Tallinn, Tartu and Riga

i realise that this is supposed to be a travel blog....and so far there haven't really been any travelling tales...just some shameless bragging about landing a sweet job.

so I suppose this is the ACTUAL BEGINNING of the eastern europe trip...I will try to keep my blog entries from here on concise...i know this is the age of twitter...not to mention it can be hard to find the time to blog.

Tallinn

I missed my intended flight to tallinn from riga and ending up arriving an hour late with no bags....luckly my brother was smart enough to get on the flight we were supposed to be on together without me, so he was already waiting at the airport. (for those who dont know my younger brother stewart is travelling with me until Aug 29th. he made a last minute decision--literally the day before his flight back to canada from denmark--to join me for a few weeks of backpacking before heading back to school)
we were met at the airport by our couch surfing host Hedi, an Estonia woman who lives in the countryside about 30 mins from Tallinn. Hedi is definitely one the most welcoming and energetic people i have ever met. she is like a 3 year old kid who has been eating chocolate covered espresso beans all day.

we spent our 3 days in tallinn bascially just wandering the old town which is very beautiful. we took a walking tour and headed so some musuems as well. on of the best things we did was climb the spire of this old church...it was like 600 steps or something, but the view from the top was absolutely incredible

after citing we met hedi at here office and drove back to the country. we had 2 really nice meals (we didnt eat the first night b/c we were so tired). the 1st night we had a whole salmon (we cut it ourselves) which we cooked over a wood fire bbq. hedi made a great Estonian salad to accompany the fish. the next night we had sandwiches on Estonia black bread with traditional meats and cheeses.

Tartu

as Hedi drove us to the bus station, where we would catch our bus to Tartu, she began talking about couchsurfing (her favorite topic) and mentioned that she knew a girl in Tartu who was on couchsurfing...before we knew it Hedi was on the phone with her asking if she would be able to have us stay that night....amazingly the answer was YES! what a world!

when we arrived in Tartu our new CS host Krisitine (former girlfriend of one of hedi's sons) met us at the bus station.

the first day we just wandered around tartu--which was pretty dead as it was a university city, but there is no school now because of the summer--and went to bed early, still exhuasted from travelling--and me still exhausted from london.

the second day we explored a bit more and went for lunch with Krisitine at this really funky/bohemian bar. then we ran (literally) to the bus station for our bus to Riga.

Riga

Riga was crazy! there is no other way to put it. we where there four days and it was absolutely great. Riga was definitley my favorite place on the trip so far...except maybe Amsterdam...or Copenhagen.

Riga is more gritty than Tallinn, but also more vibrant and alive. the old town is still quite beautful though. and riga has some really nice inner city parks. one in particular was hosting a folk dance festival....there were dancers cald in tradtional Lativan dress, dancing to wierd umpapa-ish music. it felt very finnish...but obviously it was totally Lativan...i guess i just had a better preconception of finnish folk culture.

i met some wild Aussie guys at the hostel and we partied all four nights i was there. really funny guys. in four nights we checked out some really cool bars and clubs. our hostel itself was total mayhem...definitely a haven for partiers .in four days there i saw a british guy get so drunk he shit himself....actually, one of the aussie guys get so drunk he started pouring shaving cream into his mouth, and guys drinking non-stop from 1130-0730....all pretty shocking stuff

highlights of Riga:

- exploring old town--especially climbing up the church tower for a skyline view
- eating traditional Latvian food at LIDO restaurant (like 5 times)
- shooting an AK-47, piston and pump action shot gun (which was great, but also kind of scary: to go to a gun range and see that gun obsessed sub culture....having never acutally held or shot a gun, doing so was scary in the raw, life-ending power one possessed, but also in simplicty of it all...all you need to do was pull a trigger...nor practise or expertise was neccesary)
- I met this incredibly nice girl from Riga named Anda, who was working as a translator. Getting to know her a bit and learning about Latvia was super interesting...because i wasnt couch surfing, she was the only true local I met while in Riga.
- going to the nearby beach town in Jurmala (i have never seen that many hot girls in one place in my life!!! no joke! the first 5 minutes at the beach I had already seen like 10 of the hottest girls I have ever seen in my life)
- hanging out and partying with the three Aussie guys we met at the hostel
- going for dinner and beers with the hostel owner, Frank, who offered me a job in Riga!!!!! seriously. we got along so well that he said he wants me to work for him. SO i might be back to Riga before I know it...or more realistically spend next summer there.