Emily's On The Road Again

The Baltics

Hello everyone.... Where did I leave off last time? I believe I had just left St. Petersburg in my last post--for a lovely overnight bus to Tallinn Estonia. What a nightmare!!! First of all, bus rides are horrific in Eastern Europe (I know this from living in Prague). They tend to be hot and crowded and people often stand in the aisles once the seats are filled. This was no exception. Wendi, Marissa and I apparently bought the last three tickets for the bus and were in the last row. Yes, we were sitting bitch. And we weren't alone either, because there was a British couple in the other two seats. 5 of us in a row. Wendi and Marissa almost missed the bus because we couldn't for the life of us find a Russian to tell us where the platform was. Ha! That's because it didn't pick up at a platform. It picked up at a random spot in front of the station! But they were in the kiosk picking up some bread and fruit and water for the ride, leaving me on the bus sweating buckets that they wouldn't make it back on! Luckily they did and the journey began... 

I'm sure you recall me saying that it doesn't get dark until midnight. So the bus left at 10 and at 11 we stopped for a cigarette break. People also congregated in the back of a building and were squatting and peeing in front of all. At midnight we were trying to fall asleep (Wendi finally lay on the floor in the aisle--I hope she throws those clothes out after this trip!) when we arrived to the Russian/Estonian border. We had to take our bags and file into a building. We all got through except for our British neighbor. For no apparent reason he was held back. The bus was going to leave him! Thank god for my limited Czech, because it was pretty well understood in Russia and I got the bus driver to wait for ten minutes. They finally let him get on the bus. A friendship was born. 

All of the people on the bus had been waiting very patiently. I learned why. Once our new friends got on the bus, we drove approximately 20 meters to duty free. The entire bus evacuated to purchase cigarettes and liqour. Plus, they all had a cigarette. We finally got back on the bus. The bus drove another 20 meters and we got off once again, got our bags, and filed into a transformed garage (?) where the Estonians gave us the once over. We got back on the bus. 20 meters further someone boarded the bus and took our passports somewhere. All in all, it took over two hours. It was nice and cozy! We slept about an hour, at the most. 

When we finally rolled into town, it was 7 am. We took a taxi to a hostel where we had tried to get a reservation. The girl told us, "Ok, I don't have your reservation, but rooms open at noon". We walked around beautiful Tallinn with our heads spinning, but we got some great pictures since the town was pretty empty. Naturally some extremely wasted people were just leaving the bars but when we saw them heading our way, we took off down a different cobblestone street. 

Tallinn is GORGEOUS! It's the self-proclaimed "Heart of Northern Europe". The Old Town is filled with medieval buildings, parks and a castle. Their town hall is the oldest in Europe. You can definitely see that there is an influx of money from Scandinavia. Well, Tallinn is also pretty small. By 9 we had seen it all! So we went to a cafe, and who should enter but our bleary eyed British friends from the bus who had been held up on the Russian side, Patrick and Becca. These two are HYSTERICAL! They have been traveling since March. They started in Thailand and headed through Laos, Cambodia and China up to take the Trans-Siberian railroad through Siberia, Mongolia and Russia. Their stories were unbelievable. How about that in Cambodia you can pay $300 to shoot a rocket launcher at a cow, or $40 to shoot an AK-47 at a chicken? Did you know that the Mongolian drink of choice is fermented horse milk, that is made in a bag lined with last year's batch (to begin the fermenting process of course!). I could have talked to them for hours. They also had some of the funniest insights about Americans. They mentioned how "open" we are. In their words, "Brits would say 'I'm not going back to school, it's not my thing' but Americans say, "I don't think I'm going back to school. It stems from my fear of failure, and it first starting affecting me in middle school when I...". They think our self-analysis is hilarious! 

Well, when we went back to the hostel at noon, a new girl was working. She had no idea who we were and no room for us. She did send us somewhere else finally, and we found a woman to rent us a room in her flat (?). We're not sure what the place was, but we were sharing with some other people. I took a nice two hour nap and then we got up and went out with the Brits. Tallinn has some trendy bars...we went to an Irish bar, a Turkish belly dancing bar, an Estonian bar and a cave bar. Poor Marissa, she actually flew home on Sunday morning, but first we stayed out until 5 am (it was already light again when we left the last bar) and she slept through the alarm. I think her trip home was pretty hectic! It would be if it started with the taxi to the airport arriving when you were still asleep! 

