The Baltic States

My friend and I took the train out of Russia and into Finland because with her visa she first needed to go there before any other of the Schengen countries and it would allow us a quick visit to Helsinki to walk around.  We choose to spend the majority of our time in Tallinn across the Gulf of Finland because of its quaint old town many people rave about.  Should I get back to Finland I really would love to check out more of the country where lakes and forests cover a lot of territory here.

Our visit comprised of lunch in the city at a microbrewery with a walk to the main square to see Helsinki Cathedral.

We then headed down to the ferry terminal to take the 2 hour boat across the Gulf into Estonia.  The ride was extremely pleasant and enjoyable.

During our time in Tallinn we walked and discovered the old town and enjoyed the spa at our hotel.

The city is divided into an upper and lower town with the parliament and Nevsky Orthodox church located on the upper point.  Having this upper city offers great views over the lower town and out into the Gulf.  We walked up numerous times just to enjoy the view and different periods of light.

St. Olaf's Church

We walked up St. Olaf's church to enjoy the view from the top.  It's spire was once used for Russian KGB surveillance and radio transmissions.

Looking toward the ferry terminal

Toward town.  Notice the upper town on the right side

We took in a more modern view from the Swiss Hotel skyscraper for happy hour.

Small Russian influences are noticeable around the city from the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox church to the old stands of Linnahall on the shore that were used for sailing events at the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980.  It's kind of an eyesore and relic of the Soviet Times in these parts.  I guess it's why I didn't take any pictures of it.  It's now where people like to drink a beer on its roof kinda place.

Overall I really liked Tallinn and again I wish I could see more of the country if I had more time because I know there are some great natural areas to explore.  It reminded me of a lot of cities in Germany I've been to a la Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  I even heard a German tourist said it reminded him of Bamberg!

Town Hall Square

So if you can't make it to Tallinn head to Bamberg :)

St. Petersburg

Heading to St. Petersburg I imagined a much more European city as this is what you hear from a lot of guides and people who have traveled there.  It's a lot more accessible for Western tourists to visit since it has a lot of port traffic with cruise ships who handle temporary visas for their passengers.  For them however they are not able to explore on their own and must always be with a tour guide who shows them around.  This would explain the lack of tourists overall I encountered during my time in Russia.  There were a lot of Chinese tourist groups.  They are allowed to enter the country visa free for 15 days as long as they are in a group.

Church of the Spilled Blood - Emperor Alexander II was shot and killed in 1881 and the church was built on it's site

Interior

Ceiling

St Petersburg has a number of notable buildings and churches to see around the city.  The Neva River separates the city and has St. Peter and Paul fortress opposite the main city.  This is where many of the Russian Tsars are buried.  Luckily for me my friend was able to show me around the city and take me to her favorite sites.  It also really helped that she could translate for me in restaurants and just going around in general.  She pointed out places such as a Russian style diner where the food is cheap and filling.  They are a relic of Soviet Times similar to Poland's milk bars.

Kazan Cathedral

The fortress during White Nights - shot at 2AM

I know people like to compare Moscow and St. Petersburg and I will tell you they are very different from each other.  I didn't think St. Petersburg felt European at all but I understand why they say that.  The buildings have more flair downtown and are floodlit at night creating a nice setting.  The lights however never took full effect here because the sky was never dark.  I was there during the "White Nights" a time in late June and early July where the sun barely sets.  What's nice is that the sunsets are longer and the "Blue Hour" that photographers love is more like 5 hours.

Bridges along the river are raised to allow boats to pass through causing some people to get stuck on the wrong side

My friend and I took a hydrofoil out to Peterhof Palace in the suburbs of St. Petersburg.  Peterhof is a palace built by former Tsar Peter the Great and is called the Russia Versailles.  And I must say it was beautiful.  Of all the palaces I've been to this was the best.  The complex is huge and contains numerous fountains and gardens throughout.  It's amazing to think the Germans destroyed this place in the war and everything has been meticulously restored.  They hid a lot of the fountain figures by burying them.

