Snow, snow, and more snow in the Baltics

G'day all,

Ok so where do I start other than another busy week crossing 3 countries and going from snow to 10 degrees and sunny. My time in Tartu was an interesting one for me being from Australia because it snowed for the whole 4 days I was there. Sure I’ve seen a little bit of snow before but I’ve never seen this much so it was pretty exciting for me. I loved just walking the streets and treading my way through this nice fluffy white foreign stuff but at the same time I kind of missed feeling a stable ground under my feet. The winter in Estonia pretty much never came to the amazement off all the locals however it sure kicked in right in the thick of spring when I was there. The local Estonians were almost as excited as me about the snow as it had been a completely dry winter. I think many must have thought I was weird as instead of walking on the stamped down paths I often tended to head out in the knee deep snow and wad my way through it getting my jeans wet. Anyway that’s enough about the snow. I spent my first night in Tartu staying at this really nifty new hostel which had just been opened but unfortunately they only had a bed for me for the first night. I was lucky though because I met the great guy on the bus Jaan who set me up with some fellow couchsurfers to stay for the next 3 nights. It was so nice because they were all Estonian students and lived in this really nice house with a sauna right in the town and we all got on really well. Due to the weather I didn’t actually see a great deal in Tartu apart from the snow but it was a really nice safe town to be in. The one really cool thing I did was go to the University and look at the anatomy museum. I’d never seen anything like this before and it was so in your face and gruesome. There were walls and walls of bits of dead peoples bodies in jars from head to toe and had every disease and disorder you can imagine. There was more flesh in there than a strip joint and more bones than a catwalk model but the one thing that really shocked me was when I saw a mans full head with his scalp cut off in a jar. On my last day in Tartu the guys took me for a sauna in their house. It was unlike an Australian sauna as this was a non clothing event and was almost 100 degrees Celsius. It was a bit embarrassing getting the kit off in public but hey when in Estonia do as the Estonians do yeah. I couldn’t believe how hot it was in there and after a while I did the very Estonian thing of running outside and jumping in the snow nude. My skin was so boiling hot after the sauna that being naked in the snow was actually really nice and it didn’t feel too cold at all. The only real embarrassing thing was that I was in the public and anyone could have seen me especially the house full of girls next door. On my last nigh we decided to go out and party being the big night out in the week and the girls from next door came over for some drinks. They were all like models and I found it hard to look them in the eye after my naked rampage through the joined backyard just hours before. We had a great night and at 6:45am the next day I had to drunkenly run for my bus to head to Riga in Latvia. I was sad to be leaving the nice, friendly and hospitable people of Estonia but at this rate I wouldn’t see much of Europe. I only spent 2 nights in Riga to speed things up but I really enjoyed my time there. Riga has a different feel to it compared to Tallinn but it still has a nice charm about it even though it’s much larger. I found myself getting lost over and over again even with my map I didn’t know where I was half the time. Riga was covered in snow when I arrived but by the end of the day it was half gone as the weather really warmed up. Snow was melting off all the rooftops and large chunks were hitting me from 5 stories up everywhere I walked. It was kind of cool though because I felt like was in a computer game trying to dodge all the falling snow and trying to keep my health at 100%. I hung out with some really nice people in Riga and it was a good change having friends to do some sightseeing with. On our last night we went up to the “sky bar” which overlooked the city and sunk some cocktails while watching the sunset. One cool thing in Riga are these bridges where all the newlyweds attach an engraved padlock to them so there are thousands of padlocks everywhere. On Saturday I caught the bus to Vilnius in Lithuania where I’ve been for 2 nights so far. It does seem like a nice town too but there are a few sketchy people about and my friend got mugged on Saturday night so I’m very cautious walking around here now. Anyway I better go see some sights so I’ll have something to write about next time.

Woodsy

From Desert to Snow

G’day all,

Well she’s been a busy week of travelling this past week heading from the desert in Africa to the snow of the Arctic in just a number of days. I first flew into London and stayed with my cousin Dave for a couple of days to adjust and get some cold weather gear together before heading north. It was good to see Dave again and we went out to the famous “Walkabout” pub in Sheppard’s Bush to get me back into the rhythm of London life. I found it really hard going from the cheapness of Egypt to the high prices of London but the relief of not being hassled was a nice change. On Tuesday I flew to Helsinki in Finland where I stayed in a hostel inside the Olympic stadium which was pretty cool. There seemed to be nobody to speak English to there so I just went off strolling around Helsinki myself. Helsinki is a nice place but it’s probably a bit bland I’d have to say. It was also quite expensive so I had to stick to my London ways and try not to spend any money. The weather was freezing cold and it was snowing so I pretty much stayed in the shopping malls walking around Helsinki and even indulged in some traditional Finnish food…..McDonalds. I was expecting Finnish people to be friendly but I found myself being ignored by the locals when asking for directions on the street and when ordering my McDonalds meal the girl yelled at me and said ‘Wait a minute will ya’. On Wednesday I caught the ferry to Tallinn in Estonia and have been there for the past 4 nights. Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and is a big party town on the Baltic Sea. I fell in love with Tallinn the moment I got into the old town area and saw the beautiful cobble stoned streets and ancient architecture. I stayed at the Tallinn Backpackers hostel right in the middle of the old town and soon realized how friendly Estonians are and how much they loved to party. We had a great mixture of people staying at the hostel and I clicked with everyone really well once I sat down and said hi. Before I knew it I was in my party clothes and had a beer in my hand. The one crazy thing I found about Tallinn was that every single girl looks like a supermodel. There are no fat people, no ugly people, and nobody seems to have any imperfections. On my first night we went to a popular club here called “Hollywood” and I felt like the ugliest person in there as everyone looked like models. The next 3 days after that feel like a bit of a blur as all we did was head out each night and sleep in each day. I did get to have a nice look around Tallinn at the end though and walked around the town in amazement at how awesome everything looked and how nice it was walking around in the snow. I had a funny moment when I walked down to the lake which was frozen and watched ducks trying to walk on the ice as they looked like Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk. Yesterday I took a bus to another town in Estonia called Tartu which is a big university party town. Everyone seems to be so nice here and if you ask for directions they seem to walk you to where you want to go rather than point in the direction. I think I’m sick of partying now but I’ll have to see how long I can last before heading to Riga in Latvia.

Hung-over again,

Woodsy