So Marissa left and Wendi and I took yet another bus to Tartu, Estonia. This is the oldest town in the Baltics. We visited the Raekoja Flats and did a little mini-hike up to the Cathedral Hill. There is a 15th century cathedral practically in ruins up there...the best part is the sign that is posted that exclaims, "Be cautious! The building is liable to fall down!". Apparently they're not as afraid of lawsuits as we are... Tartu is supposedly the "intellectual, historic and nationalistic heart of Estonia". We thought it was a little boring. But the trek was worth it because we stayed at the Tartu University dorms that are turned into a hostel in the summer and we had our own bathroom! You really learn to appreciate the little things when you are traveling! 

So Monday morning we got up at 5 (makes me miss work! At least when I go to work I get to "sleep in" until 6:30) and we took a bus to Riga, Latvia. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was completely surprised and delighted. Yes, I did just use the word "delighted". But let me tell you, according to our guide book, Riga is the capital of Latvia and Latvians are actually in the minority. There are as many Russians as Latvians, plus a lot of Polish people and Ukranian people, etc. It was founded in 1201 and the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I figured it would be beautiful but I didn't realize HOW beautiful! I fell in love with Riga, and in fact Wendi and I spent the entire day walking around, visiting beautiful churches and cafes. We also went to the "Jews in Latvia" museum, which was quite interesting. It seems that by 1935, 10% of Riga's population was Jewish - there were about 40,000 Jews here. Then after WWII, there were 150. It's a very sad history. 

We popped into the main Orthodox cathedral just in time to see a service...the women cover their head and kneel on the floor and sing and later kiss the ground, get touched on the forehead and kiss the priest's sleeve. It was so interesting. Riga is a town of millions of outdoor cafes and bars and we wandered all over the town, taking lots of twilight pictures. It seemed really magical, which sounds cheesy, but I really didn't think another city other than Prague could seem so magical. You'll just have to experience it yourself! 

Tuesday we left Riga (only because we are flying out of Riga and needed to go to Lithuania). As always (did I mention that my friends refer to me as a freak magnet?) the bus was filled with travelers. With 5 hours on my hands, and Wendi listening to her discman and clearly ignoring me, I ended up in conversation with a 44 year old Venezualan man named Cesar who is on a six month tour of Asia and Europe. Why, you ask? Well, he is looking for a wife! This came out later in the conversation and I was already in too deep. Luckily I convinced him that Wendi and I are not looking for husbands. He ended up sharing a taxi with us to come and look for rooms at a hostel from my book, and naturally the hostel had ONE room left. It was a triple. Yes, you guessed it, Wendi and Cesar and I shared a room. At least it had three separate beds, but it didn't have sheets so I was super paranoid about bedbugs. Enough about our sketchy accomodations...

Vilnius is another amazing city! Lithuania was the first Baltic nation to declare independance from USSR in 1990. Vilnius was built in 1323 and has the largest Old Town in all of Europe. Much like Tallinn and Riga, there are various churches and cathedrals and squares and fountains and old city walls. Also, the most random statue in Eastern Europe calls Vilmius home. It's a statue of Frank Zappa's head! The Lithuanians liked his anti-authority message :) 

Let me take a second (just a second, I promise, I know this is getting long!) and tell you a few things about the Baltic states. First of all, they speak amazing English here. This was very surprising for me, since it was not that way in Russia at all. Also, it is very trendy and Western, in a way that is almost scary. As the world is more and more homogenized, people's looks become interchangeable and there is a McDonald's on every corner. But considering most people know little about the Baltics, I find it very intriguing that they have become so Westernized in such a short period of time. Even ten years ago this was a very different, post-Soviet area. This is not to say that there is not poverty. Much like in Russia, there are people driving Audis and Hummers and BMWs alongside homeless people and people in 25 year old Lada's. It's really an eye-opening experience. 

But I should get back to the travels, and I'll wind it up here because this is excessively long and it's almost time for dinner here and it's the last time I will be online! From Vilnius, Wendi and I did a day trip to a more typical Lithuanian town called Kaunus. It's about 1.5 hours away, and we spent a nice day walking miles in the Old Town and the pedestrian shopping area. It was pretty uneventful and we were happy to get back to Vilnius and relax at night (with no Cesar in the room!). 

Thursday was another day to explore Vilnius, and in the late afternoon we put on our backpacks and made the 40 minute uphill trek to the bus station to come back to Riga. Our bus ride started off uneventful, and I even managed to sleep for about the first hour (out of 5). Our bus had 3 official stops, and about 10 unofficial ones. It was the strangest thing, the bus kept pulling over and letting people off in the middle of nowhere! I could understand if there was even a farmhouse in sight, but there were just rolling hills... Just past the border crossing into Latvia, Wendi suddenly freaked out and grabbed me from across the aisle. She had seen a dead man, spreadeagle and with his eyes wide open, in a ditch!!! I mean, you couldn't make this stuff up. Obviously we had no way to convey this to our driver (the one time one of our bus drivers tried to speak English he told us we had "3 times 10 minutes" and then attempted to leave people at the station when they were hanging out, thinking they had a half hour) so the dead man may still be there. Wendi was a bit shaken up and can't stop thinking about it. 

