenegro. The ship on which we set sail from Piraeus was a cargo ship, we slept on the deck, in squats, with one blanket each. We ate together with the sailors, and paid them for the food in dinars.

Along the way, we sailed through the Corinth Canal for the first night, the night was warm and bright, with the moon and the sky strewn with millions of stars. An impression to remember for a lifetime. On the way further, we stopped in Delphi, where we visited the historical monuments there, and then landed in Patras and Corfu. In Corfu, the maintenance of the ship was a little longer, so we rented a boat, transported to the island of Vido and visited the Blue Tomb Museum. While we were signing the visitor's book, we found the signatures of Jovanka and Josip Broz, Tito.

From Corfu, the ship went to Bari in Italy, where we sailed around ten o'clock in the evening.

Nobody controlled us there, although we didn't even have Italian visas. In Bari, the street by the sea is full of walkers, the evening is pleasant, and the smells of fish from the restaurant invite visitors. When the sailors reloaded the goods, the ship set sail sometime after midnight and headed across the Adriatic to the port of Bar, in Montenegro. Arriving in the morning, when we paid the sailors for breakfast, our last meal, we didn't have enough money, we even owed them thirteen (13) dinars. They liked it, so they offered us, as a reward, free transportation to Dubrovnik.

In Dubrovnik, although without dinars in our pockets, we rented a private room with a lady who was waiting for passengers at the port. The next day, we went to the beach to look for famous citizens of Novi Sad, to borrow money from someone, and first we stopped at JAT's branch. There, talking about our grief, a lady from Belgrade stood in front of us, heard our story, turned around and gave us enough money, without even asking her. Then, we bought airline tickets for our first flight in life, and as soon as we arrived in Novi Sad, we sent the lady money. Her gesture remained unforgettable for me, I wish I had saved her name, she deserved to be remembered.

England

In England, I did research work as part of my postgraduate studies. I worked at the Institute of Milling and Bakery Research Association (FMBRA) in Charlewood. That year, we were visited by Dr. Isidore Hlynka, from Canada, who visited all the laboratories and was briefly interested in what someone was researching. He was led by the director of the institute, Dr. George Elton. They stayed in each laboratory for a short time, about five minutes, and when they arrived at my place, Dr. Hlynka liked my research results, because they were directly from his domain. He stayed with me for an hour and a half. Seeing there was no end, Dr. Elton left Hlynka and just told him to come to the office when he was done.

And when the time came for my return to Yugoslavia, I went to see Dr. Elton to say goodbye, and he conveyed to me Dr. Hlynka's message that Hlynka was offering me a job with him in Canada, for research for my doctoral dissertation. I accept this with pleasure and immediately ask Elton to write and send me a recommendation, knowing that I will need two recommendations from prominent scientists. He accepted it with pleasure and soon he did it. So I got a scholarship from the Canadian National Science Council (CNCC).

I brought from England an unforgettable memory of the visit of Jovan Vukov, called Chita, my school colleague from Novi Sad, who worked at Mercedes in Germany. He comes from Paris to Victoria Station, in nanules, a coffin in a winter coat, with a bow tie, and carries fresh French bread Baguette under his arm. Chita has always had his specialties, by which all his colleagues remembered him.

We booked a room on the fourth floor of the Yugoslav club, where an elderly gentleman from Skopje was still staying, who lived there waiting for a visa for Australia. We decided to go out in the evening, and since we didn't have the key to the building, Chita asked the Macedonian to tie a rope to his toe, which he threw through the window, and said to him: "When I pull it, you go out and open the door for us.", and the Macedonian accepted it. We returned in the morning, around three o'clock, Chita pulled the rope a couple of times and turned on the light in the room. The stunt worked.

France

I arrived in Paris, the city of light, in the afternoon, by train from London. And as soon as I changed at the Ritz Hotel, for a walk, on the way out of the hotel, I was met by a lady, well-groomed, beautiful and good-looking, and she whispered to me, in French, that I didn't understand her, and then repeated that she was offering me sex. I didn't even think about something like that, she totally surprised me, and since I couldn't cope, I just thanked her and continued. A little further, I see two ladies waiting, and then I realize who they are and what they are waiting for. I approach them, they also offer sex. I asked them: "Can I get a student discount", to which they both laughed and answered in the negative. Then I approached one and wanted to touch her breasts, saying to her: "I'm sorry, but I have to feel the quality first." They saw that there would be no business with me, they turned around, and I continued towards the Triumphal Arch, where I had to meet an acquaintance who had come with me from London. I stayed on the sidewalk under the fTriumphal Arch for a while, and when my acquaintance arrived, we went on a boat on the Seine River, where we spent the evening, riding under 38 bridges, enjoying the lights of the city. The most beautiful of all the attractions was the Eiffel Tower, which I climbed the next day. After the Eiffel Tower, I stopped by the church of Notre Dame for an hour, to remain silent, and spent the afternoon in MontMartre, and a short visit to the Moulin Rouge. At the end of the following days, I still managed to visit the Louvre and the Sorbonne University.

Peru

I worked in Peru for three months, as an expert of the Yugoslav government, to promote the development of the bakery industry, in the CONAPS institution. The Yugoslav Ambassador to Peru, Mr. Luka Soldić, provided me with accommodation from the active General Commander of the Eruan Aviation, in the government of President Bermudes. The apartments were outstanding, and the food was top quality, with impeccable service.

One day, the general's wife, Senyora Noyah, asked me to cook something from our kitchen, and what would a man want but beans. I asked Senyora Noyah: "How many guests can you expect?", To which she replied: "We have 144 people alive, but cook beans for about 20 people." And we bought the necessary groceries, and when I saw how much the beans swelled the next morning, I decided to cook them in a 30-liter pot. However, there were 16 guests at lunch, plus my hosts. Senyora Noyah was excited and bragged to the guests, and the general was quite modest, he knew, as a military man, what beans cause.

The most beautiful thing I experienced in Peru was a visit to Cusco and Machu Picchu. Visiting that masterpiece of the Incas, I climbed to the very top called Huayna Picchu, which is climbed only by the bravest and craziest. I could classify myself in any of those two categories. The return down was much scarier than climbing, with a view down 900 meters of abyss towards the Urubamba River, which roared, rolling trees and stones, and the cries of wild animals came from the jungle.

Returning in the evening to Cusco, while the train was docking at a passing station, and the passengers were leaving, I saw a native, dark-skinned, crouching next to ants and eating alive ants, swallowing them in a hurry so that his train would not escape, and ants are far larger than the ants we know here.

I have an unforgettable memory of the theft we saw on the beach. A young American met a young Peruvian woman, kissing on the sand, she covered him, and his things were left behind his back. They never notice anybody, it's nice to them. Suddenly, as if noticing that someone had enslaved them, she jumped up and saw that two thieves had taken all his belongings. They started shouting out loud, but in vain, the thieves escaped. The Peruvian beauty soon left, which means that she arranged the theft, and the American was left alone on the sand, 20 kilometers away from the city, without clothes, without a hotel key, without dollars and documents, alone in the white world, without anyone known anywhere. He even started crying, but he paid a huge price for his easy naivete.

India

Returning from wintering in Bovec, Slovenia, on the first day at work, I was told that I had to travel to India the next day, Nune Burzevski, with whom I will have negotiations in the Tata Corporation, on the construction of a grain silo, is waiting for me. Nune has already arranged a meeting and I have to be on time.

The next day in Belgrade, I received a double dose of malaria vaccine at the Faculty of Medicine, then issued a passport at the Indian Embassy, and that same evening I left for Frankfurt, from where I had a direct flight to New Delhi. It was very cold, minus 20 degrees Celsius. I arrived in New Delhi around 2 o'clock after midnight, I recognized Nune by the agreed signs of recognition, and he took me to his apartment to sleep, since it was already late for the hotel.

