Charming, Tallinnted individual

Tervist,

To sum up Tallinn in one word: touristy. The whole old town outside my hostel is pumped full of wenches wearing typical peasant garb and barking at me to come and eat their wild boar stew. At first it was charming, but after getting handed the 556th flier it gets a little old. The city itself is really clean and beautiful though.

To keep busy I've done two tours in the city. The biking tour which I went on today took me around the city, to a market where we all were given a mission by the guide to buy the best pair of panties we could find for under $0.40, and to a prison that was just decommissioned in 2005. The former Soviet jail was super creepy. They just left all the equipment, such as operating tools, scalpels, typewriters, vials of clear liquids, ect...

The walking tour I participated in the day before was a different story. To preface, I'd been suffering from a headache the previous day, (possibly caused by the solid chunk of sausage that acted as my entire meal of the day) so I decided the best course of action was to rehydrate. I did this by ingesting nearly 3 liters of water and a liter of OJ. About half way during the tour the liquid groaned within me and the only toilet near cost 3 Krooni. This comes to about a $0.25, but I only had a $500 Krooni bill with me. So I quickly ditched the tour and waddled back to a free toilet by the old church we started at. After remedying my condition, I entered the church and took a look at the Danse Macabre that is lodged within.

I'm slightly over half way done with my European Exursion and it just feels like a started. Tomorrow I'm grabbing a ferry to Helsinki where I will spend the day, then I plan on taking a night ferry over to Stockholm where I hear some of my relatives might be visiting.

Head aega!

Eurokid

Magical MysteRiga Tour

Sveiki!

Latvia has been a strange land. My bus ride from Vilnius was a great deal shorter than the ride from Warsaw which was much appreciated and I was much more prepared in terms of food and beverages. Pretzels and nuts nourished me during my trip and the conversation was also stimulating. I found myself sitting on the bus next to a big player from the Netherland's Christian Democratic Party. He filled me in on his party and how he is involved with an orphan reduction program in Africa. He was really an interesting guy and it was great hearing his story.


Riga itself is a luscious city, but the heat here is putting a damper on my site seeing. As a fellow traveler, Brittney, told me in Berlin, "this is vacation dude, do whatever you want". So, apart from a brief walking tour, I've been laying low and drinkin in the hostel trying to fend off the heat.

Last night I did experience a completely new level of cool. The owners of the hostel organized a group of 8 people for a BBQ at a campsite by the Baltic Sea. We headed there and ate a huge pile of smoked meat after swimming in the Baltic (it was that hot up here). Additional coolness was added because it stays so much lighter here due to the latititude. In fact, the sunset was around 10:15 last night. We stayed in the water until the sun set, were accosted by flies the size of butter sticks, and then went home. It was by far the best Riga offered.

I am now in Tallinn (I didn't have time to blog on location, Buhh) and it seems to be even better here. I will report back with my findings.

Uz Redzešanos
Eurokid

P.S. I have also received a request for pictures on this here blog. Most of mine have not been uploaded onto a computer, but these were e-mailed to me by a guy who went to the BBQ too. Pardon the poor layout.

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and Vilnius

Labas!

The experience of Lithuania has been an odd one to say the least. The bus trip here took 12 hours from Warsaw, but since it was a night bus with no one in the seat next to me it was acceptable. Plus I actually remembered to buy food and water before the bus left. This was not the case during the 12 hour Berlin-Warsaw ride where a family ate an entire cooked chicken in the seat next to me while I tried to savor my remaining 3 Tic-Tacs. However, upon arriving in Vilnius I realized I forgot my travel planner I've been keeping. This planner contained all the info for the hostel I am staying so it was a major annoyance to lose. I ended up getting an inadvertent tour of the city as I roamed the streets in search for the internet.

The hostel, "Jimmy Jumps", is soo cool. The Canadian guy who owns and operates it is absolutely the coolest and I've spoke with him a bunch about how he got into the business and just started up the place on a whim and is now terribly successful. It feels more like you are staying at an awesome friends house that serves free waffles in the morning. The people here are also very cool and we have went out several times to check out the night life which is curiously much more hoppin' than Warsaw.

However, the craziest thing that has happened was going shooting with a group from the hostel. Apperently Lithuania doesn't believe in huge gun regulation like some European countries. We went with an army guy to an old Soviet bunker in the middle of nowhere (a little dodgy I admit) and shot the s*** out of everything. We had 12 different guns too including M4's and AK 47's. I don't really get into guns in general, but it was a super wild experience. Don't worry Mom, it was safe.

Next stop is north to Riga where more Baltic suprises are sure to crop up.

Viso Gero,
Eurokid

I came, Warsaw, I conqured

Cześć

Eastern Europe, what a place. I have entered a realm of backpackers who stray from the beaten paths and traditional tourist sites of the West and it has been amazing.

Getting to Warsaw was an adventure in itself. The bus ride from Berlin was 12 hours and I was the only American (or native English speaker) on board. Luckily I met a few really awesome people who helped me out. All were super hospitable and I didn't feel quite so terrible about leaving the more English speaking city of Berlin.

I haven't done a lot of sight seeing in Warsaw especially when compaired to Berlin where I went on several tours and walked around extensivly. I did see a museum today about the Polish uprising that took place in WWII and it was very intense. Some of the scenes and exhibits probably wouldn't have been displayed in US because they were so graphic. Overall it was a sombering experience but a good one none the less.

Luckily the rest of the time in the city has been the funniest I've had in a while. The people in the hostel are really close and bond really quickly. We've went out just about every night but it is much different than Berlin. For one they do not seem to believe in clubs here in Warsaw. Last night for instance we went out to a bar to watch the world cup match and then went to another pub (which closed at midnight). This forced us to wander the streets looking for something that was open. Unfortunatly nothing, and I mean absolutly nothing, was open and we just came back to the hostel.

