Last Updated on 6 months by Patrice Baunov
In summer 2015 we visited 4 cities in 3 different countries, just within a few days. This was reason enough to give it a try first time shooting on LomoChrome Turquoise. I was astonished by the absolutely unexpected colors of the shots.
Just as life is, it brought Vera and me on the path of a new adventure. We are quite often “hitting the road” seeking for new impressions and this time in search of a new “home”; life circumstances brought us all the way from Frankfurt am Main to the German capital – Berlin. Considering that I was there first and last time 10 years ago (meanwhile 13 years), not to speak of Vera who had never been to this famous city – you would say: „Quite a spontaneous decision!“. For sure it was! So we thought it might have been a good idea to visit Berlin at least shortly, explore it and get an impression of our future city of residence.
One week before Vera’s birthday, which we had planned to celebrate in Moscow, we packed our bags and and hit the road to Berlin. It was a very sunny Monday, the day we left Siegen (my family’s place of living) – an appropriate weather for enjoying German landscapes out of the bus window and discovering a new place. Upon arrival at the Central Bus Station we have came to a nice hostel called „HappyGoLucky Hostel“ in the district of Charlottenburg. The hostel itself directly gave us a brief overview of what Berlin is – quite an old building covered with funky graffitis in vivid acid colours, stuffed with different kids of contemporary art inside.
It was summer in its bloom and because both of us really love cycling, it didn’t take us long to make up our minds to rent bikes from the hostel and so started our exploration city quest on wheels. It is almost the same feeling as walking on foot when you feel every stone and every turn under your feet but faster and I believe it is a completely different experience of a new place than using the overcrowded public transport.
Days and nights we have cycled though the curiosities of the city, more than once we have crossed it from north to south, form east to west (within the ring) and just fell in love with it! As a highlight of our night tours on bike we spent a couple of hours on the field in front of the Reichstag, while drinking wine and enjoying the radiance of a city night during a warm summer night.
As this trip came to its end we had to continue with our journey. On Saturday in the late evening we headed back to Siegen with an overstop at Frankfurt Central Station. Arriving early in the morning at my family’s place we had just a few hours to restore some energy in order to pack our suitcases for the next trip. We had our flights to Moscow booked for Monday – departure: Frankfurt Airport. And the desired oasis of comfort and relaxation was still far away at that moment – we had to make an an overstop of 16 hours in Amsterdam, the beautiful capital of the Netherlands.
As far as we had visited Amsterdam many times before, we’ve decided to explore a new place and took a train to a city called Leiden. Its a beautiful city close to the coast of the North Sea and just 30 minutes drive away from Amsterdam. The city is calm and has typical town canals just like in the capital. The oldest university of the country, the University of Leiden, founded in 1585 is located here too. Once I had planned to study there but I by the winds of fortune I was brought to the dutch city Enschede, where I met Vera for the first time. The reason we went to Leiden was to show her this lovely old place but unfortunately the weather did not offer a good day and it was hardly raining.
We decided to find a shelter from the rain first in a restaurant and then in the cinema before we had to move back to the airport. There we spent the rest of the night until in the very early morning we finally took off for Moscow. A birthday party was awaiting us! Three hours later we arrived at the Russian capital – Moscow. But again the trip was not over yet, we still had some way to go – from Sheremetyevo Airport in the north of Moscow to a small village called „Alexandrovka“ 30km in the south of Moscow, where we have a dacha. Our friends have joined us already on the way and all together we’ve moved to our final destination. A short rest and the birthday party started!
After a few days of needed recreation we left our abode and moved to the city center. There was a reason to celebrate again, this time it was the Day of the City – the birthday of Moscow’s 868 years. It really was a huge event with a lot of performances, music and activites throughout the city. A bigger part of the center was closed for cars and we had the rare chance to walk on foot through the wide streets around the Red Square and the rest of the center. It was a gorgeous feeling! Together with friends we walked through the streets and watched some concerts until we ended up at the free Aerosmith concert on the stage at Lubyanka Square which was our absolute highlight. As Russians don’t like the parties to end, we decided to continue the celebration after the concert at a friend’s place, where we had a nice and funny end of the night.
After 2 weeks, nearly 5000km by plane, bus, bike, metro and on foot, after four (actually five) cities and one village, the film is full, ready to be developed and we are also a bit tired. Therefore we enjoyed as much as possible the last days of the Russian summer together with friends at our dacha before we had to move back to Germany. Back towards the new home, Berlin.
The photos were shot with a Zenit E camera and Helios-44 lens (f2/58mm) on Lomochrome Turquoise XR 100-400.