In the morning, Nune and I were on time at Tata Company, where we were received by the President, a very impressive younger gentleman, with a turban, who seemed very elegant and businesslike. He was still accompanied by the company's technical director. After the conversations, he took us to lunch, to a restaurant where we eat with our fingers. The day after that, we had a visit and talked at the Ministry of Agriculture in the city of Chandigarh, in the north, not far from the Himalayas. Two days later, we traveled to Mumbai, where we were hosted by two engineers from the Tata company, and we were accommodated in the house of the celebrated philosopher Mahatma Gandhi. The tourist organization used that house to accommodate prominent guests, especially guests of the Tata company. After the official part of the work in Bombay is over, the four of us will go to the Sheraton Hotel for lunch. We see a lot of people gathered in front of the hotel, and we don't know why. We approached the hotel door, and just before we entered, when I saw a group of people coming out and I instinctively, I opened the door, kept it, pretending to be a gentleman, when the first man to come out offered me his hand, we shook hands, and he said: '’I am the President of Ireland, Mr. Patrick Hillery ’’. I told him my name and who I was, he thanked me, waved goodbye and left. I will say to my friends: "Have you seen who greeted me, President of Ireland. He knows who is in charge here. " My friends laughed and Nune made a comment on the subject.

Russia

When I first came to Moscow, Russia, as a designer of a grain silo in Zrenjanin, we had talks about buying equipment at the Soviet export company Tehmasheksport. The director of that company was General Vladimir Ivanovic Zhdanov, about whom I didn't know anything until then, and he had information about me, in advance, he knew that I was working on my doctorate in Canada and that I had traveled around America. When I presented our project and when we had our first commercial talks, director Zhdanov took us to the famous nightclub Arbat that evening. As a former soldier, he was interested in every detail about America that he could find out from me, so he arranged for me to sit to his right. We talked about everything and everything that interested both of us, and General Zhdanov was certainly most interested in the observations from my stories about life and work in Canada.

That evening, I learned from him that he was a national hero of the Soviet Union, and that he was the commander of the Soviet tank units for the liberation of Belgrade in 1944. The battle was fought from September 21 to October 22, 1944, and he commanded over 17,000 soldiers of the Guards Mechanized Corps, a tank brigade with 160 tanks, an anti-aircraft division and an independent engineering battalion, and many other self-propelled artillery pieces, armored cars and cannons and mortars.

When it came time to go to the hotel to sleep, General Zhdanov wanted to keep my winter coat at all costs while I put it on. I resisted that, because I had picked up a plate with the picture and the name of Arbat and kept it under my shoulder, so I was afraid that it would fall out and that I would be ashamed of stealing the plate. But it was not possible to resist the general, he persisted in his intention, showing respect to me.

However, I am glad that that evening, I personally became friends with the People's Hero of the Soviet Union. We spent one night together, hung out and drank vodka according to the Russian system, Down to bottom. He remained in my unforgettable memories and on this occasion I dedicate this story to him.

And another event, which I remember, was from Russia. When I designed the mill in Bosanski Samac, I suggested that it be a combined mill for alternating grinding of wheat and corn, the first of its kind in the world. In Tehmašeksport, we asked for the delivery of their part of the equipment, and in Šamac we already had a part of the Canadian and a part of the domestic equipment. The Russians were hesitant at first and gave my project to their Academy of Sciences for testing. And almost a year later, the Soviet Academy of Sciences accepted that project and gave me the appropriate professional recognition for it. Thus, in my professional career, I was recorded in the annals of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, as the designer of the first combined mill in the world.

Switzerland

I worked with the Swiss company Buhler as a designer for several years. When we were preparing a mill for processing corn into high-fructose syrups and grain alcohol, in Vrbas, we arranged my visit to Buhler's mill in Valencia, Spain. During that visit, I noticed one detail, which they did not think about, and it seemed to me a possible improvement, so I sent Buhler, upon my return to Novi Sad, my proposal, in writing. I explained to them that it would be good to install electric heaters on the suction parts of pneumatic lugs, conveyors for ground products, which would be at the same time as they are transported and dried. Buhler's experts considered and accepted that, as well, and in their response, they approved 264,000 Swiss francs, in recognition of the improvement in production. In my combine, of course, that information was received only as one savings, and not as any of my professional recognition. Unfortunately, we have always been envious of experts.

