A frigid vacation
Just got back from a great trip through the Baltics. Four countries in 4 days is not good for your health or sleep, particularly when its bitter cold (who the hell goes further north for a holiday??) but it was good all around.
I've got a few more pics posted here: picasaweb.google.com/edobryan/Baltics#
Quick Itinerary: Minsk => Vlnius => Riga, Latvia => Tallinn, Estonia => Helsinki, Finland => Tallinn => Riga => Minsk
Brief observations:
Helsinki is wonderful, but expensive as heck. It was nice to see a non-Soviet city though, maybe the closest to the former USSR. It really makes you wonder what Tallinn and Riga would be like had they remained independent.
A LOT of wars were fought around these parts throughout history, and you couldn't help but feel extra sorry for the soldiers on the bitter cold day we visited the sea fortress. It's really hard to imagine how rough life must have been here a few hundred years ago.
There are no turnstiles in the Helsinki Metro, you can swipe a transit card, and I assume there are random checks, but it was still a little surprising.
Riga and Tallinn are definitely modern cities, and the amount of retail activity is kind of staggering given their size, but in many ways, such as public transit, they aren't as well off as Minsk.
They aren't kidding when they say boarding stops for the ferry 20 min. before launch. We made it with seconds to spare, and the boat left 10 min. early.
The economic crisis is as bad here as anywhere, but you wouldn't have known it judging by the full stores, or the amount of money people were spending buying booze on the ferry.
10 hours on a bus sucks
It's almost surreal driving through the border checkpoints without even slowing down. Freedom of movement is a wonderful thing.
Languages never cease to amaze me, particularly how many there are in this part of the world. While it can make life difficult, even for locals dealing with people that only live a few hours away, they still manage pretty well. I am happy English is the world's second language though, even if it was a little rarer than I expected.
It was nice to visit cold weather cities in winter, to see how the locals live, but seriously, go in summer.