Hi Everybody! A few belated notes about Chernobyl. The tour-bus ride from Kiev was about 1.5 hrs; about 28 people, mostly Brits were on the bus. The Brits were in Ukraine for World Cup Soccer (England lost). The tour began at Hotel Rus--a fitting start. The Chernobyl disaster occurred Apr 23, 1986, when a safety test went wrong. Radiation from fallout was at least 100 times that of Nagasaki and Hiroshama combined. 40% of Ukraine forest was contaminated; 6% remains contaminated today. Ukraine estimated 25,000 to 100,000 fatailities (I bet they understated by 50%). Initial winds were to the N [View Full Entry]

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A weekend in Riga A few months ago we went to Latvia. We haven't come around to publish a blog entry on that trip until now. But we figure it doesn't matter much if we are a bit late before we publish our travel tales and photos. We spent a total of three days there enjoying some nice spring weather while walking around in Riga old town and a few other places. The old town is a World Heritage and is the major tourist attraction in Riga. Many of Riga's visitors barely venture outside of the city centre and therefore don't [View Full Entry]

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Our last day in Riga! We decided to take it easy -- both of us had sore feet, and my headaches and sore throat suggested that I might be getting a cold. Our friend Laurie, who’s done long trips like this before, once mentioned that it’s important to take a low-key day every now and then. So we didn’t set the alarm and didn’t make big plans. 
Mid-morning we headed to the Central Market to grab breakfast. This is the largest indoor market that either of us have ever seen -- it was built in a hangar tha [View Full Entry]

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It was towards the end of the day and the city looked a lot busier than before. Many locals walking around, laughing, smiling it seemed a happy place. It felt safer too. The Police don’t look as intimidating now with their florescent yellow vests. In transit at Riga airport and 5 hours to kill there’s no better way to kill time than to exchange some money and head out to the Latvian capital for some Baltic life. 3 hours - that’s all I needed to see how much the Baltic’s have changed since my first visit - In 2004 it just [View Full Entry]

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Sun. 30 August pretty as a picture - and that is all you are going to get with your Monday morning Weeties folks, its too late to write anything! proper anyway - man's gotta rest sometimes, at least in between Latvian feast times! [View Full Entry]

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this is the (almost) final Riga instalment (30-31 August) - being written on the bus Liepaja-Klaipeda (in Lithuania)- while battery holds out. (and no pics as takes too long - now in Lithuania its 3pm on 2 Sept. and I want out of my hotel! gee it is starting to get difficult to remember whats what from the Travel Blur! What di I do on 30 August? - well I do remember Diana at the K&G must have helped me with some more Latvian travel details re buses etc - the Rundale palace ones which went to waste (see later). I [View Full Entry]

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this is about yesterday 28 August: as I already told you I arrived into Riga on the 6.45am bus from Tartu at 10.45 - walked to the LP recommended Krisjanis & Gertrudas B&B. After a blog update - and more importantly a nap - i was knackered after the early start and less sleep the night before - I was finally out the door for a walk. Headed down Gertrudas iela where K&G is towards the Art Nouveau are the other side of Brivibas which is where the fancy area of Riga begins - embassies and that sort of thing. As [View Full Entry]

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late night Riga 10pm+ rainy Sat. nite 29 Aug.two blogs in one day - this is truly net addiction! - cos I can, as I keep saying. Having posted the earlier entry and finally got out of the K&G at about 4pm - call this being a tourist?! - fair dinkum, its like the Leunig cartoon of the people inside watching the sunset on TV while its actually happening outside! in a way I welcomed the opportunity to come back "early" to the hotel as it was raining - the real reason I stopped for dinner at 7pm was I was [View Full Entry]

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We woke early in Pärnu so that we’d have time to grab a quick breakfast -- four pastries and two coffees, ordered mostly in Estonian. My rudimentary language skills hit their limits at the bus station, but I eventually figured out that we had to buy our tickets on the bus. The driver was, charmingly, a bit flustered because he couldn’t give us exact change; we overpaid and got on anyway, but after a few more people had paid he found us at the back of the bus and gave us our change. Aww. Meanwhile we’d struck up a friendly conversation [View Full Entry]

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Riga lunchtime - 1.30pm (but I don't eat lunch, so I do not turn into a blimp as Melita suggested) The bus to here left Tartu (Estonia) at 6.45am and the hotel gave me a little lunch/breakfast polystyrene box of sandwiches and a bottle of orange juice - wasn't that nice, as leaving too early for breakfast. There was seriously hardly anyone staying there - and I had both the one breakfast and dinner I had there alone. Anyway having left Estonia some alleged facts about it - Estonia has the worst traffic accident fatality rate in Europe - and the [View Full Entry]

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