Denmark

I have also been to Denmark several times, collaborating with Hansen International and Kongskilde. On one occasion, seven of us from my design office in Novi Sad came to Copenhagen, and then to Kongskilde, with whom we designed small silos for seed goods. They owed us a payment, which was difficult to make due to the banking regulations in Yugoslavia, which were affected by increased inflation. On that occasion, they organized fishing for us on the boat, they rented a boat with a kitchen, and all of us, together with the experts from the Kongskilde company, sailed to the North Sea in the afternoon. We sailed all the way to the territorial waters of Norway, at a distance of about 12 to 13 kilometers from Oslo.

Fishing took place with fun and good mood, with drinks. It took until relatively late, until it was completely dark, but the catch was quite good. The fish was prepared in the ship's kitchen and our dinner lasted until dawn. Some of the colleagues were even drunk, but most remained sober. We all brought back pleasant memories from that trip, which remained in our memories as a memory of Denmark.

Finland

We worked with the Finnish companies Alco and Rosenlew on grain alcohol projects for the Vrbas plant. We accepted the first offer given to us by the Finns in principle, it was technically appropriate, the financial negotiations lasted longer. During that time, the Filand’s company Rosenlew, a manufacturer of equipment, came up with a new offer, claiming that they had achieved some savings. On that occasion, seven experts came to Vrbas. We placed them in Tito's villa, where they had at their disposal the highest quality drinks, which were only available to Tito. And Rosenlew's CEO, Mr. Koskinen, got Tito's room and Tito's bed. He was delighted and had a hard time realizing that he was given such an honor, to sleep in Tito's bed. And it is known that Finns, in general, drink a lot, so they proved it on this occasion as well.

While they were drinking, I, who stayed with them as the host, reviewed the new offer, and found an error, which consisted of interrupting the continuity of the process, with the ejection of one rectification column. I first told Koskinen in the morning, and he told his associates. When we had a meeting with all the associates of our factory, I repeated my findings, asking the Finns to check it first. I said: "If I made a mistake, I will apologize and I will be the first to sign your offer, and if I am right, I am just asking you to correct it." My position was most opposed by the general director of the Vrbas plant, Mr. Nikić, whose duty was to represent our interests. Finally, at that meeting, it was agreed that we would continue the talks in Finland. And soon the four of us from Kombinat traveled to Finland. During that time, they checked their second offer in Rosenlew, while we were staying in Pori. In the evening, Mr. Koskinen took us quite far north, to a restaurant by the Baltic Sea. For a while, the two of us, alone, were walking along the coast, from which a gentle breeze was blowing, and in the west the sun was just approaching the sunset behind the pink clouds. The ambience seemed soothing, during which time Koskinen was still convincing me to give in. I reaffirmed to him that I would be the first to accept their offer, if it was proven that the procedure was correct.

And while we were having dinner at the restaurant, Koskinen went out several times and telephoned his associates, who were working on the check. It is too late, he (Koskinen) approaches us, and with the greatest respect he says that his experts have confirmed that I am right, that their repeated offer interrupted the continuity of the process, Koskinen congratulates me, as an extraordinary expert, with an apology, and adds that they return to the first offer and grant us a discount of 6 million Finnish marks (which was equal to one million US dollars). Then my associates congratulate me and there is joy.

The next day we returned to Helsinki by car, passing through beautiful forests, which the Finns exploit with the obligation to always plant more new seedlings than to cut down trees. They told us the official data that Finland has 187,888 lakes, which occupy 10% of the territory of Finland, phenomenal.

I added: "In the Serbian language, the word Fin means Beautiful, so in Serbian, the name Finland means Beautiful Country, which in truth it is." The Finns were also happy and laughed sincerely. In my factory, it was to be expected that I would receive at least a congratulatory message, but that was also missing, it is difficult for enviable managers.

