I admit, it's been a while since I've updated this. The reason being that whenever I sit down at a computer either someone suggests a better thing to do or I get a fun idea myself.. selfish I know. I'll guess I'll try and start from where I left off.. so I must cast my mind back to Tampere - Finland.
It was tough to leave the city after meeting so many good people through Veera.. and this task because harder after I was invited to a house warming party on the last night.. a great chance to meet some new cool people who I would have to leave to next day. Reluctantly, the next day I was heading south to Helisinki with the prospect to spending one night there before taking the ferry to St Petersburg. In a bar in Tampere I met a guy who was to be in Helsinki that weekend and he offered me to stay with him and his fiancee. He gave me his number so I could call him when I arrived but by 9 o clock in the evening, 5 hours after arriving, he was yet to return my calls. I wasn't too keen on spending the night in a hostel and I found out about a couchsurfing get together in a bar.. so I head there instead, I met people from all over the world there.. Americans, Chinese, Austrians, a Brit and even some Finns. Due to the crowd being full of couchsurfers I was in no shortage of offers to stay and, along with a fellow Chinese couchsurfer, I stayed the night with a native Helsinkian (?) Hanna.
It's strange how singing karaoke with some Russian tourists in a ferry bar at 2 in the morning because the cheap cabins are too noisy to sleep in so the natural decision to to drink until one passes out becomes an almost ordinary event - I recall not realising the absurdness of the situation until somebody asked me the next day what I did on the ferry. The decision turned out to pay dividends.. I fell asleep and I made friends with Sveta - the news reader for one of St Peterburg's radio stations. She told me she would meet me each afternoon and show me to some cool places and she also advised me on how to spend each morning. This was particularly useful because I had only 3 days to spend in the city.. I was restricted to this as I had no visa for Russia and it was only through a special agreement through the ferry company that I could enter Russia at all.
It turns out the St Petersburg is an incredibly beautiful city.. no surprises there you'd assume but even with its reputation it is surprisingly beautiful. In the main centre of the city it is almost as if every buildng were a palace. On my day of arrival I was introduced to the city by two couchsufers Anna and Timur. The following day I went to he Russian Hermitage museum, which in itself is a reason to visit the city, and is by far the greatest museum I've ever been to. I met Sveta and she took me for another tour of a different part of the city, showing me a cool cafeteria and a crazy Beatles fan who had turned his home into a shrine to John Lennon and the Beatles. It was to be my only full day in the city before I had to leave but on my last day I managed to squeeze in another museum visit and a final meeting with Sveta who wished me farewell. It turns out 3 days isn't nearly enough.. I think 3 years would be a more appropriate amount of time to get to know the place.
I recall it being 1pm on friday in Tallin when I was meeting my host Ilona for lunch at her workplace. I had spent the morning sight seeing round the old town and had just left a free tour. I asked her if there was anything she would recommend to me to do in the afternoon and she half heartedly pointed to a she places on the map. I then asked, what would you do.. and she eagerly pointed out all of her favourite bars and pubs in the old town and recommended her favourite beers to me and told me where she would join me later. I don't really remember how I spent the rest of the day. Ilona and her boyfriend spent the next day driving me to some of the sights around the city.. including the national singing field. The Estonian singing festival is held every 4 years and is held dearly in the hearts of the Estonian people. As times of desperation, oppression and rejoicing, the Estonian people have a long tradition of turning to singing to deal with problems or celebration - I was to learn this in my first day in Tartu where I spent the night with Lauri and his family. I spent the remainder of my time in tartu with Doris and her friend Elisa. I was interested to find out that Doris spends some of her free time in the winter ice rallying.. I unfortunately didn't get to try my hand at this. After visiting an old KGB prison and going to a jazz concert I decided to leave Estonia for Latvia.
