Back again. When you all read about the last two three weeks, you’ll be pouring over it for hours. Sorry about that. I’m writing all this down on my laptop and transferring it across when I get wifi access. Once again, I’m writing from a train, this time between London and Cardiff. It’s a great place, you’ve got nothing to do and there are tables and power sockets, gotta make the most of it. But that’s getting ahead of myself. Last time I wrote, I was whistling through the gorgeous valleys of alpine France to Grenoble to fly to London. Though things didn’t all go to plan. I managed to get to Grenoble with plenty of time. I was debating whether to head straight to the airport or have a look round Grenoble first. First though I had to figure out how to get to the airport. It is quite a ways out of town so had tod find the right busses. I chose to jump on the bus straight away only to find the bus I was told to get on went to the Lyon airport, not the Grenoble one. In the meantime the one to the Grenoble airport left so I had an hour till the next one. I grabbed the opportunity and strolled around town, backpack in tow, for half an hour to have a look around. There was nothing really in Grenoble that really appealed to me though I didn’t get far from the bus station. What I loved, however, was the setting. It is nestled along a river that splits a mountain chain in half causing great cliffs on either side of the town. Then about 20km out of town, there is an even greater mountain chain, easily seen from the city. All snowcapped and again, I was treated to the most fantastic weather. I‘m beginning to wonder if winter in Europe is as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Must just be a mild one. I only really went down to the river to find the best possible place to look at the mountains, and find a vantage point to check out the castle on top of the nearest one to the town. Eventually got back to the bus station and took the bus to the airport. On getting there I couldn’t find the check out counter for my flight. I asked around, stood in another line before they told me that checkout had closed two minutes ago. I was at the checkout counter two minutes ago and there was definitely no line for my flight. I asked if I could fly and put my luggage on a later flight, and they said I can’t fly without my luggage, or vice versa. The frustrating thing was that the flight didn’t depart for another 40 minutes, I didn’t think I was late at all. Eventually, my only option was to pay 150 euros for another flight. I was spewing. But I eventually got to London and when I tried to get money out, I found my bank account had been drained by the aforementioned plane ticket so couldn’t get any money out. I really don’t like the feeling of not having access to money because it limits your options. Luckily I had enough in euros to get me to the hostel to check my account and transfer money, but that wasn’t before a few nervous moments and I only had a couple pounds to spare. But it all worked out in the end. There was no room tpo stay with Tess this time so I figured I would save a bit of money and stay in Greenwich instead of London centre and spend the weekend out there.

Greenwich is a beautiful area and once again London has spoilt me with the most brilliant weather. Friday, however, I had more pressing issues than sightseeing. First priority was a sleep in. I had too many early mornings at Flora’s having to go to University with her so wanted to catch up on a few winks. I then tried to fix a few teething issues with my laptop, which turned into a huge time waster and before you knew it I was again running late. I also wasn’t happy with the hostel I was in, it wasn’t bad, but for the money I was paying I expected better, so I moved to another down the road. Finally, I had to head out to Maidenhead just out of London for an interview with a consulting company. I have been looking for jobs behind the scenes as I’ve been venturing through Europe and this was the first of a few interviews I have lined up. The interview was very informal, really just a chat about mining, a few mutual friends and my background for 20 minutes before we all went to the pub for Friday drinks. It went really well, I got along great with the others that worked there. They gave me an informal offer for a job so I guess from here I just have to wait to see what comes through. At the end of the day, I think I would enjoy it there so it is good to have that kind of security for the rest of the trip and going back to Australia, knowing there is an offer there that I’m willing to accept. It was late before I got back to the hostel so Friday night was dull, I went to bed.

Saturday, after another sleep in, I jumped back on the tourist bandwagon and ventured into Greenwich. As I mentioned before, a beautiful part of the world. It used to be home to the Tudors (you know, Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, etc.) before going into ruin and a Naval hospital was built. The hospital was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, probably the most famous of English architects and sits right on the banks of the Thames. I started by having a look through the town centre. It really has a small town feel, even though it is close to the heart of London. The centre was full of small restaurants, markets and good old English pubs. Next I ventured to the park behind the hospital that used to be the royal grounds. On a hill, the park is topped with a  tower that in the 1600’s was converted into the Royal Observatory. One of the buildings has a slot running through it that can be fully opened with bothe the roof and the waals opening up as doors, allowing a telescope housed inside the building to be swung in a complete 180­­ degrees arc. It is this building and this arc of the telescope that marks the zero point for the lines of meridian and hence global time. This north south arc of the telescope was determined as the 0 degrees meridian for the English astronomers and the concept eventually caught on world wide due to the influence of the British Navy. Due to the importance of the concept of time in astronomy (and hence navigation in the shipping industry, a clock was kept there that was used as the base time for all astronomical observations. The principle is that if you compare the location of the stars at and compare them to their position at a known time in another location (i.e. Greenwich), you can calculate your position in the world. As a result, before leaving London all ships would pass reenwich, where at exactly 1pm every day, a ball would drop that could be seen from the river and the ships would use this time to set there clocks and give them more precise means of navigation. A fascinating concept how England’s marine dominance during the Age of Reason lead to our concept of time as we now know it. After strolling through the really interesting observatory and its displays on space and time, I joined a tour for a stroll through Greenwich and parts of the old hospital. It was interesting to hear the stories of the history of the place, as with most parts of England, there is so much to know about its history. The interiors of  some of the rooms in the hospital were so grandiose, they belonged in a palace rather than a hospital. The late part of the day was spent strolling through the park and observatory, again, checking out the lines of meridian on the floor. I figured I did it at the equator so it only makes sense that I did likewise and Greenwich.

Sunday was also mostly spent in Greenwich. This time in the Naval Museum. I wasn’t planning on visiting but the tour guide mentioned how good it was so I figured to head along. I didn’t want to spend too long there so raced my way through there but it still took a couple of hours. Really interesting some of the displays and really well presented. Definitely worth dropping in. Afterwards I ventured through the walking tunnel under the Thames and headed toward Canary Wharf. I only got as far as Milwall before I had to turn back because I was running out of time. But I did stroll across some really nice areas to stroll through first. Afterwards I went to Tess’ house for tea to catch up with her and her housemates.

So that leaves me with today, Monday. I’m sitting on the train on my way up to Cardiff where I have an interview this afternoon. I plan on spending a day looking around before returning to London. But more on that when I return. Ciao.

