From Berlin to Tallinn, Nicholas G. Boyce finds himself finally on the precipice of Russia

Europe
July 16th 2008

Published: July 16th 2008

Firstly then let’s go back to me sitting in the industrial heart of Holland waiting for a hitch, the then; so if you’ve looked at the travel map you’ll know I got to Berlin safely (nice Afghani chap took me at high speed on the German highway!!) and then onwards I ventured to experience many things brightly lit by the souls of things, dimly lit by the hum drum of money and the darkness of the nothing…Back to the now; I find myself sitting on the front porch of a humble Estonian summerhouse on the outskirts of a small Estonian village (Kostivere) surrounded by a forest with my laptop on my lap ready to write to you and the world on how I came to be in this situation and every notably notable situation since the said then and now; I just hope my laptop battery will last for the duration of my tale of wholly boldness…

So Berlin was my home for a month in the end and what a home it was. I experienced much with but a bike, some cottage cheese and a mind; the bike felt magical, the cottage cheese simply sumptuous and the mind free

I can see you

within the un-restraints of this city.

The next stop, for more than an hour on my way to the now, was Warsaw to see a Polish princess, we escaped to the mountains in Southern Poland - climbed a peak with a cross on it and met her royal family down there. Her dad had written a book on their small village and so he gave me a great bike tour in Polish.

My journey then took me to Vilnius, Lithuania and here I met many people but of most interest was this music cat - met him busking on the street, performing raga tinged acoustic guitar politicised/philosophical songs. We chatted for a bit and I watched for a couple of hours, he invited me to hang out later and so I did, and him being quite a traveller we had much to talk on. Turned out he was quite famous, had a number one in Lithuania, and he invited me to a festival on the coast - but the festival was not much to talk about.

I then raced up to Finland to catch Saul Williams in concert - I saw this sound being and felt myself

Me "hanging"

outside myself and danced all night because I had to. Spent a few days in Helsinki and soon realised it was a bit expensive and so got a ferry back to Tallinn, Estonia. Now couch-surfing in Estonia whilst I wait for my Russian visa to start on the 17th and so we came to my host’s summerhouse for the weekend. Enjoyed a sauna last night here, where her naked Dad whipped me with a leafy branch - things can only get worse now I have experienced this.

So that brings us to now; thought I would be here all day writing but tried to make it succinct as possible and think I have achieved this lofty goal. I really could write more but won’t for now - I’ll save more nonsense for Russia…

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