Peter the Great with dogs

During my time here I was invited by my friend to attend a formal gathering with her.  This was a meeting for people from her field of work who came from all over the world.  In total there were about 50 people and it was housed in a banquet hall right next door to FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg.  I felt a bit underdressed because all I had was a shirt and tie and only a nice pair of sneakers with me.  The place had the full nine yards.  Table was filled with apps, like completely filled.  At one point I reached to put some salad on my plate to find out it was garnish and I was sitting there with this on my plate the rest of the time.

The majority of the guests were 50+ Russians.  Since my friend had the best English she was the designated translator for the night.  They had a guy doing music who would get everyone dancing.  I was surprised how easily it was for the Russian ladies to get up and dance and they would invite the guys up with them.  It was a hilarious site to watch these old guys bust'n moves they really should not have been trying in public.  I guess it was all of the toasts made as the handles of vodka on the table kept getting refilled every time they ran empty.  My friend told me to stop after the 4th toast because there was no end in sight.  They even had a bus tour for the guests after the event was held. Hey FREE BUS TOUR!

As my friend and I made plans to head westward and out of Russia is where things went interesting.  Normally it's very easy to purchase a train ticket either online or through a machine at the train station.  I tried both methods and my card was not being accepted.  So the other option is to pay in cash from the attendants at the train station.  We stopped by in the afternoon to discover quite a long line something I went through back in Moscow.  We decided to come back at midnight when the crowd died down.

We came back and sure enough there was only 1 attendant on duty and the line was about 15 people deep.  After waiting for around an hour it was almost my turn.  A cat could be heard meowing and it was coming from a duffel bag in front of me.  Probably because it couldn't breathe I thought.

We noticed the attendant also took a  15 minute break in about 20 minutes.  That means that the entire line would need to wait until she was back from her break.

All of a sudden two guys show up and get in front of me.  I'd never been so angry in my life with the way society functions here.  These 2 guys had paid the guy behind them to wait in line for them.  I was ready to punch someone at this point.

All throughout Russia I noticed this attitude of me first more than any other place I've been.  No waiting your turn for anything.  Even getting onto the hydrofoil turned into an all out shoving match to get through.  The lady taking tickets had to get assistance and yell at everyone to stop shoving but that did nothing.

Yes people you know are extremely nice to you here.  It's the people and strangers you don't know who are not.  I do realize though America is the land of being nice to strangers.  It's something I feel proud about our country because it's such a rarity out there in this world to be so warm and friendly to people you've never met.

Hermitage (Home of the Tsars) and Palace Square where Bloody Sunday (1905) and Red October (1917) took place

Moscow

I choose Russia as my destination for a few reasons:

1) I have friends who live there
2) The history between the US and Russia
3) To see if all the crazy YouTube videos are true

After sorting out my visa last minute I had 2 connections to make in Zurich and Vienna to end at my final destination Moscow. There I met my friend outside Domodedova.  First thing I noticed were of course the crazy drivers, bad parking, and lack of road maintenance as all of the roads had ponding due to heavy rain. Not everything is perfect I guess.

We came to her parents house where I was offered a late afternoon snack which I refused over and over again because I had just eaten on the plane and at the airport. But I knew I wasn't getting out of this. I've known about Russian hospitality and knew I'd be eating till buttons started popping.

Oh and there was homemade vodka as well. Let's start getting the foreigner drunk!  Pretty strong viscous stuff but it was really tasty.

Apartment complex I stayed in 1 hour from downtown

It was my friends birthday so we headed out that night for karaoke in Podolsk the town I was staying in. Mind you I had 1 hour of sleep.  When I'm travelling there should never be an excuse that you're too tired and can't fight jetlag.  More experiencing and less sleeping.

All of the people invited spoke zero English. But I knew it would still be an experience. I sang the English songs while they sang the Russian. And by the end we switched. So at about 3AM the night seemed over, the sky outside was only dark for an hour and it was beginning to brighten again.

But no this was only the first half!  Onto the club!

For a club in Podolsk it was pretty awesome. No entry fee and more woman than men.  I don't need to tell you how the woman look here.