Hello again. I last left you writing on the train from Austria, This time I write from a train leaving Switzerland. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to any wi-fi spots to upload the blogs so you’ve got a lot to read. I came to Genenva in French-speaking Switzerland to catch up with a friend. For those who have been reading intently, I caught up with my Dutch friend, Flora, who I met in Ecuador and caught up again with in Peru. She is living in a small French village, Viry, on the outskirts of Geneva in a cool apartment with the greatest views of the mountains from the balcony. She’s doing her doctorate in Geology there but does her field work in southern Peru. Saturday was the first full day in this part of the world. We ventured into Geneva and strolled through a market in the large concrete wasteland that somehow passes as a park in the Plain Palais district (note that it is pronounces nothing like it how it is spelt, it’s something like ploor paloor) near the University. While there, Flora got a message from one of her friends from University that was passing through Geneva that day and wanted to catch up. So we soon met up with her as well and went for a stroll through the city. Now it’s not hard to see why Geneva is where it is. I figured that a few people found it whilst hunting a couple thousand years ago and kind of never got around to leaving. It’s located on the southewestern side of the crescent shaped Lake Geneva, which is wedged between two massive mountain ranges with snow capped peaks on either side. In the heart of Geneva is where the River Rhone starts that drains the Lake and it amazing to look at the water. It is the clearest water I have ever seen in a river running through a city. You feel like you can go to the edge and take a sip, and you can, it is potable, amazing. It’s such a stunning location for a city. Though much of the strolling, looking for an ATM, for a city that is full of banks of a million kinds, there are no ATM’s. It took us half an hour to find one. Then we had a drink on the shores of the lake in a small café with stunning views (and rather reasonable prices too, which is amazing for Geneva alone, let alone one on the lake). Finally we wound our way through old town for a bit. The old town there isn’t as exciting as some of the other cities in Europe but is still nice. In fact, as a city, Geneva as a whole is a bit disappointing, The architecture there is rather tame if not boring and there isn’t a lot to do. But the setting is amazing. You hardly notice the buildings when you are constantly distracted by the views of the lake, river and mountains. Afterwards we headed back for France where we talked crap for the rest of the day/night and watched a bizarre Dutch film.

Sunday was probably the highlight of my stay in this area. Flora was buying a car from a guy about a 2 ½ hour drive from Geneva and had to pick it up. She’d borrowed a car from a workmate for the drive and we made our way through the mountains of Alpine France. I couldn’t help but be reminded of all those late nights watching the Tour de France and thinking how stunning France looks. Now let me just say, it doesn’t disappoint. In fact the TV coverage doesn’t do it justice. Around every corner there is a stunning view of snow capped peaks. Chateaus and Palais’ dot the lower hills and surrounded by green pastures. Rivers and lakes are everywhere and you constantly have to pick your jaw off the floor every time you look out the window. It was a brilliant drive. We had to pick the car up from a small French village called Romans su I’Isere. After the transaction was complete (a small Peugot with crazy leopard skin interior), we headed for the centre of the village for a look around. Being a Sunday morning there was a market lining the main street. The cobbled road surrounded by cute French apartment buildings was cut off to traffic and we sat out in the sun (it was great weather that day) and had a hot chocolate. It was just as you imagine a small French town to look like. Such a cool place. The problem was that after 1pm, everything shuts on a Sunday, and I mean everything. We went looking for a place to eat lunch and all the café’s and restaurants were closed. In Australia this would be there peak trading period but in France, they don’t bother opening. After settling with all that we could find open, McDonalds, we decided to leave the highways and meander back through the side roads and check out the country side. First stop was an even smaller village starting with H (I can’t remember the name) just north of Romans. It has a small tourist attraction there we wanted to check out. The Palais Ideal du Facteur Chavel is the rather regal name for an odd building built over 30 years by a postman in his spare time. He kicked a rock one day, whilst walking his 35km postal route, and was inspired by the sculptures that nature produced. He threw the rock in his pocket and continued on his way. Eventually when, he’d collected enough rocks he started building this wacky structure. It serves no purpose other than ornamentation and has tunnels and stairs allowing you to walk through and over it. The walls are all covered in artwork of some form or another and there it is worth a quick visit. Then we hit the roads again. We meandered our way north through the tiniest little villages with their two way streets that are lucky to be wide enough for one car and the crap signage that the French provide you with. It wasn’t long before we were completely lost and the fact that Flora was driving one car and I the other only made it more confusing. But still, the views were great and we really enjoyed it. But when the sun started setting we figured it smart to hit the highway to venture back to her house. It was also interesting to note that that was the first time in over 10 months that I’d driven a car. And I haven’t missed it.

So Monday, Flora had to go to work and I figured to have a look around the city. I’d had a sleep in while Flora chased around all the paperwork for her car so didn’t have much time left when I finally got to Geneva. I hit the old town for a look around and cover some places we hadn’t already been to on the weekend. The massive fountain, Jet d’Eau that is the symbol of Geneva was switched on so I checked out the 50m or so jet of water rising from the lake. When  was strolling through the business district I ran across a Qantas shop so spent the afternoon reorganizing my flights.

I had big plans for the Tuesday, head to the UN building, Look around the Red Cross museum and stroll through the parks on the way back. But things didn’t quite go as planned. I walked the 4km or so form the University to the Palais de Nations where the UN and Red Cross are but arrived about 10 minutes too late for the tour. So I headed straight tpo the Red Cross on the other side of the road only to find it was shut on Tuesdays. I figured to stroll through the area until the afternoon tours of the UN and made my way to the rather disappointing botanic gardens. I slowly made my way back to the centre of town after lunch and figured I would head back to the University to listen to a talk Flora’s work mate was giving on his doctorate thesis because it sounded interesting and in my head I changed my plans so I could spend the next day in Geneva rather than heading to Grenoble in France. But it started an hour earlier than I thought so I missed it. So I figured to stroll through some parklands to waste the afternoon. They were on the edge of the lake and used to be several old estates that were purchased by the city and turned into a park. The original chateaus are still there. It was a beautiful park. A really nice stroll. On more than one occasion, I had to stop and take a seat just so I could look over the lake at the mountains. Especially as the sun was setting.

Wednesday went a bit better than Tuesday. I headed to the UN and this time made the tour. It wasn’t a thrilling tour, about what I expected I guess. You visit a couple of meeting rooms and look at some of the artwork donated by various countries. It’s a nice place but an hour is definitely long enough. Then across to the Red Cross Museum. It was really interesting to hear how it started and the connection between the Red Cross/Crescent and the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention, which deals with the rights of injured soldiers, civilians, and prisoners of war during wartime was written by the first committee of the Red Cross with diplomats from throughout Europe late 1800’s. It was from that meeting that the Red Cross as we know it was founded as a means to ensure the rules are adhered to and to look after the soldiers on the battlefield. Now although it’s purpose has expanded and evolved over the years, this still is the primary responsibility of the Red Cross. And here I thought it was a charity for earthquakes and the likes. It was pretty interesting. The only other excursion was to where the river Rhone meets another river that comes straight from the mountains. It was a little stroll form the centre and I wanted to see where the crystal clear waters from the lake met the sediment filled waters racing from the mountains and how they mixed together. I know it’s nerdy but it interests me. And that’s about it for Geneva.

I’m now on the train to Grenoble where I fly to London. The travel will pretty much take up the whole day but these things happen. I’ll enjoy the rest.

After arriving late to Salzburg we did the one thing that everyone must do whilst there. Yes we watched the ‘Sound of Music’. Yes Salzburg is not only where the movie was set but also filmed, and although none of the locals have ever heard of the film (there are German language equivalents that are very popular but the Hollywood version isn’t) just about everyone else who visits has. And given I haven’t seen it since I was about 10 I figured I should scrub up on it given the following morning we were going on a Sound of Music tour.

