Blogs from Estonia, Europe - page 8
June 20th 2010
Vanmorgen in het hotel kreeg ik nog gratis ontbijt. Dit was echter niet genoeg om mijn honger te stillen. Bij de afrekening geef ik wat fooi omdat ik de grens overga en met de Letse valuta toch niks meer kan aanvangen. In ruil krijg in een snoepreep. Men laatste munten maak ik op in de supermarkt. Ik koop nog wat frisdrank en koeken. Ik heb nu genoeg koeken voor de komende week. Na een kilometer rijd ik heel onopvallend Estland binnen. Gedurende 30km gaat de route langs kleine rustige kustdorpjes. Ik haal ook men eerste Este kronen af. Er staan terug fietsbordjes en ik volg nr 1 die uiteindelijk tot de grote baan leidt. Ik zie er wat tegenop. Ik zet men MP3-Speler om met celtmuziek van Lord of the Dance. Met deze muziek en het ... read more
June 20th 2010
De regen die gisterenavond startte, hield de ganse nacht aan. Tegen de morgen was alles doorweekt. Ook in de binnentent was er veel condens. Het nat boeltje maar ingepakt en vertrokken. Langs de grote gemene hond kwam ik terug op de hoofdbaan. Op de camping had ik men drinkbussen gevuld maar deze hadden een ijzersmaakje dus in een klein winkeltje water gekocht. De rest nog niet want het aanbod was eender beperkt. Er was ook een internetterminal, iets wat je hier wel veel ziet. Iets verder in een groter dorp vond ik al men inkopen voor de dag. Er hing een gezellige sfeer, allemaal vriendelijke mensen. De lucht bleef grijs ma het bleef droog op een paar verdwaalde druppels na. De route die ik verliet op de moment dat deze naar de eilanden voor de kust ... read more
June 19th 2010
Excerpted from my book; OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA: AMAZON.COM A famous practitioner of sauna culture was the Cold War Finnish President, Urho Kerkkonen. He would assemble his Soviet counterparts in the sauna at his estate and not let them out until agreement was reached on the items being discussed. A famous story surrounds the visit of Dean Rusk, at the time US Secretary of State. Rusk had previously removed from the agenda a visit to the President’s sauna. Perhaps it was not his sort of activity. Kerkkonen, being the host, persisted, and besides, it was his sauna time of the day. He showed Rusk around his estate and they ended up at the sauna. They, along with their ambassadors, sat for while. The heat came on and Kerkkonen took off his jacket. Naturally, Rusk did the ... read more
June 5th 2010
Excerpted from my book: OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA, Amazon.com If you visit a Nordic country for any amount of time, the sauna will eventually make an appearance. All decent hotels have them. Most homes and apartments of any style, and resorts and country cottages would not be without one. Plus, if you spend any time in Finland, you will encounter a sauna culture that is prevalent throughout society. The Finnish language is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult to learn, but most of us already speak a little. Yes, “sauna” is a Finnish word, and the Finnish people lay claim to being the guardians of a proper sauna culture. Any argument about the origins of the sauna is not important to the Finns. For Finns, today, the correctly constructed Finnish Sauna, properly used and ... read more
May 20th 2010
The only thing more beautiful than the city of Tallinn is the women. I mean I didn't talk to any of them , but if you are able to talk to beautiful women, like techno music, and can handle seizure inducing lights then Tallinn is the place for you. I was propositioned twice. The first time I said that I didn't pay money for women I preferred to pay in emotional heart ache. I don't think she got it. The second time I asked if it lasted under a minute was it free. I laughed, she walked away. I don't think she got it. But the city really was a great place. I couldn't find the first couple hostels that I tried but eventually ran into one and booked a couple nights that I would later ... read more
April 25th 2010
After Scandinavia a few weeks ago, I was back on the road again to the same region as I travelled for the first time to the Baltic's where the first stop was Talinn in Estonia. The trip was in doubt up until a couple of days beforehand due a volcano in Iceland that was spewing ash all over Europe and closed the skies for several days, but thankfully it cleared just in time for me and I was off. My first night in Talinn there is not a lot to mention as my memory of the night starts to fade dramatically as it progressed. Strange how that happens. It all started when I checked into the hostel and they passed me a rather large shot of vodka as a welcome. Over the course of the night, ... read more
April 14th 2010
We flew in on the red-eye from Almaty to Riga, and as the sun came up over the Russian Steppe I gazed out of the window onto parts of the world that hadn’t previously existed even in my imagination. We’d planned months before to cross Kazakhstan to Russia to Europe, overland. But time had caught up with us. China will do that to you. I had one overriding wish driving into Riga on that overcast morning on the airport bus, and it appeared it had been granted. Europe in all its autumnal glory, that beautiful bittersweet season marking the end of summer and nature’s retreat; its glorious decay merging poetically with some of the abandoned buildings of a now increasingly distant Soviet past. The past is something we carry around with us, just waiting, it seems, ... read more
April 12th 2010
Tallinn Je viens de passer un weekend fou avec mes deux pizdas polonaises, Marta et Patos. On a passé la journée à Helsinki vendredi. On a été au musée d’art contemporain de Helsinki : Kiasma http://www.kiasma.fi/. Juste avant de prendre le ferry pour aller à Tallinn (capitale de l’Estonie), j’ai trouvé un portefeuille contenant 30 euros, ce qui à peu près l’équivalent de 45 CAN, donc j’ai sauté comme un fou. Arrivé sur le ferry, on s’est payé la traite dans le duty-free shop. Bières, martini, vodka. Nous sommes finalement arrivé à Helsinki vers minuit après 3 h de bateau. On a trouvé notre hostel après 25 minutes de marche, Marta était saoûle déjà et il fallait quasiment la trainer. Bref, on a été déposé nos baggages à l’hostel et on est ressorti dans un bar ... read more
April 8th 2010
Well, 2010 is passing slow, April is here and Mai is just a matter of time, but March was one of my best months so far, due to several reasons.... The snow started melting and we had positive temperatures FINAAALLLLYYYY!!!!!! Now in April we still have some snow here and there but at least i dont have to scratch the windshield every morning for 20 minutes....Spring is almost here (summer in some parts of the world) and i am back to life, days are getting longer and nights are shorter and shorter....the Baltic Summer will be here soon... As a migrating bird that i am....i also started moving around. First stop...Romania, for one week of business meetings, but besides that i had time to meet some of my friends, my lil' sister and to enjoy ... read more
March 21st 2010
Excerpted from my book: BOOK OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA. Available @ Amazon.com DAY FOUR Returning from Muhu, our last visit was to the resort town of Parnu.It was off season, most places having closed at the end of August. We actually checked into our lodgings about six miles from Parnu. We were booked into a surreal compound named Villa Andropov, where the following day we were scheduled to play our last round of golf in Estonia. The golf course had recently been opened and showed some promise, but on rising the next morning we found that the Baltic Fall weather had finally caught up with us. Neither Elysee nor I was in any mood for playing golf in 30-knot rain-spattered winds, on a soggy, recently opened course. Instead we spent the afternoon on a quick tour ... read more