Austria

For four years I worked for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO, based in Vienna, at a center called UNO CITY. I led a training course in the food industry for developing countries in Novi Sad. I went to Vienna to select candidates together and determine the necessary financial resources. The head of that training at UNIDO was Ms. Lorenzo, and her deputy, Mr. Hanzelman, who used to come to the final part of the training in Novi Sad, and attended the verification of acquired knowledge and the awarding of certificates.

When high inflation broke out in Yugoslavia, not all costs could be covered with the available funds, so I went to Mrs. Lorenzo to ask for a raise. When I presented my position to her, she first looked at me rather suspiciously, to which I asked her: "Ms. Lorenzo, did you receive a salary for the last month?", To which she replied in the affirmative: "I did." . Then I asked her, "Mrs. Lorenzo, did your associate, Mr. Hanzelman, receive a salary?" Then she looked at me with even greater astonishment, and finally answered, also in the affirmative: "Yes", with the sub-question: "And why do you ask that?". I added: "Dear Mrs. Lorenzo, you see, and I did not receive my salary!" When she heard that, she looked me in the eye in silence, so she picked up the phone and called the chief accountant, telling her, "Bring me a check for $ 12,000."

And with that, I achieved my goal, and Mrs. Lorenzo was left without further text.

Italy

When I worked at Interservis, Agrovojvodina, on export business, I traveled with Lidija, a translator for the Italian language, to Milan. On that day, I signed seven contracts with a company that regularly imported plumbing and sewage fittings from us, products from Ivanšna Gorica, Slovenia. Each contract, individually, did not represent a significant amount, but all seven together certainly did. We had too little free time to see the beauties that the city of Milan has always had.

Venezuela

Margarita, the island of Venezuela, consists in fact of two islands, Macanao and La Restinga, connected by a sandbar, only about a hundred meters long. And what is even more interesting, those two islands have different climates, one is fertile, one is desert. There is a record on Margarita that there is no better sunset in the world than on the island of Makanao. And the sea waters around the island, which are very clear, have a constant, average, temperature of 24 degrees Celsius, and at depths of about 6 to 12 meters grow the most beautiful corals in the world. Margarita is home to macaws, Macaws and Parakeet parrots, which best imitate human voices. The species Parakееt is endangered, their biggest enemies are tourists, who take eggs from their nests. For now, they say, there are a maximum of about 1,000 left.

Margarita has an area of 943 square kilometers, with a population of about 300,000. The island is connected to the mainland by electric cables and water supply, and traffic is by air and ferry. We spent a wonderful 14 days on Margarita, and on the way back we landed on the island of Aruba, in the Caribbean Sea, and flew over Niagara Falls, which from a bird's eye view seems very impressive.

California

When you fly over San Francisco, there is a beautiful view from the plane over the Golden Gate Bridge and the lonely island of Alcatraz, which used to be a prison for the most notorious criminals, until their livelihood became more expensive than the most expensive hotel in the world.

The guide took us by bus through the Nob Hill hills, which the locals call Snob Hill. We walked through the botanical garden alone, enjoying the beauties of over seven hundred species of trees and flowers of all possible colors and scents. A special charm is the streets of Chestnut Street and Lombard Street, which have eight serpentines, lined with flowers of all possible types, colors and scents, in which all the newlyweds of the metropolis are photographed. I also remember the event in the tram, called “Desire”: Tram driver called the passengers on downhill, if someone wants to take over the management of the tram from him, not expecting in fact that anyone will be offered, he thought he was just kidding. And, to the surprise of all the passengers, I checked in and headed for the brakes. At that moment, en masse, the passengers, mostly women, shouted in a loud voice: "Don't give it to him, please", and the brakeman just laughed, and I came back and waved goodbye to them.