We had been recommended a tour company for the tour and told to watch the movie both before and after the tour. The tour company helped with the filming of the movie and that’s how they started doing the tours. The tour itself was really kitsch, the bus was lined with decals with scenes from the movie and the tour guide was dressed up in traditional Austrian garb and spoke like Julie Andrews does in the film. It was a good laugh. They played the music from the movie as they cruise along and they all have a sing along, I didn’t join in though. But it was just so corny and kitsch that it made it fun. The tour itself took us to where the movie was filmed, from the sets (two houses were used during the filming, one for the front yard and one for the back) to the church where the wedding took place. It also went to a number of panoramas shown in the movie. And let’s be honest, the movie is a great promotion for the city because the panoramas really are that beautiful. The best part was all the funny tidbits that happened behind the scenes that they told us about. Some hilarious. Like at the end of the film when they are climbing over the mountains and the father is carrying the small kid, he’s actually carrying a dummy. Why? Because when it came to filming the scene, Christopher Plummer said, ‘I’m not carrying that fat kid’ and so a mannequin was made up. When you watch the movie again, you can see it and it makes the movie funny. Another one is when Julie Andrews falls out of the boat when the father returns with the Baroness, she was supposed to catch the little kid because she couldn’t swim. But Julie Andrews fell out of the wrong side of the boat so the little kid had to be rescued by the crew. Watching the movie, you can see the little girl drowning, again, very funny. It was a good tour, even if you don’t care for the movie (like me) and the vistas are just stunning. That afternoon, we had a brief stroll through the Mirabelle Gardens, also where the movie was filmed and through the town. In the middle of town there is a hill with a fortress on it. It is meant to be the oldest fortress in Europe having started construction in 1077. It is a huge building and can be seen throughout the city. I was going to catch the Funicular up to have a look around, unfortunately the tours were just through the state rooms and I wasn’t sure I could deals with more royal houses. Instead I walked up as high as I could get to get the views over the city but never went into the fortress itself. We were both quite tired due to snoring man in our room and went back pretty early.

Another early start the next day. Just outside of town, there was a massive mountain that you can catch a cable car to the top. The bus ran past our hostel so jumped on. On getting there we had second thoughts. One side of the mountain is essentially just a cliff and the cable car just goes straight up. It looked a lot bigger from there as well. Leesh decided she no longer wanted to head up and went back into town. I braved the soaring height (timidly) and ventured up the cliff. The views from the top were unbelievable. It was cold and windy and the snow slippery but well worth the effort. The mountain is at the end of the Alps and half overlooks the alps and half the hills surrounding Salzburg. Stunning vistas with the snow capped peaks and tree lined valleys. Utterly breathtaking. The Alps are exactly as I’d always imagined themed, rugged precipices full of cliffs and sheer face with pine trees leading almost to the top capped with metres of snow. It’s not hard to see how avalanches start in areas such as these. But I didn’t have long to appreciate it as I had to race back into town to meet Leesh and join a tour around the city. Salzburg is a beautiful city. First built by the Romans just before year dot, it was perfectly located by sheer cliffs on one side and the river on the other to protect it. The buildings are all old, new building are those built after 1500. Some of the information was just amazing. Like the oldest monastery in Europe continuously operatling since 600 and something. The oldest restaurant in probably the world, operating in the same room of the same building everday without fail since 803. That’s 1200 years old. Amazing. Unfortunately being winter, all the fountains are covered up taking away some of the aesthetics of the place but it is still beautiful. The tour was brief but very interesting. Afterwards, Leesh went home and I strolled past a few other sights. Nonnberg Abbey, where Maria really did go to be a nun, was interesting from the outside perched on the side of the Fortress Hill and also checked out some disappointing catacombs that had been dug into the side of a cliff. Another early afternoon though as the rain started coming down.

The following day, there wasn’t much left to do in Salzburg, the weather was supposed to be snowing so I had a sleep in. When I finally did venture out I was surprised to see the sun shining and a beautiful, clear day. I bought my train ticket and set out on a tour of the Bavarian Alps for the afternoon. The tour itself was annoying but the sights were amazing. We crossed the border and ventured into Germany. First stop was Obersalzburg, which was where the summer retreat for the leaders of the Third Reich. This is where Hitler and his cronies came to get away from it all and home of the famous Berghof house that Hitler ran the war from. Overlooking it all was the Eagle’s Nest where Hitler took foreign dignataries to be entertained. You can’t get up there in winter so we couldn’t go up and have a look. But it overlooks everything. You can see it from just about everywhere. It would have been quite intimidating for the locals having the Dictator literally overlooking them like that. The tour was a bit odd because rather than stopping to look at the gorgeous views we were passing, he took us into a visitor information centre and showed us a model and video of what we could be looking at if we walked outside, weird and frustrating. Next was a small town called Koenigsee. A beautiful little skiing village surrounded by massive mountains and set on a thin lake. It was truly beautiful and there was a bobsledding tornament starting the next day that people were practicing for nearby. Though you could see the track, It was all covered to protect it from snow so you couldn’t see much. It was funny to see all the professional bobsledders walking through town though, they are nothing like I imagined. All tall and built like AFL footballers. What else was funny was the amount of old men you see walking around in the traditional garb. You know, the lederhosen and socks pulled up to their knees with funny hats with a feather in them. Yes, they actually still wear that around there. I so wanted to go into one of the shops and buy some for the old man but alas, no time. You missed out Dad. Finally we went for a stroll through Brechtsgaden. A stunning little alpine village that looks like you always imagined a Bavarian town to look like. Pitched roves and wooden beams in the windows. All the building colourfully painted, some with cool motifs on the walls. Amazing place to stroll through and of course I had to visit a German Bakery while I was there, it didn’t disappoint. By this time it was getting dark so we went back to Salzburg.

So this morning (Friday) I woke up a dawn’s crack and caught and early train out of Salzburg, leaving Leesh to catch her flight and start her travels home. I on the other hand am heading to Switzerland to catch up with another friend and spend some time in Geneva and southern France. I’m actually writing this on the stunning train ride through the Swiss and Austrian Alps. Absolutely amazing scenery. The only problem is between the trees and reflections off the windows, I can’t really take any photos. But the memories I’ll keep. Till next time.