I left Tartu at around 6 in the evening on a Friday. I was feeling the need for an adventure so I attempted to hitch hike the 250 (ish) km to Ryga, knowing that I had no place to stay if I made it. I had no idea how busy the road/s would be but guessed if I got lucky with rides I could make it to Ryga by 10pm. By 9 pm I hadnt made it halfway when I was taken to Valga - a town which half is in Estonia and half is in Latvia (in pre-Schengen times, residents would have to cross border control to get to work, go to shops ect.). The non-English speaking driver who had taken me as far as Valga dropped me off and pointed down a dark, empty and pot hole ridden street and said 'Ryga'. I reasoned I would not be hitch hiking the rest of the way to Ryga.So I walked into a nearby petrol station and asked the attendant whether she spoke English, she didn't, so I tried to communicate (using available props and a lot of pointing) whether it was possible to get to Ryga and if not, were there cheap places to stay. I was getting nowhere when, out of the toilet, stepped a guy in his early 40s. The attendant spoke some Estonia to him and he turned to me and asked, with a slight American accent, 'so you need some help translating?'. He explained to me that there was no possibility to hitch hike out of town that night and there was only one, up market hotel in town. This was not good news, so I asked whether there were any bars in the town where I could try my luck finding somebody kind enough (or drunk enough) to offer me a place to stay. He conversed with the attendant and reported that I may find somehwere in the centre of town and proceeded to show me the dircetion in which I should walk. As I started walking towards the centre he asked 'hold on, where is it that you are heading?', 'Ryga' I replied. 'I think you're the luckiest person in the world tonight because that is exactly where I am heading and I'll give you a ride' - music.
I spent the 2 hour journey listning to him speak about Estonian culture, history and his connections to important Estonians who had roles in WW2. His grandfarther had even worked as a body guard for an American diplomat in pre WW2 Nazi Germany who had a girl friend that worked as a secretary to Hitler! It turns out my driver was American who was born to an Estonian family in New York. He told me that if I were ever to be in New York I should go to the Estonia house there and I could meet him in the afternoon for some drinks and conversation - an I offer I hope to take up. By midnight I had reached Ryga and was taken right up to a bar in the old town where my driver thought I'd have a good chance of meeting some similar minded, English speaking Latvians. As I left his car he handed me his business card - CEO of a financial consultant company located in the Empire State Building. Heading into the bar with my huge rucksack on I attracted a few curious looks and within minutes I was chatting to a group of friends about my adventure of a trip from Tartu. After realising I had nowhere to stay, I was offered by Sanita, one of the group, a bed for the weekend at her apartment. Completion.
I'll add some photos when I have fascilities to do so and I'll continue the update soon (promise!).
It was tough to leave the city after meeting so many good people through Veera.. and this task because harder after I was invited to a house warming party on the last night.. a great chance to meet some new cool people who I would have to leave to next day. Reluctantly, the next day I was heading south to Helisinki with the prospect to spending one night there before taking the ferry to St Petersburg. In a bar in Tampere I met a guy who was to be in Helsinki that weekend and he offered me to stay with him and his fiancee. He gave me his number so I could call him when I arrived but by 9 o clock in the evening, 5 hours after arriving, he was yet to return my calls. I wasn't too keen on spending the night in a hostel and I found out about a couchsurfing get together in a bar.. so I head there instead, I met people from all over the world there.. Americans, Chinese, Austrians, a Brit and even some Finns. Due to the crowd being full of couchsurfers I was in no shortage of offers to stay and, along with a fellow Chinese couchsurfer, I stayed the night with a native Helsinkian (?) Hanna.
It's strange how singing karaoke with some Russian tourists in a ferry bar at 2 in the morning because the cheap cabins are too noisy to sleep in so the natural decision to to drink until one passes out becomes an almost ordinary event - I recall not realising the absurdness of the situation until somebody asked me the next day what I did on the ferry. The decision turned out to pay dividends.. I fell asleep and I made friends with Sveta - the news reader for one of St Peterburg's radio stations. She told me she would meet me each afternoon and show me to some cool places and she also advised me on how to spend each morning. This was particularly useful because I had only 3 days to spend in the city.. I was restricted to this as I had no visa for Russia and it was only through a special agreement through the ferry company that I could enter Russia at all.
It turns out the St Petersburg is an incredibly beautiful city.. no surprises there you'd assume but even with its reputation it is surprisingly beautiful. In the main centre of the city it is almost as if every buildng were a palace. On my day of arrival I was introduced to the city by two couchsufers Anna and Timur. The following day I went to he Russian Hermitage museum, which in itself is a reason to visit the city, and is by far the greatest museum I've ever been to. I met Sveta and she took me for another tour of a different part of the city, showing me a cool cafeteria and a crazy Beatles fan who had turned his home into a shrine to John Lennon and the Beatles. It was to be my only full day in the city before I had to leave but on my last day I managed to squeeze in another museum visit and a final meeting with Sveta who wished me farewell. It turns out 3 days isn't nearly enough.. I think 3 years would be a more appropriate amount of time to get to know the place.
I recall it being 1pm on friday in Tallin when I was meeting my host Ilona for lunch at her workplace. I had spent the morning sight seeing round the old town and had just left a free tour. I asked her if there was anything she would recommend to me to do in the afternoon and she half heartedly pointed to a she places on the map. I then asked, what would you do.. and she eagerly pointed out all of her favourite bars and pubs in the old town and recommended her favourite beers to me and told me where she would join me later. I don't really remember how I spent the rest of the day. Ilona and her boyfriend spent the next day driving me to some of the sights around the city.. including the national singing field. The Estonian singing festival is held every 4 years and is held dearly in the hearts of the Estonian people. As times of desperation, oppression and rejoicing, the Estonian people have a long tradition of turning to singing to deal with problems or celebration - I was to learn this in my first day in Tartu where I spent the night with Lauri and his family. I spent the remainder of my time in tartu with Doris and her friend Elisa. I was interested to find out that Doris spends some of her free time in the winter ice rallying.. I unfortunately didn't get to try my hand at this. After visiting an old KGB prison and going to a jazz concert I decided to leave Estonia for Latvia.
I left Tartu at around 6 in the evening on a Friday. I was feeling the need for an adventure so I attempted to hitch hike the 250 (ish) km to Ryga, knowing that I had no place to stay if I made it. I had no idea how busy the road/s would be but guessed if I got lucky with rides I could make it to Ryga by 10pm. By 9 pm I hadnt made it halfway when I was taken to Valga - a town which half is in Estonia and half is in Latvia (in pre-Schengen times, residents would have to cross border control to get to work, go to shops ect.). The non-English speaking driver who had taken me as far as Valga dropped me off and pointed down a dark, empty and pot hole ridden street and said 'Ryga'. I reasoned I would not be hitch hiking the rest of the way to Ryga.So I walked into a nearby petrol station and asked the attendant whether she spoke English, she didn't, so I tried to communicate (using available props and a lot of pointing) whether it was possible to get to Ryga and if not, were there cheap places to stay. I was getting nowhere when, out of the toilet, stepped a guy in his early 40s. The attendant spoke some Estonia to him and he turned to me and asked, with a slight American accent, 'so you need some help translating?'. He explained to me that there was no possibility to hitch hike out of town that night and there was only one, up market hotel in town. This was not good news, so I asked whether there were any bars in the town where I could try my luck finding somebody kind enough (or drunk enough) to offer me a place to stay. He conversed with the attendant and reported that I may find somehwere in the centre of town and proceeded to show me the dircetion in which I should walk. As I started walking towards the centre he asked 'hold on, where is it that you are heading?', 'Ryga' I replied. 'I think you're the luckiest person in the world tonight because that is exactly where I am heading and I'll give you a ride' - music.
I spent the 2 hour journey listning to him speak about Estonian culture, history and his connections to important Estonians who had roles in WW2. His grandfarther had even worked as a body guard for an American diplomat in pre WW2 Nazi Germany who had a girl friend that worked as a secretary to Hitler! It turns out my driver was American who was born to an Estonian family in New York. He told me that if I were ever to be in New York I should go to the Estonia house there and I could meet him in the afternoon for some drinks and conversation - an I offer I hope to take up. By midnight I had reached Ryga and was taken right up to a bar in the old town where my driver thought I'd have a good chance of meeting some similar minded, English speaking Latvians. As I left his car he handed me his business card - CEO of a financial consultant company located in the Empire State Building. Heading into the bar with my huge rucksack on I attracted a few curious looks and within minutes I was chatting to a group of friends about my adventure of a trip from Tartu. After realising I had nowhere to stay, I was offered by Sanita, one of the group, a bed for the weekend at her apartment. Completion.
I'll add some photos when I have fascilities to do so and I'll continue the update soon (promise!).