In San Francisco, we learned about the biggest earthquake, which happened to the city on April 18, 1906. During that event, all electric lines, gas and water pipes were broken, so the city burned for four days and nights, and it was impossible to put it out. About 4,000 buildings and about 1,000 people were burned. It was a real cataclysm. Gangs of barbarians were raiding the city at that time and they were fighting with each other. According to some of these gamblers, some streets still bear their names, and one street is named after Clementine, a famous prostitute, and one part of the city is still called the Barbarian Quarter.

Florida

We have been to Florida several times. During the visit to the Space Center in Cape Canaveral, we visited all the sights and saw all the spaceships, which were used on the voyages in space exploration.

We also tried a simulation flight into space. In a special cabin, the seats are taken, we tie up like in a car, we get instructions and the ship starts, with tremors, which increase more and more as the acceleration increases. Children under the age of four were not allowed in, so Daniel had to stay outside with his grandmother. Our flight was shown outside on a monitor, completely simulating going into space, all the way to reaching a space speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour. During that time, Daniel saw his mother, brother and grandfather go into space, and he cried thinking that we would not return. And when the simulation ship landed and it was easier for Daniel, he hugged his mother tightly when we got out of the cabin, but he was still crying. A little further on, from there, we saw launch pads, from which satellites are launched.

And on another occasion, on August 7, 2013, I had the opportunity to observe the launch of a satellite into space. In the evening, somehow at sunset, from a distance of about 100 kilometers from Cape Canaveral, from the town of Perth, the take-off of a spaceship, which soon disappeared in the sky, could be seen quite nicely.

Michigan

In the city of Cadillac, Michigan, USA, in the company HayesLemmerz, I worked on a project for a cooling system for car parts castings. The project consisted of 180 swings, on which hot steel castings were stacked, and the swings traveled hanging on rails, winding through the foundry, for three hours, in one full circle, during which time the decision makers cooled down and arrived for unloading, and loading of new castings. That's how it went, day-night, non-stop, 24 hours a day, all seven days a week, non-stop, as long as the foundry was working. I worked on the project in cooperation with the Haddad-Morgan project bureau, and the equipment was made by the Wintech company from Windsor. The technical director of the foundry, Hayes Lammerz, was an engineer, Mr. Tom Wupper. I stayed at the Hampton Inn Hotel, Cadillac. During the assembly work, I buried my and Wupper's business card in the foundation of the foundry, saying that maybe, after a hundred years, someone will find out who did this. We finished the installation in 28 days, two days before the given deadline, and without any mistakes. When we started the rehearsal, it was expected that there could be a standstill, but, fortunately, everything went smoothly, and Tom Wupper congratulated me, and in the evening he took us out to dinner, where we ate crabs. Mile Marić, the owner of the production company Wintech, gave me $ 100 as a reward for a successfully completed project.

Cruise journey

The cruise went from Vancouver to Alaska. We set sail on the Volendam with a delay of about half an hour, passed under the bridge and past Stanley Park, from where Captain Wiger van der Zee headed the ship north. A gentle breeze was blowing from the mountain tops, and the sunset, which remained behind us, was mostly covered with orange clouds. It was pleasant on the deck, with the sounds of music coming from the depths of the ship. When we woke up the first morning, and were on the high seas, the first floating icebergs appeared. Captain Wiger Zee directed the ship to Traisy ArmsBay, but the accumulated icebergs made it impossible for him to pass there towards the city of Juno, so he had to plow and sail on a detour. And while the boat was turning slowly, we admired the waterfalls, which flowed from the surrounding mountain peaks, about 200 meters high, and during that time a wild goat climbed the rocks, which gave the impression of walking on clouds.

In the city of Juno, our group was taken over by the driver of the 234 bus, Jimmy, who took us to the Grand Tour and Glacier Gardens. Glacier Gardens, on the slopes of the Thunder Mountains, has a unique landmark in the world, with trees planted upside down and flowers planted in their veins, which looks extraordinary, and under those trees local weddings of newlyweds are performed.

Mendenhall Glacier, the second largest in Canada, stretches for about 13 miles in length and about a mile and a half in width, and has been around for millions of years. It is attacked by snow about 100 feet high, which turns into ice, and the ice moves slowly towards the bay, where it falls into the sea waters. And these decades, when the globe is warming and the ice is melting, the annual Glacier shortens by about 60 feet (about 18 m), and it is slowly dying.