After a restful day sitting on the train, e arrived in Vienna late afternoon. It was a bit of a struggle at first to find the hostel because we didn’t have a map of the area but we made it eventually. Neither of us could be bothered doing anything that afternoon so we kicked back in the hostel. Though that night we enjoyed our first Austrian treat. We went to a schnitzel house for an authentic Vienna (Weiner) Schnitzel. It was amazingly good. Alicia had just a weiner schnitzel and that was exactly what she got. A plate filled with not one but 2 massive schnitzels and it was cheap as chips. I splashed out and got a weiner schnitzel with pork. It was huge, a massive plate of just meat. A weiner schnitzel, a slab of ham an inch thick, a large chunk of pork and a dumpling the size of a baby’s head. All on a bed of cabbage. A great meal, though I think I OD’ed on meat because I didn’t feel well that night. The following day we went out to suburban Vienna to a place called Schoenbrunn. This is a large park that houses the summer palace of the old Austrian empire. The Austrian empire, otherwise known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the longest running dynasty in Europe. The Habsburgs were in charge for over 600 years until the end of the first world war when Austria finally became a republic. Amazingly, the same family also came to be the royal family in Spain and Germany as well. There was a saying that while the rest of the world was off fighting wars to expand their empires, the Habsburgs were too busy arranging weddings. And it’s true that this was how most of their expansions were achieved. They were a very ambitious family who ultimately wished to rule all of Europe, they never got that far though. Back to Schoenbrunn palace. It is a large palace painted bright yellow. One of the former Queens loved the colour and issued a decree that all royal buildings must be yellow and no others. It was lovely inside as well. But I must admit that all of these royal palaces are starting to look the same to me. It was interesting to see though and kept us busy for an hour or two. The view out the back to a large pavilion on top of a rise was also stunning. But the real reason we went out to Schoenbrunn was to feed Alicia’s obsession. In fact obsession is probably putting it lightly. She loves pandas and Schoenbrunn is home to the oldest zoo in the world (first opened in the mid 1700’s). It is also one of only 13 or so zoos in the world that has Pandas. So we went to the zoo and raced to the panda section. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible and the pandas aren’t dum, they were inside out of the cold. So instead we strolled around the rest of the zoo. I must admit, being such an old zoo I was expecting an old style setup with cages and all those archaic displays where you feel sad for the animals. T was completely the opposite. There were no cages, they used water, cliffs and Perspex screens to keep you away from the animals. In fact in some areas, you were so close the only thing stopping you from reaching out and grabbing the animals was a sign telling you not to. A lot of the displays had indoor viewing areas, which given the weather, meant that it was a perfect place to be on a day like that. We decided there was no point strolling around Vienna in the rain and stayed in the zoo most of the afternoon. It was really relaxing and I enjoyed it. Thankfully, the pandas eventually came out so Leesh went home happy. We dropped in on a couple of glass houses on the way back that were included on our ticket, one tropical and one desert. They were nothing too exciting though. We took the tram into central Vienna late in the afternoon to get to a café and eat the famous Viennese cake, Sacher Torte. A kind of dry chocolate cake with layers of Apricot Jam and Rich chocolate icing on top, served with a fat scoop of whipped cream.

Monday we ventured into Vienna proper to have a look around. And what were the highlights, palaces and churches, who would have thought. First stop was the massive Hofburg Palace. This was the heart of the empire and the Habsburgs were intent on making it seem like they ruled the world, even if they didn’t. Though it is interesting to note that they were the last bastions of the Holy Roman Empire. It only ceased to exist when they made it redundant and replaced it with the Austrian Empire in the early 1900’s. The tour takes you through sections of the palace. The first was the silverware display, which is interesting for about 5 minutes. It houses all the porcelain and silverware that was used in the royal house. The extravagance of some of the table centerpieces and candelabra is almost comical. It is interesting to note the lack of silverware there though. It was all melted down and minted to fund the war against Napoleon (obviously had no daughters left to avoid that war), so all that remains is from post that era. Next is a few rooms dedicated to their Queen Elisabeth. She was a reluctant, reclusive Queen before becoming obsessed about her appearance and ignoring her family. It is interesting that in reality she didn’t seem like anything but a drama queen that she established an almost mythical persona and after her assassination in Geneva, was revered by the same masses who didn’t like her in her lifetime. I guess a prelude to the Princess Diana show 100 years later. Finally you go through the state rooms of the royalty. Franz Josef, the Emperor for World War I (who, by the way, sported a cracking set of mutton chops), was the last emperor to make the place his own and the rooms are still set up as they were for his reign. He was a relatively simple man for an emperor and didn’t live in quite the extravagance of his predecessors. That’s not to say he didn’t live in opulence, he just had simple furniture and basic services (all to the highest quality though). After the castle we took a stroll through Vienna. A beautiful city, with huge imperial buildings to signify it as the capital of an empire. The romanesque parliament was a cool building and the tight, winding streets of the old town give a cool feel.We made our way to St Stephen’s Cathedral in the middle of the city. A massive, massive church. By now I’ve come to the conclusion that any church that I still find impressive to look at must be worth seeing. And this was certainly impressive. Huge inside with intricate altars and wood carvings throughout the building. We also went to another café to eat more Sacher torte, this time from the Hotel Sacher, where the cake was invented. But ended our Vienna adventure as that afternoon we caught another train.

I slept most of the train ride to Prague. It arrived mid afternoon and it was a short stroll to the hostel, that gave us a couple of hours of daylight to czeck out (hahaha, champagne comedy right there) the city. Now as a brief introduction, Prague is a must see destination. It is absolutely stunning. The only city I’ve been to that would compare would be Stockholm in Sweden. The whole city is a mixture of different architectural style from the past 1000 years or so and they all meld in together really well. It is one city where practicality hasn’t got in the way of aesthetics when it comes to architecture. It truly is one of those places you can walk all day and still find something that tickles your fancy. We started out at the Powder Tower. It was just around the corner from the hostel and is a 13^th century tower and city gate that formed part of the old walls of the city. It is in remarkable condition for a building of its age and traffic still flows through the gate. We then wandered down to the central square in old town. This again was absolutely beautiful. There were two huge churches on the square with another cathedral with massive gothic spires reaching an apartment block facing the building. It was packed full of tourists. On one of these churches is a massive 15^th century astronomical clock. Looking at it, I couldn’t quite figure out how to tell the time, or the moon phase, or the sign of the zodiac which it also tells. But apparently it tells all that and more. On the jour a statue of death looks at the clock, rings a bell and two doors open, through the doors you see Jesus and the 12 apostles parading past and then a cuckoo bird sings and all goes back to normal for the next hour. It isn’t a great show, but fascinating to think it is over 500 years old though. Apparently the town officials were so proud of it when it was built, they had the clock builder blinded so he couldn’t recreate it elsewhere. Talk about a reward for your handiwork. After that we kind of just got lost in the city and slowly edged our way towards the river, taking in the sights as we went along. Then we got to the Saint Charles Bridge. This is a stunning old bridge built in the 14^th century with huge towers on either end. Though initially it was an ordinary bridge, in the 18^th century they lined every pillars with bronze sculptures averaging about 2m high. Now it is solely for pedestrians and is filled with artists and street vendors. As the sun came down we slowly wound our way back through the streets to the hostel.

