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

Comments

[Irina]

Baltic States are awesome. I've spent 3 months in Klapipeda, Lithuania with a scholarship & I had enough time to visit Lithuania and Letonia. Anyway, Riga is my favourite city. It's sooo beautiful.