Journeys There and Back

Where would you like to go? Out into the world. It’s not a question of the direction, but of the journey itself, of the need to travel. First the roof comes down, then you need to figure out who you are by figuring out where you’re from. I traveled to Prague in three different seasons. Three times I went there without a purpose and came back. Christmas and Easter, and between them Summer, which loosens the soul and the sandals. I realized that what has happened once can happen a second time, even if you’ve already written it down. After a while, the details faded. But the pale light remained in the garden of things and occurrences. This book is the result of several journeys from Sofia to Prague in the 1990s. It’s based on the notes I kept during my travels. The borders had just opened, people were emigrating en masse, I stayed behind. That was my first time leaving the prison of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, and I traveled by bus. A journey out into the world and into myself. I discovered Prague, though the search for myself continues. Sometimes Prague is here, sometimes it is there, and the same is true for Sofia.