Bryan

“Sometimes, when you go on foot there, when you walk in the woods near the old pagan temples, you feel something very strong. It is like the energy you feel in a church, or the energy you feel when a boy and a girl are in love and touch hands for the first time.”
― Anne Applebaum, Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe

“After half a day in a place—especially a foreign country—you’ve learned more than from all the books and articles you’ve read.”
― Thomas Swick, The Joys of Travel: And Stories That Illuminate Them

“I always tell travel writing students to use these early hours to explore, because one’s surroundings—the colorful drinks, the melodic sirens, the sweet-and-foul smells—will not be as clear or as sharp in a few days. At the start, everything stands out as if in high definition, especially, strangely, if you’re groggy from jet lag or insomnia.”
― Thomas Swick, The Joys of Travel: And Stories That Illuminate Them

“disappeared beneath Soviet avenues of cracked concrete; how variety – medieval stone foundations, baroque seminarium doors, classical columns, Prussian red brick walls, and delicate shop windows – had vanished behind spectacular monotony; how churches and pastry shops, farmers’ markets, tobacconists, a university and schools and law courts gave way to numbered apartment blocks.”
― Anne Applebaum, Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe