Belgium

I'm writing about my last stop of Euro 2011 a couple of months after the fact. Belgium was a great time. Specifically, my stop in the city of Brugges is what made Belgium. And the first thing to come to mind? Chocolate!!!



Belgian chocolate is delicious. It's melt-in-your-mouth, creamy good. I also found it reasonably cheap too. I really wish I had brought so much more back.

The cityscapes in the two Belgian cities were breathtaking too, especially at night. I'm having a little trouble with my browser here, but I hope to post some of the shots soon.



My single favorite day in Belgium was when I rented a bike from my hostel and took it out to the countryside for the day. It ended up being a THIRTY MILE ride but I got to see windmills, the beaches and quaint little villages and canals along the way. The perfect weather and bright sunny skies made it really enjoyable.

Sweden

My first thought on Stockholm was surprise at just how big this city is. In fact, it very much has a feel like so many other cultural capitals like London, Paris, Rome and Berlin. Stochholm is in fact smaller than it feels. It may just be because the city is spread out over so manty islands, canals and along the Baltic.

Prices here are almost just as expensive as the rest of Scandinavia, but you can find pockets of affordability. Like today, I enjoyed a meal of Swedish meatballs with ligonberries. I stopped into an upscale chocolate shop as well and enjoyed some very good and very rich dark hot chocolate.


The main attraction here is the museum housing the famous 1620s warship, the Vasa. It was built at the height of Swedish military power. It was considered to be the mightiest ship of it's time with over 60 cannons spread over two gundecks. The problem was the ship had some serious engineering issues and miscalculations and was too top-heavy. It sunk in just twenty minutes into it's inaugural voyage and sat at the bottom of the Baltic for over 300 years before being rediscovered in the 1950s. The wooden ship was in a remarkable state of preservation and has since been raised and is now displaced and preserved in a Stockholm museum. 95% of the original is intact and it's an amazing site.


The hostel I am staying at is a bit more high-tech than your usual hostel. The lobby has iMac computers everywhere to use. The basement rooms have sidewalk skylights looking up to the streets above. The rooms are keypad entry. There a couches and cushions everywhere...definitely a very comfortable place.

Norway

It's been 11 years since my first trip to Europe that ended in Norway. My original intent was to have nearly half of THIS trip focus on Norway, but the US dollar had other suggestions. After finding out that an economy car rents for $150/day here with $10-12/gallon in fuel, I very quickly had a change in heart. Oslo is where I have based out of the last two days and it is prohibitively expensive. Even a cheap McDonald's meal comes out to $10-15. everything goes up steeply from there.

The coolest stop here was stopping in at the Viking ship museum.



They have three Viking ships on display that were uncovered and date back to the Vikings in 800 and 900 AD. They are very remarkably intact too. I rode the Oslo subway/train car up the mountain to the newly built ski jump complex. Ski jumping is HUGE here, as are just about any alpine sports. The jump was just finished last year in time for the 2011 World Championships. I got to ride to the top right where the athletes start their lunge down the slope. There were amazing views up there as well of Oslo and Oslofjord (the harbor).



I came upon the Oslo Cathedral last night and had momentarily forgotten about the tragic bombing from 3 weeks ago that occurred here. There were thousands of flowers on the cathedral grounds as a quick reminder and still plenty of tourists and Norwegians stopping by in the rain to pay their respects.

I have a 6 hour train ride booked foe tomorrow morning to Sweden. I'm looking forward to the uninterrupted, no transfer trip.

Latvia and Lithuania

Things moved further south on Thursday and Friday. I moved on from Estonia to the other two Baltic States and their capitals, Riga and Vilnius. Both countries have a bit more Polish and German influences and both were more Sovietized during their decades-long occupation. While Tallinn has flouished with their newfound capitalism, these cities have been a little more slow to move along. The buildings are a little slower behind in their upkeep and the advent of new bright cages and shops are certainly there but just slightly more scattered.

Riga was WET! It has rained everyday up until this point but really culminated in a soaker on Thursday. Riga actually ended up being a bit of a slight disappointment. Vilnius is a bit better kept however and I enjoyed a couple of very good meals here and a walking tour of the city. Got to meet a couple people from my hostel too, one from Australia and the other from Beijing...nice people. Vilnius is right on the border with Belarus, who still lives in the Dark Ages under Communism and resisted change when the old Soviet system collapsed.