Friday was spent on the other side of the river in the castle district. As with many cities in this part of the world, Prague has a huge castle that towers over the rest of the city, used for both political and defensive purposes. The big difference here is that the bohemian kings were so infatuated with increasing the size and beauty of this castle it eventually turned into a whole district of castle and palace-like structures. The largest structure that looks over the entire city is St Vitus Cathedral. The current building was started in 1344 but it wasn’t until 1924 that they finally considered the building complete. It is a massive structure filled with ornate stain glassed windows and dead people. Yes there are the bones of Kings and Saints and Kings who eventually became Saints (this would be the Good King Wenceslas of the Christmas carol fame, you know ‘Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of Stephen’). An impressive structure to say the least, even after the squillions that I’ve visited this holiday. Next stop was the royal castle itself. What makes this fascinating is that it was built in the middle ages and they haven’t dressed it up to look like the more ornate palaces in the area. All of the wall are rock and lined with beams and timbers. It hasn’t been over done at all, which gives you the feeling that you are in the middle ages. One of the more intriguing aspects of its history came in the 16^th century when two Governors and their scribes were defenestrated to kick off a rebellion. Now I see you all scratching your heads thinking, defenestration, what on earth is that. Well we would have been doing the same thing because there is no explanation of the word other than the pictures shown on the signs. But luckily for us, the word came up under funny circumstances in our trip and has been a bit of an ‘in’ joke ever since. Needless to say, we almost died laughing when it suddenly appeared everywhere in the castle. To explain, defenestration is the act of being thrown out of a window. In this case it is said that the Virgin Mary saved their lives by throwing a pile of kitchen scraps beneath them. After this, defenestration became all the rage in Bohemia (probably because it’s such a cool sounding word) and a number of others followed suit in the proceeding centuries. Other highlights of the castle were a massive ballroom called Vladislav Hall. This was once the largest unsupported ‘secular’ (whatever that means) room in the world. They used to hold tournaments with horses in here back in the day. But the old school vaulted ceilings with the massive chandeliers makes it one hell of a site. Also some of the rooms were covered in emblems and insignia from the middle ages, lining both the walls and the ceilings. After that we ventured to the Golden Lane. It was a small lane lined by attractive cottages and apartment buildings that looked just like they came straight out of a Shakespeare play. The buildings were filled with small souvineer shops and tiny, twisting stairwells. The larger part was full of armoury from the past 1000 years or so from all parts of the world, but mostly Europe in the middle ages. There was also a small torture chamber exhibiting some of the nasty tools used back in the day. An inventive bunch to say the least. Finally we went to a tower on the edge of the Castle District overlooking the city. It was used as a prison and torture chamber and again exhibits some of the more sadistic tools of the trade. In the afternoon, I went for a stroll to see some further sights on my own while Alicia had a lay down. I ventured to the unexciting Henry’s Tower and on to Wencaslas Square. Here there was a statue of Wenceslas himself riding his horse surrounded by religious looking types. I couldn’t tell you which Wenceslas this was because Bohemia had a few of them. I strolled some more through the streets before hitting the river and walked along it for a while. A pleasant, pointless stroll as a last glimpse of the city. That’s the thing about Prague, It is a stunning city to look at but there isn’t a lot to do there, so the next day we left for a new adventure.

I slept most of the train ride to Krakow. It was a short afternoon trip and I reached Krakow just before sunset. There I was meeting up with Alicia again. Torie had left London for Canada and Leesh figured she wanted to see more of Eastern Europe, so came back across to keep me company for another couple weeks. While I waited for her to arrive, I had a brief stroll through the city to check it out as the sun went down.

The next morning we had big plans for the day so woke up early to try fit it all in. We started out looking at the old city walls that surround parts of the old town district. On the northern side offset from the wall is a large turret called the Barbican. We were thinking of going inside but it was shut for the season so moved on. From there we winded our way through the streets of old town to get to the old town square. Like the Baltic states, the old town in Krakow is very well preserved. It had large apartment buildings built several hundred years ago filling the sides of the streets. However, unlike Warsaw, these buildings are original. The main difference I guess is that old town there still serves as the heart of the city so it is full of neon signs and most notably, lots of kebab shops. Krakow once served as the capital of Poland and was an economic powerhouse due to the nearby salt mines so it was built up as a major centre since the middle ages. In the town square we went to the large cathedral, St Mary’s, for a look. But it was closed for prayer and wasn’t opening for another couple of hours so moved on. Next stop the Cloth Hall. This is a large market building in the middle of the square that used to be an important trading post in the city, Now it is full of tourist stalls. Not particularly exciting so we moved on to the tower, also in the square. But again this was closed for the season so we hadn’t had much luck by then. What we’d allowed several hours for only took us about half an hour. There are some quirks of the main square. Dotted through the square you see flower stalls. There are ten in all and they are handed down from generation to generation. The town council doesn’t give more trading licences and the families don’t sell them so the only way you can own one is to inherit it. Next stop we ventured up to the castle overlooking the old town area called Wawel Castle. It is an impressive looking structure from the outside with its high wall fortifications and the peering towers and turrets. Inside the fortifications is the palace that was built over several hundred years so has many different architectural styles both inside and out and the obligatory churches as well. We ventured to the palace first to have a look around the apartments of the royalty. The castle was largely destroyed in the 18^th century (I think) by the invading Russians but was restored early in the 20^th century to house the Presidents of the newly formed Polish republic. It was soon converted into a museum, however, and has served that purpose ever since (except for a brief stint during Nazi occupation where it served as the local headquarters). It was good to look around, as are all the castles. The furniture was really old and some of the paintings on the walls were world class by age and style. Like the Russian castles the ceilings of the rooms were almost the centerpieces but as I’ve said before, there is little to distinguish it from the other castles and palaces I’ve seen on this trip. Also some of the restoration was bizarre. In some rooms they didn’t know what paintings were on the ceiling so they highlighted a room with 16^th century decorations, furniture and tapestries with a 20^th century impressionist painting on the roof and it just looks out of place. The armoury was next. It is still cool looking at the old pikes and swords. Even some of the old guns here were interesting because they were hybrids between rifles and swords or hatchets. Also on display was the old coronation sword of the Polish kings. Afterwards we ventured down the side of the hill to the entrance to the Dragon’s Den. Here there is a statue of a dragon (that in summertime actually spits out fireballs, but not in winter). Local legend is that there was once a dragon that lived here and it used to eat all of the farmers sheep. It was eventually slayed by the city’s founder when he tricked it into eating a fake sheep stuffed with tar and it blew up. After a brief stop for lunch, we ventured out of town to a smaller town called Wieliczka. It is home to 700 year old underground salt mines that have been turned into a tourist mine. They wre only shut in 1996. It is a fascinating tour. You cover about 2.5km of the 250km of tunnels there. It is amazing to stroll through the place because the miners turned much of the mine into a sculpture museum after their shifts. So you walk through the mine and they have set up displays of all the sculptures made by the old miners. Dotted throughout the place are small cathedrals, fully carved into the walls of the mine for the miners to pray at before they started work. It was really well presented and well lit so you got the feeling of walking through caves rather than a mine. The mine opens up into a massive cathedral at one stage with life sized salt sculptures of Pope John Paul II, Polands favourite son, and with frescoes all over the wall. Apparently it took 5 years to carve and is a massive opening for underground. There is even an underground restaurant and ballroom. The museum was extremely well done and I was glad to get back in a mine. Release the troglodyte in me again.