One intersting thing about Warsaw is how awful the bike riders are here. The first night that we went out to eat we saw a biker plow into the menu sign outside the resturaunt and totally wipe out and take the menu board with him. Today, we saw a biker crash into a waitress at a different resturant we ate at which sent glasses and bottels everywhere. Compaired to the rest of Europe (especially Amsterdam where bikers are everywhere and thus the populous has mastered the art) the Poles seem to be terrible drivers.

Next on the tour is further into the unknown, Vilnius in Lithuania. What awaits is anyone's guess, but so far Eastern Europe has been a blast and I've got high expectations.

Do zobaczenia,
Eurokid

Berlin' alive

Guten Abend!

So much awesomeness has been condensed in the few days it is hard to begin...

My last night in Hamburg was by far the best in that city. The hostel still was a ghost town, but I met a fellow solo traveler who was awesome and we toured the churches during the day and ate some of the most filling mustard-salami sandwhiches that side of the Elbe. However the real awesomeness came during the evening when we went to a really super sweet bar to watch the football game. We sat in this bar and the guy to my left started talking to us. He turned out to be a local who know a load of info about Hamburg and took us on a personal tour of Hamburg. We wound up going to a pub on a boat and seeing the harbor and seeing where the Beatles started their career. It was super awesome and I left Hamburg on a postive note.

Berlin is a much different city. The hostel actually had real live people staying there and they were super cool. I use the past tense because the majority just left today. It is such a weird cycle of meeting people making fast friendships that quickly form and fade as people travel from city to city.

We have a roof that all the people at the hostel can go out and hang out on and that is where most of the drinking and bonding takes place. We have also went to some rockin Berlin clubs. The nightlife here is much more intense and awesome than back home. I hope that lazers don`t cause health issues because I got zapped in the eyes by quite a few.

Also it has been ungodly hot here. Almost over 100 degrees for the last 3 days. The room I sleep in is a legitimate sweatbox and smells pretty aweful, but luckly this place has a nice mainroom and plenty of ventalation.

The plans for the future look like Warsaw Poland on the near horizion and after that its just a big honkin´ ?

I´ll let you know when I`m in Poland!

Prost!

Eurokid

1 world cup, 5 beers, and 1.8 million Hamburgers

Guten Tag,

The hostel I'm staying at in Hamburg has by far been the quietest yet. It has set the mood for my stay here over the last few days. The first day I explored the city quite thoroughly walking around and noting the architecture and marveling at the parks (which most cities in Europe excel at crafting). It also got me contemplating the varying etiquettes used by the locals when it comes to crossing the street in various countries.

To illustrate: In London people crossed the street whenever then wanted and the colour of the light made little to no difference. In fact, if you stood waiting for the light to change when there were no cars coming you might be pushed over by the mass of people behind you waiting to get across. Conversely, here in Hamburg there may be one person waiting at an intersection with absolutely no cars on the horizon and the light just turned red and they will wait a full 4 minutes for the walk sign to reappear. At first I felt out of place just walking across, fearing that Hamburgeain J-walking laws may be the strictest of the EU, but I have yet to encounter any resistance.

My other pastime here has been visiting the Harley Davidson festival which is occurring a few blocks from my (eerily empty) hostel. The rally just ended today, but I saw my fill of Road Kings and Sportsters. Also set up at the rallypoint were tents to watch the World Cup matches. It has been great to visit these, drink a beer, and get into the games. As of today Germany just beat England (in a stellar performance) and the city erupted with honks and cheers. It has been about 4 hours since the game ended and people are still driving down the streets celebrating and waving flags. I am switching my support based on the country I am currently in and supporting the local team. This helps in making friends and with the US out, why not?

One more full day in Hamburg then off to Berlin!

Tschüs!
Eurokid

...more like Campsterdam

Hallo,

Greetings from Amsterdam! It has been quite a journey from Brussels. The bus ride took a little under 4 hours and the last few days have been spent exploring this majestic city, mostly in an attempt to get away from our first hostel. Of the ''hostels' we have stayed at so far, it has been the worst. Let me try and explain the facility; At first I thought we had stumbled upon a set for Hostel 3 (they actually have a poster for the original movie "Hostel" in one of the trailers. Pretty out of place if you ask me. Thought Jeri might get a kick out of that). The place is actually more of a campsite than a hostel, filled with a number of small trailers no longer on wheels where everyone sleeps. The kitchen and eating area are outside. This makes for annoying breakfasts when it is raining in the morning. Bathrooms are located in an outside building but are surprisingly acceptable. However, the worst aspect of all is the tram ran by the campsite that we must take every time we go the city. 1 € per ride. It could be worse. There was one cool aspect a small movie trailer that claimed to be the world's smallest cinima. We watched District 9 in it and it was nice just sitting back and watching a movie. Regardless, in upcomming hostels I will make it a point to search for a high "location" score.

Amsterdam itself is quite amazing. Raven and I went to the Anne Frank house (thanks Steve) and spend several hours reading signs as we walked through the structure. It was a somber experience walking through the house, but good none-the-less. After this we met up with some friends we had made back in England. It was great catching up with them and seeing how their journey was shaping up.

As of this post Raven's journey on the trip has come to an end as she took off for the airport yesterday morning. I certainly will miss the company and correct directions she provided during her duration. I have since moved from the scuzzy campsite to a normal hostel in the center of the city where I have 1 more night. The 24th I will be taking off for the green fields of Germany as I head for Hamburg.

Thanks for following!

Eurokid