When the driver Jimmy connected us back to the boat, I took a step back for a while, to enjoy the beauty of the glacier, that pearl of natural creation, for as long as possible. The next day we dawned in the small town of Skagway, which has about 800 inhabitants, and is characterized by numbers five: There are five churches with five priests, five firefighters, five police officers and five doctors. We were picked up from Skagway by Emily Thompson, who took us by bus to Fraser, which has only three houses with five inhabitants. Next, she took us past the shooting lakes Tagish and Tushai, and through the town of Carcross, where we drank coffee in a restaurant of local Indians. And then we reached Lake Emerald, our ultimate range, full of unreal colors, which differ from one shore to another and to the lake center, due to millions of years of deposited fossils and shadows of nearby mountain peaks, decorated with snow caps. Lake Emerald is the only pearl of nature, which rightly bears that name.

From Lake Emerald, Emily took us back to Fraser, where she transhipped us to the Yukon Route, a narrow-gauge railway line Wait Pass. When the train started, the snow was high to the top of the car, and when we got off in Skagway, spring flowers were blooming there. The railway has the highest slope in the world, 3.9%, it was built from 1897 to 1900, exclusively by human and harness strength, and during that time about 6,000 horses fell into the abyss, which is today called the Valley of the Dead Horses. At the end of the railway, in Skagway, among other flowers, Unforgettable blossomed, a flower that reminded us to never forget this trip, which is true and impossible.

China

China is a country that thrilled me a lot. First of all, flower jardinieres along the highways, and the fact that even the highways are cleaned with hand brooms, which no one in the world is doing yet, but there are so many of them that it is better to do something than nothing. We were delighted by their pearls, their vases, their carpets, terracotta statues and countless other things, but the most impressive impression is left by the cities in their purity, and the overall development of the country in general. In three weeks, we have not seen a single graffiti on their streets, Bravo, people of China.

When we arrived in Yujonggun, so to speak, we visited the Great Wall of China. The guides told us and showed us who climbed the second tower and received the status of the People's Hero of China. I headed alone and reached the seventh tower. I climbed 1322 steps. It was almost unbelievable for the guides as well, but they fulfilled their promise and in my book of tourist attractions of China, which I bought in China, they wrote and signed that I am officially the People's Hero of China, which they certified with their seal. Here, it is a memory that stays with me for life, and for those who remain, so that they too can remember my experiences.

Nord Western Territory, Canada

Yellowknife is the main administrative center of the Northern Western Territory, a northern Canadian province. The city at first glance leaves a nice impression, modern buildings and clean streets, with many parks and lakes, a city with 20,000 inhabitants, mixed races and cultures. The barracks of the first gold diggers in the Giant mine still exist in the suburbs. The largest of the lakes is the Greit Slave, measuring 28,438 square kilometers, certainly one of the deepest on the North American continent. There are about twenty soybean houses in that lake, whose owners do not pay the city tax, since their houses are not on land but in water. In the immediate vicinity of the city there are several larger lakes, Freim, Range, Jackfish, Niven and Kam. There are many more lakes in the vicinity of Yellowknaife, which with their landscaped surroundings are excellent picnic areas, and in some of them the locals start swimming in the spring even before the ice has completely melted on them. The surrounding forests are full of berries, which is why there are bears. We had the opportunity to meet two.

In the city of Yellowknife, there is the National Heritage Museum, which has a restaurant with Bison specialties, truly unique in the world. The city also has a beautiful building of the provincial parliament, built in the shape of a snowflake.

One hundred kilometers from Yellowknife is the town of Rae Ezo, where only the Den Indians we visited live, because I like to read about the life of the Indiginies people and I have a special respect for them.

The city of Yellowknaife was once called the Golden Cityof the North, and is now renamed the Diamond of the North, as diamond mines are now being exploited in its vicinity.

The Whole world is mine

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