After such a busy day on Tuesday we slowed the tempo down a bit in Wednesday and braced ourselves for what we expected to be a truly somber experience. Waking up early in the morning, we again made our way out of Krakow, this time to a small village of Oswiecim. It was snowing rather heavily on the way but luckily by the time we arrived the skies had cleared leaving some sun, even though it was bitterly cold. Oswiecim is more readily recognized for its German name during Nazi occupation, Auschwitz, and it is here that they believe 1.5 million people, mostly jews, were killed in the Nazi concentration camps. It was an eerie day. You start by going through the Auschwitz I camp that is in remarkably good condition, and unlike so many other places, this is no reconstruction, just what was left by the Germans. The entry to the camp is highlighted by and ironic sign put up by the Nazis that reads ‘work leads to freedom’ in German. The prisoners here had to walk through this gate every day to the sounds of a prison marching band playing ‘merry marches’ (it helped the Nazis count the prisoners). You walk through the buildings and get a true appreciation for how cold and uncomfortable this place would have been in the depths of winter. The displays were simple but effective. Large photos on blank wall and no frills. Big signs in simple language with little text. This is a place that doesn’t preach anything, it just lets the images do the talking. And it has a very effective way of getting the point across. They had rooms half blocked off with glass and on the other side they would fill it to the roof with the belongings of those who died. Suitcases, still with the names of the owners painted across them piled to the ceiling. Shoes, Glasses, Brushes, Combs. It really did hit home the point pretty hard. The most harrowing thing for me was one display that had 2 tonnes of human hair on display. I don’t know if it was the smell, or the concept of it or knowing that 50,000 people died in order for this display to be there but I walked out of the room feeling physically ill. The tour winds through the execution area for Gestapo prisoners then past some gallows for prisoners and finally the gallow used to execute one of the Camp Commanders after the war. Next to that was the first gas chamber used to undertake the ‘final solution to the Jewish problem’. It is still in one piece and you walk through the gas chamber into the crematorium that still has the trolleys they used to carry the bodies into the flames. Again, a harrowing experience just to walk through. We then went out to the Auschwitz II camp, better known as Birkenau. It was built after the ‘success’ of Auschwitz I ands is much bigger in scale. There was also an Auschwitz III but there are no remnants of this. This camp was purpose built as a death camp, unlike Auschwitz I that evolved into one. Most people were there for less than 2 hours before they were put to death. Unloaded off the train, sorted between those fit to work and those not. Those not fit, usually about 75% were sent to a ‘bath’ where they were promptly gassed. Those fit to work were sent to hard labour where they were generally worked until death anyway. We went to the gas chambers, all of which had been destroyed by the Nazis before they left to destroy the evidence. Then to a housing building which would have been freezing cold and severely overcrowded. It wasn’t the most fun I’ve had on this trip but I’m glad I went there. This took up most of the day so all that was left for the day was to book our tickets to the next city, Prague.

Back again. I'm continuing to go through countries like their going out of fashion in Europe. This time Poland. First stop, the capital, Warsaw. Getting into town was fun. It was 6am, the bus station is a little out of town and there was no map telling me where I was. No tourist information or signs in English. I had no local currency or guide book for Poland. I was off to a pretty slow start. But given it was early I was really in no rush. I eventually found my bus and got to my hostel. Got myself a city guide and was in business. First job was to stroll to the old town and have a look around. Now old town in Warsaw is a bit of a misnomer. You see the city was so completely bombed by the allies, Nazis and Russians during World War 2 that pretty much nothing was left standing, But rather than accept the fact that they had lost all this history, the poles had another idea. They literally just brushed off the old plans for the city and built an entire replica, brick by brick. So now it looks pretty much, exactly as it did before the war. Interesting to remember when you're strolling around. The old town makes for a pleasant stroll. First stop was a past the 'old' Royal Castle, a quick look and moved on, to be visited later. Then strolled through the winding streets to look at the buildings. Found an interesting building that is literally about 2m wide. I hope it gets roomier away from the street. The main square was pretty cool as well surrounded by 'old' apartment buildings with a mermaid sculpture in the middle. There were remnants of the old city wall, reconstructed of course, and a bridge that leads over the moat surrounding the town. I ventured into New Town, which also seemed pretty old but ran out of interesting stuff so hit my first museum. The Pawia prison was run by the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation of Poland. It wasdestroyed during the war, however the basement still exists and is now a museum. After going to the KGB prison in Vilnius, it was a little disappointing. There was not much in English and there wasn't a logical sequence that told a story. The reconstructions weren't great either so I left earlier than expected. It started to rain so I called it a night after that.

The next day I ventured out of town to the suburb of Wilanow. It houses one ofthe more impressive palaces in Poland. The weather was rainy so spending the day inside seemed like a good idea. Wilanov is the polish update of it's original name in latin, villa nova, which means new town. But on arriving to the Wilanow Palace, I found out it was closed for the winter season for renovations. It was an impressive building so strolled around the buildings and gardens for a bit, but there was nothing to do so ventured into Warsaw again. I got off the bus at Lazienski Park, which is like the Warsaw equivalent of Central Park. It sits in a depression and is full of large trees with no leaves (it is winter after all) and is home to thousands of birds. In the trees were large flocks of blackbirds, that all cried out and the sound refleced off the hill making it very loud and giving the place an eerie feel. Couple with the fact that the lakes and streams in the park had a fine mist sitting over them, and the wintry trees and weather, it was a really cool atmosphere to stroll around in. It was a nice park too, with lots of ducks, swans and even peacocks. I finally made my way to Lazienski Palace that I was going to visit as a substitue for Wilanow but it didn't really appeal to me when I got there so kept strolling through the park. It started raining again so I ventured to the Gestapo museum not far from the park. But in tune with the general mood of the day, that was also shut for winter. So I cut my losses and called it a day.

Sunday was my last day in Warsaw. I started outvisiting the Royal Castle. It was essentially another Palace, again, a complete reconstruction of what I had already seen for much of the trip in other places. As a stand alone it would've been impressive but all palaces get compared to those in St Petersburg and you'll be hard pressed to find better. I strolled through some other parks on my way to the next museum based on the Warsaw uprising. Ths was an event that happened late in WWII when the Russians were pushing the Nazis back from Russia. The locals in Warsaw saw the opportunity to relieve themselves of the Nazi occupation and rose up against the Germans, fighting them in the streets. But when the Russians found out about this they stopped there advance short of Warsaw and the Allies in the west were late to provide assistance. Eventually some supplies were sent in but Russia refused the use of their airfields and it was too little, too late. The uprising was doomed to failure. There was also a brief mention of an earlier uprising a year earlier in the Jewish Ghettos and went on to show footage of the results. It was the most horrific footage I have ever seen from the holocaust. It was really amazing to watch, you couldn't take your eyes off the screen but neither could you bare to watch it. Not the first time I've been humbled in the past week, and not to be the last either. The museum turned out to be the highlight of Warsaw, it was really well set out and I spent a lot longer than I expected there. Afterwards I organised a train ticket for the next day and left Warsaw on Monday.