At this time we started talking to two other guys on the bus. One is a Japanese professional tennis player and the other was his Italian coach, although they live in Spain. Very international, eh? We ended up going out for dinner and drinks with them at a German beer garden and we had such a good time! How can you not enjoy a place where martinis cost less than $3!?!! So we got home at 3 this morning. Today we slept in and spent the day relaxing in Riga. It couldn't have been a more perfect day. Cloudless blue sky, sun, around 75 (speaking of which, I hope the heat wave is over when I get home!) and we needed a day off with no bus rides and no ten mile walks!!! Tomorrow we're going to the museum of Latvian Occupation. So I'm bruised, cut, mosquite bitten and tan (or is it dirt) and ready to come home! I get in Sunday night and am back to the office on Monday! I'm glad to have heard from some of you that all is well, and I can't wait to see you or talk to you next week! XO Em

Helsinki, Finland and St. Petersburg, Russia

Hi everyone! Let me preface this post by saying that if you don't have a lot of time, don't start reading this! I haven't begun typing yet, but I've had enough adventures in the last 9 days to know that this will be a long one! Also, you may not care to hear about the trip so far, but I tried not to leave anyone out :) 

Anyway, the trip has been fantastic!!!! My flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was uneventful and I didn't sleep but I did watch three movies...and I met Wendi in the Amsterdam airport as planned. We tried to get seats together on our flight to Helsinki but they couldn't do it. Well, she randomly got bumped up to first class as we were boarding, and I was sandwiched next to a guy from Atlanta who chatted the entire time...I now know Pete Sampras' birthday, the number of commuters at University of Georgia, and every single car he's had from age 16-38 (all relevant facts, can't you tell!?). When we FINALLY arrived to Helsinki, Wendi was well-rested from having her own ROW in first class, not to mention a gourmet breakfast. Do I seem bitter? I am! However, no planes had crashed so I was grateful and ready to begin the trip. 

Finland is beautiful and actually contains 100,000 lakes. It is actually a huge archipelago. Helsinki is nice, but it didn't impress me as much as the rest of our trip has. However, there is a nice pedestrian area called the Esplanadi, and there is a market by the pier, as well as your typical ornate architecture scattered throughout. Just by chance, we were in town for the weekend of a heavy metal festival, so the younger people were all in leather corsets and all black (naturally) which sort of freaked us out until we found out why! Wendi and I napped while we waited for Marissa, who arrived about three hours later and without her suitcase. We went out and had some dinner and walked around and we were so exhausted that we went to bed before midnight. Well, at midnight it was still light. And at 4:45 am when the sound of a jackhammer outside of out hostel window woke us up it was light again! It could have been midday it was so sunny. The summer here is unbelievable! You don't need as much sleep because you never feel like it's late and you get so much energy from seeing the sun so much. On the flip side, in January it's only light from 10 am until 3 pm, so I'm not saying it's utopia...but it's pretty damn nice here now! 

So on the lovely Sunday that we were woken up at 4:45 by construction, we took a train about two hours west of Helsinki to a town called Turku. It is from the 13th century and is the oldest town in Finland. Formerly, it was the Swedish capital! Turku is a cute town with a nice river and cathedral and parks...we spent the day there and tried the perry siider (pear cider) that they are known for. It's excellent! 

Monday was just not my day. We started the day by going to the open air market down by the pier. We got fruit and vegetables and fish. We planned to picnic on Suomenlinna Island, which is a 15 minute ride on a ferry. There is a huge fortress there that was built to be against the Russians, and the whole island is a World Heritage site. Well, as we waited for the ferry, the three of us decided to eat our fish. I wonder why the seagulls decided to attack me and leave Wendi and Marisa alone?! Not only did they steal my fish (which was annoying) but then one landed on my HEAD! It was standing on my head! Aren't seagulls dirty rodents with wings? It was disgusting. And my friends could only laugh and laugh....fast forward about 20 minutes and we were on the upper deck of a ferry, cruising in the sunshine to the island. You couldn't have asked for better weather. I did my best to ignore the toothless drunk man nearby, but it got difficult when he got off of his bench, walked toward me, and GRABBED me! We got into a pushing match, during which time I was half hoping no one had seen him grab me and half hoping everyone did, so that I wouldn't just look like someone who gets in fights with strangers! My friends were, of course, cracking up--they call me a "freak magnet" because if anyone crazy is nearby, they generally approach me! As if the day couldn't get any worse, after spending an amazing day on the island, we went back to Helsinki and decided to hop on a tram to see where it would take us. Enter another drunk man, this time screaming at us that he is "selling beer, cigarettes and medicine for cheap!". I am telling you, Europe is the only place with bilingual drunks! He had to be ejected off of the tram by the driver because he got so rowdy. 