Speaking if the Soviets, I also took a look at the old KGB building and it's museum here in Vilnius...very chilling. They had their own execution chamber in the basement and a few padded cells for their torture victims, especially under the tyrant's Stalin's rule.

Tallinn, Estonia

Wednesday began with a steady rain and a LONG trek to find the ferry terminal would need to get to Estonia. The ferry was a 3-hour ride across the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. I stayed up the night before so with my 5a start my first thoughts on the boat were to find a nice place to curl up and sleep. I went to the empty bar on the far end of the ship and found the perfect spot. Well, 45 minutes later the bar was completely full with a live band and drinks flowing and people dancing. And here I was with this HUGE backpacking and wet gear and I'm sitting there out-of-place with the partying locals.

I made it to Tallinn in one piece and was greeted by yet another thunderstorm. The rain is certainly following me around on this trip. It clears up at places after I leave. I checked in at my hostel and then hurried over to the Old Town...no time to waste as all of these stops are so brief.

Tallinn's Old City is visually stunning.



I had positive expectations but this stop far exceeded them. Americans don't travel to the Baltics so there is so little material to base an itinerary or expectations. Estonia has only been under it's own control in recent history. They have been controlled and dominated by the Danes, Germans, Swedes and finally Russians influences until they finally could break away in 1991. The city has blossomed since and has undergone a radical transformation for such a short period. The city tries to theme itself as medieval, Old World and does a fantastic job with the theme matching it with it's 12th - 14th century buildings and costumed employees at shops and restaurants.

I finally could afford a meal and settled on one of these Old World places and had wild boar for the first time...really good. I took a 3 hour bike tour that afternoon and we Saw a number of spots on the outskirts that are more work to reach...like the Soviet "liberation" monument, Peter the Great's summer residence and the city's less transformed areas.

Estonia is still 40% Russians as the Soviets shipped in workers for their great factories. The Russians do not assimilate and there are underlying problems.

Finland

Part of Monday and all of Tuesday was spent in Helsinki. I took a 2-hour flight to get there. Helsinki is a beautiful, peaceful city. It is not overly large or with too many attractions, but it is easy to navigate and makes for some good walks.the churches in Helsinki are quite remarkable. I also ventured out by ferry to an island out in the harbor which was perfect for a sunny day.

The Finns are separated from their Scandinavian neighbors by both language and history. It technically is not part of Scandinavia because of this. Their language more closely resembles something closer to the Far East (like Mongolia) and their history includes being a part of Russia's sphere of influence in the past. In fact, Finland has only been independent since 1917. Finns are a bit reserved. They must be very orderly as well. You can't get one to jaywalk. I felt like I could be arrested for crossing the street on a red. The locals sure won't no matter if the closest car is 300 yards away.



I enjoyed the intensely sweet strawberries and blueberries...intense because of the short growing season here but also very long days in summer. Helsinki also has a sizable Nepalese population (go figure) and I love their food, so had to try some of that.

Amsterdam

Sorry everybody, but I am not sure this website will cooperate enough with my iPad to post pictures while on my trip. If you have Facebook access, I have been posting some there.

Amsterdam is happening everywhere. This is a seriously busy city. Maybe I'm just not used to Europe in the peak of summer but there are people everywhere. So many things define this city. There are the canals, more than Venice. Bicycling is huge here and it feels every bit like China in that sense. In the busy parts of the city, there is marijuana smoke everywhere.

I took a train in yesterday after landing in Dusseldorf, Germany. I had to transfer FOUR TIMES so you couldn't relax and make a mistake. The hostel is great. The building is literally a former brothel. In fact, my room is called "the brothel"! No worries, it's no different than any other hostel lodging and is a very friendly place...outside of the fact my room is "themed" too and has naked lady pictures on the walls! I met Courtney, from Colorado, here this weekend and we rode rental bikes throughout the all of Amsterdam for hours today.


The Anne Frank House brought the drama of the Holocaust to life. The canals are beautiful. They aren't as creative as Venice's but are a vital part of the city persona still.

The best part so far? It easily is trading the mid 90s of Tennessee out for the upper 60s here...so nice!