The bus trip from Riga to vilnius was a little less eventful than the on to Riga, thankfully, and I made it to te hostel. After another quiet night I set out on foot to get lost in the old town of Vilnius. I was joined by an English guy from the hostel who hadsimilar plans. To get lost (for those who haven't done much travelling, this is the best way to see a city, you'll find stuff the guidebooks didn't even know existed). First stop was an arcway called the Gates of Dawn. It is one of the few survivng parts of the Vilnius city walls tough it is more like a building with an arc through it than a wall. A little further down the road we found a big orthodox church. Given we were standing outside it we figured we'd venture in and have a gander. It was much simpler than te orthdox churches I'dseen in Russia, however, the simplivity seemed to focus te attention on the details. It was really nice to look around and we were amazed to find three bodies in a glass cabinet in the middle of the church covered wit little more than a shroud. One of their toes were even sticking out for the keen-eyed (needless to say I wasn't the keen-eyed one who spotted this). Apparently these three souls were local saints who were martyred when they refused to denounce their christian faith, even when tortured by the ruler of Lithuania. I'm guessing there were a couple miracles thrown in tere as well, but the sign said nothing of them, at least not in English. Next stop was a small renovated turret at the top of a hill overlooking Vilnius. This is all that remains of the High Castle that was the first settlement in Vilnius that was where the ruler of the lands lived. It was destroyed several centuries ago but the turret form te castle was in good enoug condition to be rebuilt. Inside was a small museum and there was a good view from the top. Back down the hill we walked past the Lower Castle (the larger, more modern and flashy palace for later rulers) and on to the impressive romanesque Cathedral with its belfry that reminded me of a non-leaning Leaning Tower of Pisa. After lunch, courtesy of Mr MacDonald, we ventured to what was called the Museum of Genocide. An interesting name given that it was essentially a history of Russian and German occupation similar to what I'd seen the day before in Riga. What separates this one, however, is that it is in the old KGB headquarters from Soviet times. It also housed the Gestapo offices during Germany's brief occupation in WWII. The basement of the building was the prison where all the political prisoners were sent. It was a humbling experience. The rooms are just as they were left when the soviets pulled out. You start off in the rooms where prisoners were held whilst their papers were being processed. At a measly 0.6 square metres, it is amazing to think that the this is the deluxe version after they made them bigger so the prisoners could at least sit down. The prison was supposed to allow for a little over 200 prisoners allowing each a grand total of 1.25 square metres. But given they often had up to twice that number, the mind boggles at how they crammed them all in. You then proceed throught the processing, identification, strip searcing, etc. room until you hit the first cells. They were nothing more than empty rooms. There was no heating, not all the cells had furniture, toilets were a steel drum in the corner, they were very spartan conditions. Then you get to the interrogation rooms. ere the prisoners were quizzed using 'active interrogation' techniques (Soviet speak for torture). They said that once the prisoner was so actively interrogated thhose involved took him to hospital afterwards. These interrogators were promptly shot dead as a reward for their mercy. Some rooms had a hollowed out floor wit only a tiny platform in the middle. Te prisoners were stripped naked and the room was open to outside air (in winter of course). The floor of the cell was filled with water which was unbearably cold so the only way to avoid it wa standing on the platform. If you lost balance or fell asleep you would fall in the icy water. They were kept like that until answers were given (it reminds me of the looney, easily escapably death sentences always handed out to James Bond). You keep going trough to the small exercise yard, so small and crowded that exercise was nt an option, and then on the the execution room. No one knows how the executions were carried out but they were killed in the basement then taken to mass graves that dot the forests around Vilnius. An amazing museum. It's easy to empathise with those incarcerated (often for measly crimes suchas joking about a government official in public) and provides a small window into a life that, hopefully, I will never know.

Today I ventured a little further afield and went to a small town called Trakai. It is a pleasant town on the side of a lake (which is completely frozen over, so much so I saw a guy ice skating from one side to the other, cool) that houses two castles. I first stopped off at the lower castle. It as only recently commenced a restoration project so only a small section of it as been restored to original conditions. Tough much is still ruins it was a pleasant 20 minutes stroll looking around. The highlight was the full size model of a trebuchet (a type of catapult) against one of the walls. But the reason for being there was the Islnd Castle. built in the 14th century, this is a true medieval castle. It was destroyed by the Russians in the 18th century but the ruins remained in good enough condition over the centuries tat they completely rebuilt it in the last century. As you walk across the bridges to the island fully encompassed by the castle, it really is like walking back through time. The castle has the architecture just like you'd imagine from a hollywood movie and perched on an island in the middle of a lake, it is an almost stereotypically iconic castle. The displays inside were interesting, providing an idea of the contents of the rooms and a brief history of the island castle and Lithuania in general, but not overly exciting. The highlight was just walking through the building. So different from the overtly luxurious palaces we'd seen in Russia (though this was built a few centuries earlier). Very cool indeed. After getting back to Vilnius I went for a quick stroll to have a look around at night time and now I just wait for a night bus to take me to my next port of call. Poland.

So I left Estonia after a late night the night before and only two hours sleep. On top of that I’d been feeling pretty bed the past few days so it wasn’t a good combination. But I dragged my sorry butt out of bed early and went down to the bus station for the 7am bus to Riga. I wanted to take an early bus to give me enough time in the afternoon to have a look around Riga. Only I found out when I got there that the 7 o’clock bus doesn’t run on Sundays and the next one is at 10am. I was tired and had two choices, go to bed back at the hostel for a couple hours or just wait at the bus station for another 3 hours. I was too lazy to go all the way back into the city so just stayed on at the bus station. I finally got onto the bus and slept on and off for a bit. After a while in my slumber I figured we’d been at the same place for a bit and eventually we had to change busses at some small town. We’d been there for two hours and I was none the wiser. So around 5 hours after I planned to get into Riga, I finally arrived. It was dark so I settled in for what I thought would be an early night. I wasn’t expecting a rowdy bunch of Finns and Lithuanians at the hostel to spoil my plans. But I figured, if you can’t beat them, join them and at 4am I thought about going to bed.

Again the next morning I dragged myself out of bed and worked up enough energy to leave the hostel. I started out doing a walking tour of the city. Riga is a very nice city. By no means as beautiful as Tallinn but still nice in its own right. The old town district is a little more modern than Tallinn with a more Germanic feel to the architecture. There are large gothic cathedrals dotting the skyline and the streets are a little wider with more traffic. There is little left of the old walls that surrounded the city but the city is full of art nouveau styled statues and some buildings. I basically just looked at the highlights of the city and its buildings. I had planned to go to some museums but they were all shut so I figured I would get some rest back at the hostel. There wasn’t a lot that I wanted to do in Riga other than look around so I figured I could check out what I wanted before leaving on Tuesday.

So that meant I had to get some sleep and was the best rested I’d been for a few days. I went straight down to the Occupation Museum to start off. The guys in Tallinn were raving about the one there so figured I would check this one out. The museum was based on the time of both the Soviet and Nazi occupations of the country. Though the Nazi occupation was brief during WWII, it had a lasting effect on the country due to their culling of jews and minorities in the country, couple with their subjugation of the country. The occupation of the soviets was obvious. It spoke of the lies and propaganda spread by the soviets when they first insisted on putting army bases there and how they eventually annexed the country into the USSR through intimidation, violence and lies. They quickly rounded up the population that were a threat to the new regime and sent them to the gulags (forced labour camps) in the other parts of USSR. It was quite shocking to read about the lives of these people and the trials they went through. There was a small reconstruction of a shelter from a gulag and lots of stories from the survivors. It focused mainly on the Stalin years because he was in charge when the soviets took over and he was also the cruelest and most barbaric of the soviet leaders. It really was interesting to look around and I spent longer there than I had anticipated. So I had a choice, buy lunch or go to the top of the spire of the tallest church in town. Well I figured I can have lunch anytime so went to the top of the tower. The view would have been great but the weather was overcast and you could only see for a couple kilometers. Also it was cold and windy at the top so I didn’t hang around for long (not that I had the time anyway. But it was worth the pittance that it cost to go to the top and gave just enough time to race to the bus station to catch my bus to Lithuania.