Tuesday was the first day we had bad weather (rain) but we didn't care because we spent seven hours on a train to St. Petersburg, Russia. Wendi was the intelligent member of our group who spent part of that time teaching herself Cyrillic. Naturally, being competitive, I had to learn too. I can now read the occasional sign or storefront! St. Petersburg is the "Venice of the North" some would say. It sits on the mouth of the Neva River on the Gulf of Finland. The city itself is actually made of 44 islands among 50 canals. It was founded by Peter the Great as the capital of Russia in 1703. The city is absolutely incredible! I would go back in a second. There are gorgeous buildings and bridges and churches and palaces as far as the eye can see. And we seriously pounded the pavement all day for four days straight, and STILL didn't see everything! 

The one downside to St. Pete is that they have a mosquito problem. Our disgusting fifth floor hostel room with no screens was unbearable without opening the windows, so we used this "mosquito equipment" which looks like what I imagine a Glade plug-in would look like and doesn't work at all. But other than the incessant itching of our arms and legs, we had an amazing time! 

We spent two days doing walking tours with a Russian guide. I never do tours because I always picture a woman leading around 40 people with an umbrella waving in her hand. But our tours were small and personal. The first day (Wednesday) we were with "Mike" (Mikhail, I assume) who had such an impeccable British accent I was shocked to find out he was Russian. He toured us around to the artist's area, the Kuznechyy Farmer's Market, the Pushkin statue, the Cathedral of our Savior (colorful Russian domes--I took a million pictures, you'll see them when I get home!), to the Summer Gardens, to Petrograd (home of the Peter and Paul fortress) and then to have some beers! For dinner he directed us to an amazing Georgian restaurant with a nice Barry White CD playing in the background, and we ate with an older couple from Australia about to embark on the Trans-Siberian railroad. It was highly preferable to the Russian restaurant we lunched in where they were playing Abba and a man walked in wearing a t-shirt "celebrating Osama bin Ladin and the 9-11 attacks"...we kept our heads down when we saw him! 

On Thursday, Wendi and Marissa went to the Hermitage (an art museum that rivals the Louvre) but I preferred to spend my day walking around the city. I saw the Kozan Cathedral, the Eternal Flame, and the Mikhaylovsky Garden.. It started raining later in the day and so the three of us went to a banya. Apparently the pipes and drainage system in St. Pete haven't been changed since the city was founded (1703) so you can't drink the water, but all the books say if there is one thing you should do, it's go to a Russian bath. Let me tell you, this was an interesting outing. I've been to the Hungarian baths and they are amazingly huge pools of varying degrees of water, surrounded by beautiful ceramic tiles and sculptures. Not so in Russia! The bathhouse was pretty plain, and basically people just lounge around either in a hot room or in a REALLY hot room. It's like a sauna, but HOTTER than anything I've ever felt--it's 70 degrees celsius. You actually can't breathe when you go in. In the Russian banyas, it is customary to offer and receive a beating with a birch stick. I have to be honest, we didn't do it. I saw other people smacking each other with bunches of birch sticks, but I held myself back ;) 

Our Friday tour started out rainy but the weather cleared up and we had a great day. We became friends with three people from the Air Force who are living in Germany and they were really fun. We stopped mid-tour to have some beers and really enjoyed the day with them. Just by chance our group went to Rasputin's old home, and while we were outside a dog started barking at us. A man came out to see what was going on and randomly invited us up into Rasputin's banya! There were half naked men sitting around playing backgammon and no one gave us a second glance. The walls and floors were amazing; very intricately detailed and ornate. I got pictures! Our tour guide Vera said in four years of giving tours she has never been inside. Vera also took us to St. Isaacs, where the domes are covered with gold and 70 slaves died of mercury inhalation when the cathedral was being constructed! I think at this point in the vacation I had gone through about five rolls of film. 

Friday night we took an overnight bus to Tallinn, Estonia. Talk about an interesting trip....I think this post is long enough though, so I'll add that to Part II later this week! I'm in Riga, Latvia right now, and my time on this computer is almost up, so let me post this and I promise to write more later this week. Overall, I'm having a great, great time! Of course I miss everyone, and I would love to have clean clothes as well as a shower that doesn't involve flip flops and walking down a hallway in a towel, but this trip has been amazing fun! I can't wait to develop all my film! Miss you!