So we ended at 7AM and cabbed it back home.  Oh and the cab I swear almost caught fire and also had a giant crack down the middle of the windshield.

Great way to start the trip.

Sunday we got a late start and my friend and I headed to Gorky Park.  Everyone was out enjoying the weather.  It's like the Central Park of Moscow here.  My friend had to join her family, which I would come later to for birthday celebrations so we parted ways.

I headed onto Monument Park where there is statues of Lenin and Stalin as well as other figures.

Monument Park

I spent some time there and decided it was time to join the party. I had notes from my friend on what metro and bus to take to get back to Podolsk which should be around an hour ride.

I took the metro and came up to the street to start looking for the bus. Problem is there were a lot of stations there and the people I asked spoke no English. I even wrote the number of the bus down a few times to people and no one knew or even bothered to help me. It was now 11pm and I had to wait for my friend to finish her party to pick me up.

Metro Station

While I waited I attempted to order from McDonalds since I hadn't eaten the entire day and it was the only place still open.  But I went to order on the automated screens since it was in English and everything froze up.  I went to the next station nearby and the same thing.  I said to myself, ok forget this.  Found out they were closing in 10 minutes but shut the machines down already.  I didn't even try and talk to the people at the register because at that point I was just so miserable from everything.

This was the first time I've ever been in such a case where I had no idea how to get somewhere. But usually people are a little more helpful even if you don't understand someone.  It happened to me just on the way to the airport back in Philly where she spoke no English and I helped her find her train for her.

Getting around proved to be really difficult especially when changing from metro to Electrika for example. It's hard to find the metro stations sometimes and also hard finding your way out of the metro. I was going down escalators when I should be going up. Navigating took twice as long as it should have. I'd say I know half of the Cyrillic alphabet as well.

I was happy I got to experience this because it taught me a little bit about how I handle myself when things go wrong.  I'm a very organized person and am great with directions so it was different to experience this when these things went wrong.

Side note on the metro is that the stations are extremely deep. You can be on an escalator for close to 3 minutes. They also have scanners at each entrance ever since the bombings happened in the past here. Not only in the metro but at train stations and also entering the airport. They are however seamless and quick to pass through.

Over the next few days I visited the Kremlin as well as Moscow City.

It was cool to stand in Red Square and think back to the Cold War and think how crazy it would have been for an American to stand where I was.  And think about the parades of tanks and missiles Russia still has to this day here.

Gum Department Store

Alexander's Gardens outside the Kremlin Wall

The Kremlin wasn't too exciting.  The coolest part was seeing the grave of the first Russian Tsar and to know that they were crowned in one of the churches there.

Not part of the Kremlin is Saint Basil's

Ivan the Great Bell Tower, Kremlin

Moscow City is a new undertaking by the government to house living and working all in one district.  It consists of Europe's tallest buildings and a really nice mall with all of your international brands.  I find it a really cool place to come and hang out.  Currently it's still a little under construction so I think the appeal of the place hasn't really taken off yet.  Nonetheless it should when it's finished.

Crappy shot inside the mall

It's really hard to fathom how large Moscow is.  Take a look on the map and you see the rings going around the city.  Now imagine that space filled in with 30-story apartment buildings.  The sprawl is incredible. Driving into the city you release how many people live here and not only because of the bad traffic.  I compare it to any other cosmopolitan city in the world like New York, Paris, London.  Moscow offers everything and is an awesome place to visit.

Playa after Playa

It took us close to 5 hours to drive from Monteverde to Montezuma at the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula.  This is the precise reason I choose to rent a 4wd SUV as I had read the roads would be in bad shape.  Leading out from Monteverde were vista views amongst the mountains looking all the way out to the ocean in the far distance.

Turning to dirt roads in the middle of the Nicoya we hit our first river crossing wondering if this was the way.  As previously mentioned using my tablets GPS was extremely helpful and this indeed was the way.  Mind you there are better ways than others to reach your destination often going out of the way.  But with the 4wd I was pretty sure we could conquer anything.