Well I've made it back to the Baltic Sea after a brief jaunt through Russias greatest cities and have ended up in Talinn, Estonia. We came via bus from St petersburg as mentioned earlier and it was a long journey given the short distances involved. crossing the border was amazing. A river forms the border and next to the moderrn day broder crossing are two medieval castles. No doubt marking the medieval border crossing. Estonia and Russia have never been on good terms with each other, though perhaps some would argue that they were the same country for 50 years (USSR) so it is no surprise that such large battlements can be found on the borders. Crossing the border was amazing. Now Russia doesn't exactly feel like a communist country as say Cuba did, however, it isn't exactly tourist friendly. The people don't speak any English and there is a general disdain for foreigners. People don't want to help you if you don't speak Russian and the hostels are overpriced and lacking in services. As you venture into Estonia, all of that changes. The first thing you notice is the casinos, they are everywhere. Then you notice the huge supermarkets and shopping malls. the writing is in Roman letters and most signs have an English translation. You walk into the shops and everyone speaks at least a little English and everyone smiles and is very friendly and helpful. We got to our hostel and it was small, quiet, with huge bathroom and sauna with a clean kitchen, in a great location and best of all cheap. So needless to say the first impressions of Estonia was great. The only downside was the Taxi drivers. Now world over Taxi Drivers have a nasty reputation but here, even the local tourist information warns about them. And we soon found out why. We showed the driver on a map and told him where we were going but he insisted on taking us to a nearby hostel (note that we'd forgotten where we'd booked the night but remembered roughly where it was on a map so thought we'd look for it). He didn't have the meter, which we thought was a little odd. When we told him we already had a booking and that we didn't want to be taken to a different hostel, he proceeded to take us to a different hostel. Magically, however, the meter suddenly appeared at an already extortionate rate. We finally convinced to take us to where we wanted to go and he wanted us to pay for all the touring around he did. We only gave him what we thought was fair, given we showed him exactly where we wanted to go and he argued for a bit then went off on a huff. Eventually we found out that even the discounted rate was much higher than it should have been anyway. But we found the hostel anyway.

First day in Tallinn was just strolling the city. The weather was a much milder 0 degrees and all the snow that fell in the previous days was melting. This seemed warm to us after St Petersburg. We strolled the streets a bit taking in the local sights. Tallinn is a beautiful medieval city. the old town district was built in the 1400's and 1500's and much of the centre is as it was in those days. Cobbled streets, old buildings with that central european architecture of steep pitched wooden roofs and window shutters, all amazingly well preserved.  But the most amazing part of the city is the walls that suround it. Again, still in amazing conditions, these walls were built by the Swedes when they controlled this region around 500 years ago. They have been steadily added to over the years and the result is a fortification that almost completely encloses the old town with a moat, separating it from modern Tallinn. In the afternoon we ventured to the most celebrated of the dozens of towers that are spaced every 50m along the wall, Kiek in de Koek. It's interior is used as a museum celebrating the history of Tallinn and it's fortifications. It was amazing to learn about this city that has been controlled by just about everybody at some stage in the past 1000 years. I'm surprised Australia never tried invading because it seemed to be the fashionable thing to do for a good 500 years.  It was a good quick, introduction to the history in a cool setting with great views as you get to the tops of the ramparts. From there we went on a tour of some of the tunnels beneath the fortifications and bastions. The tunnels were dug out by the Swedes when the bastions were built to help support the walls and move safely withing the fort. In more recent years it has been used as bomb shelters for the two world wars and by the Russians during the cold war. Afterwards it was used by homeless people to keep out of the cold and has now been recently opened up to tourism. It was cool to stroll through, even though we only got to see a little under 400m of the 30-40km of tunnels there. Inside of old town is a small hill which holds a second line of fortifications. We walked past the parliament house (a lovely shade of pink) on the way to a lookout that gave a great view over the old town. It highlights just how ridiculously high they build the steepls on churches here. Some I swear are three times higher than the church themselves. That was about it for the day. The only other highlight was the dumpling shop we ate lunch and tea the night before. US$5 would get you a large bowl of the tastiest dumplings you've ever eaten, with a plate of sauces, a couple of donuts with caramel and a drink. Leaving you feeling a little heavier than you arrived. A great, cheap meal, especially after the cost of food in Russia.

On Friday we ventured out of Tallinn itself and trudged our way through the sludge and snow for a tour out to the Military town of Paldiski. There were a few stops at some cliffs (the views weren't great given the wind and overcast weather), a small harbour a a frozen waterfall at Keila. It was interesting walking over the bridges there because they have locks all along them, locked onto the sides of the bridges. They are Russian lovelocks. When  couples get married they go to a bridge lock a padlock to it then throw the key into the river, it's symbolic. At the end of the year though, all the bridges have so many locks on them someone has to come along and cut them all off. We only really drove through Paldiski, let's be honest, it's not worth stopping. It was built by the Soviets and housed the families and soldiers for the nearby submarine harbour. It has since been turned into a cargo harbour. The town itself is a typical, soviet monstrosity of bland concrete architecture and apartment blocks, run down, depressing and made worse by the glum weather. It still is a military town of sorts and I had to laugh when two lines of shaven head recruits went running by. Afterwards, we ventured to an old cannon emplacement and lighthouse with a wind farm in the background, not too exciting. But the highlight of the day was the ruins of the Padise Monastary. Built in the 1400's and burnt down maybe 150 years ago, it was cool to walk around this fortified monastary. Many of the monastaries and religious building had a double use to act as fortifications in times of siege due to their heavy construction. It had an eerie feel and you could climb through the vaulted roof to get to the top of a tower that gave a cool view overlooking the area. .

Today, Saturday, Alicia and Tori left for London. Tori is missing her boyfriend who she's moving to live with in Canada so has brought forward her plans and left early. As Alicia came to spend time with her sister, she left with her. So I have Sarah's company until tomorrow before she ventures off to Austria to join a tour for the rest of her holidays and I just wing it for the next few weeks and see where the wind takes us. I haven't been feeling great of late so I slept in today and resolved to have a lazy day. I'm back on my own schedule so can slow down a bit again, I can't keep up the same pace I could in South America. After lunch I figured to head out and stroll the city again. Tallinn is such a georgeous city and the mistiness of the day only added to that medieval feel. I checked out some other sites like the Fat Margaret Tower (affectionately named by the arriving merchants as it is the widest and first tower they saw on arrival) and parts of the town I'd yet to stroll. A couple of notable places were the home of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads and a really old Pharmacy. The Brotehrhood of the Blackheads was established in the 1400's by merchants and it's role was a quasi militia to protect Tallinn. They are named after their patron saint, Mauritius, who was African. They continued through to the first world war last century. The Pharmacy is first mentioned in chronicles in 1422 and has been continuously operated as a Pharmacy ever since. Needless to say there is some pretty cool stuff to look at inside. It is funny to hear tha 10 generations of pharmacists, all with the same name (i.e. Johann ???? I, II, III, IV through X) operated the place for hundreds of years. But being a lazy day I quickly retired for the day back to the hostel. I'll head out for a bit tonight then on the Riga tomorrow in Latvia. Until then.