It took us about 3 hours to get through the rough terrain.  I was surprised my friend never got sick from the nonstop bumps in the road.  We probably averaged about 10mph on this segment.

A small crossing

A few of the crossings were about 100 yards across were it was difficult to really see where you needed to go on the other side.

We checked into Montezuma and strolled down to the beach for a swim where the water felt like 85 degrees.  Oh it was so nice!

The town itself is tiny with basically one square block where all the activity takes place.  It's known as having a hippie vibe to it.  Chico's bar is where you want to go if you are looking for a good time.  There's also a place next door selling there own beer.

The major attraction is the waterfalls.  Take the hike up past the first section of falls and go to the pool where there's a nice gorge around you with the big waterfall.  You can even hike up to the top but we choose to spend the afternoon at the big fall.  The local guy selling some jewelry will jump from the top probably 70 ft up every so often which is pretty crazy.  I stuck to the smaller jumps.

Water was a little colder than the ocean

There are a number of surf towns on the Pacific Coast side such as Playa Carmen which is where we explored one afternoon.  Catching the sunset melting into the sea was my first chance ever to see this as the sun always rises on the Atlantic Coast.

Coming back to our guesthouse we had a few friends slide under the crack in the door.  A trail of ants led to my bed and a few large spiders who were instantly met with the shoe.  The ants just made their way in for no reason as there wasn't even any food they were after.  But that's the kind of thing you can expect here.  

The local soda in town had a really friendly guy preparing a barbeque on site.  He bought the chickens from some guys in the parking lot across the street which we later saw a police car drop by to check out what those guys were really doing.  But the chicken was excellent!

Our next destination was up the coast just south of the party hotspot Tamarindo.  We were couchsurfing just outside of Playa Avellanas.  After finding the place we headed for Playa Grande north of Tamarindo where the surf is famous.  I rented a board there on site and set out for my second time on the water.  Sometime I hope to go with someone who knows what they're doing to give me a few tips as I was less than successful here.  But it's still enjoyable which is the main thing.

Playa Grande

Heading back we were able to just catch the sunset before grabbing a bite to eat at a local soda.

Back at the house we met with our host who also had a number of other guests staying as well from Spain, Argentina, France, and Germany.  We ended up taking the Spanish girls on our trip the next day up the coast to Playa Conchal called the most beautiful beach in the country.  It has the clearest water due to the reflection against the crushed shells lining the bottom.  What it doesn't mention is how rough the surf is here.  I almost wiped out crossing the beach and had I gone down would have ruined my camera.

We didn't spend too much time here and headed into Tamarindo to enjoy some drinks and good times on the beach.  Having Spanish speaking people around is definitely helpful.  They showed us some awesome ice cream a lady sells out of her cooler on the street for one dollar.  They come in plastic bags and you make a small hole to suck out the goodness.

Lazy Sunset in Tamarindo

I never did make it out in Tamarindo but I don't feel like I missed anything.  Instead my friend and I departed here and I made my way up the coast to Playa Ocotal near the airport as I had an early flight the next morning.

I booked myself a cheap resort room and finally had a typical 1-day relaxation vacation with a few drinks, reading, watching the Costa Rican soccer league championship and enjoying the last sunset.

My last experience in Costa Rica left a sour taste as the gas attendant tried to make me pay about $50 for $5 worth of gas.  I stopped to just top off before returning the car back and the guy never reset the gauge back to 0 after filling up another car.  He kept telling me to pay this amount.  I noticed when he started pumping I should have said something to him at the start.  It usually takes a lot to get me worked up but I stepped out of the car on this guy and made a scene because he was being a total insert word here.  There was another guy who spoke some English who worked at a local hotel resort who tried to help me but was unable to do anything really.  I ended up giving him $10 to just forget about the whole thing and move on.  This was at 5AM as there wasn't much activity at this time of the day.

Overall Costa Rica is a beautiful place to visit with such an abundance of diversity in the landscape and fauna.  It's the most trafficked place in Central America and I believe I maybe would've enjoyed a place like Nicaragua better.  But less complaining and more enjoying! Pura Vida!