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.

Last Stop Warsaw

I stayed here one night on Sunday after taking the train in from Berlin but did not leave the hostel at all since I got in late.

Cities like Warsaw, Dresden, and Rotterdam (all places I visited) were left in ruins after WWII so they are somewhat "new" cities.  Obviously  fter the war Poland belonged to the USSR ruled by Stalin.  He came in. and built the communist apartment blocks you think about today when thinking of Eastern Europe.  By the way this is Central Europe While there are many of these blocks on the outskirts of the city, the downtown core is being completely redeveloped.  It's all centered around the Palace of Science which dominates the cityscape.  It was Stalin's gift to Poland after the war however most people found it ugly.  I would disagree with them. I think they say that only because Stalin built the thing.

Wide boulevards surround it along with skyscrapers and a giant shopping mall opposite the train station.

I had planned on going to Czestochowa but missed my train since the ticket lady had plans on chatting and eating for 10 minutes. Also because the machines don't accept large bills. I'm flexible.  So I walked up to a hostel and booked it for one night.  Sweet location right on the main drag.

My first day being a tourist I walked to the old town.  Obviously this was rebuilt after the war.  There wasn't too much going on there so I moved on and headed for the Uprising Museum.

Old Town

On the way I found a farmers market and bought the second tastiest apple I've ever had for about 15 cents. The tastiest was from my buddy's grandfathers farm in Bavaria.

The Uprising Museum documents the failed Uprising of 1944 against the Nazis.  180,000 Poles died. Warsaw almost failed to exist after it was burned to the ground.  The film was what really moved me. When we think of WWII we center more on other countries and kind of forget what Poland went through. It's a terrible history almost impossible to believe. 

You may say yes I went to a museum but I felt this one is worth it and something I was interested in learning more about. Definitely check this place out if you have the chance. 

To eat check out the milk bars, relics of the communist era. These serve homecooked Polish cuisine and are still subsidized by the government. I got a schnitzel with potatoes and salad for about $3 one night. I ate there both nights because I thought they were so awesome.  It tends to attract the homeless and students with the prices so low.  So one drunk came in and started yelling at these other people speaking english. I think it had to do something about communism. Probably for him his life was much better.  It's funny to think about how in that system everyone earns equally and is able to afford a life.  Obviously something this guy wanted back. Well he was warned by the hostess to stop which he did but still muttered under his breathe.

My meal with "the guy"

As for my evenings, I watched the Poland-England game the first night and went to the CS meeting the next. Since my flight was at 6am I decided I would just stay out all night. I left my bags in storage at the hostel without booking a room.

The CS meeting was right next to the hostel at a place called Barometer. Later on we went to a more upbeat place playing music. More vodkas and dancing and it was time for me to head home already.

Since this is my last article I feel I should summarize a bit all the happenings and memories I've made on this trip. Definitely the highlight being the wedding in such a beautiful place with awesome people I will always remember. Being able to hang with my great friends again in Germany something I hope will continue to happen and know it will.  The crazy streets of Copenhagen, biking through the Netherlands, Spanish skies, and of course Poland's comforts.  I want to keep this blog alive and add some other side trips I take but know I will come back to this soon because I have a lot more places to see outside of Europe.  Until then! 

Holy Krakow

Took the train down from Warsaw in the morning and planned on staying one night in Krakow. There's a lot of hype on this town as the tourist trade has really amped up here in the past 5 years. The biggest draw is Auschwitz being an hour away so many choose Krakow as their base.

Main Square

I'd love to visit Auschwitz but it's not my main goal for coming here. I could have gone to Dachau near Munich all those days I spent there studying but I never did. We all know the events that occurred at these places but I felt spending my time in the city would be more beneficial. It's hard for me to describe my thinking here but I choose not to go.

I did however want to check the Schindler factory out but it was my last stop when it should have been my first because I didn't make it there in time. And it was free this day. Ahhhh missed. But the building is completely renovated and the factory itself is hardly recognizable. The art museum decided to swallow up part of it under its glass facade. Not a good decision to preserve something if you ask me. I read in the movie they actually reconstructed the factory nearby since it was so unrecognizable.

There are churches galore here. If you like churches you'll love this place. I like them.

Nuns and priests are everywhere. In the grocery store, the bakery, the bathrooms. It's a very holy city.

Home of Pope John Paul II where his former palace was and where people continue to worship him. I mean they worship here. Every church has about 30 people inside praying.  As a catholic it was surprising and heartwarming to see such devotion on a Monday at 3 pm. People take their religion very seriously here.

Oh there's a castle here as well.  Once used back in the day for the royal family.

Pope John Paul II's palace

Walking on the street here you will notice every block has a bakery and a 24 hour alcohol store. One for the morning one for the night.

I ate lunch at this micro brewery called CK Browar where they make a light, dark, ginger, and a wheat beer. Expecting good beer in Poland was a false assumption. But still better than Italian beer. Did you see that schnitzel picture I posted earlier. That thing was huge and for 8 bucks! It was the second most expensive thing on the list.

I went out to join the couchsurfing meeting in the Jewish quarter at a bar. These people are seriously awesome at these things. The ambassador was a 51 year old transplant from Toronto living in Krakow for 3 years because of his girlfriend. And all the other awesome travelers. I even met a guy from Philly CS that knows the same people as me.

I ended up branching off with some people to get myself in trouble with vodka. It plays a big role in the drinking culture here. We went from place to place in this little square trying all sorts of them. Then I had to get me a Zapiekanka which is not a sandwich as they warned me not to say but more a baguette with cheese and your choice of toppings. Pretty nice after a few vodkas.

I asked one of the girls ordering what she was getting on her sandwich and somehow she was offended by what I said. They warned me not to say its a sandwich here. I don't know. Some people.

Off to some club on a Monday mind you. Again easily offended people here. Start talking to some girl and they give me that look like who are you. So I chase them down later explaining I'm just trying to have a nice conversation here. I don't know maybe they didn't speak English well but don't give me that bitchy face attitude when I'm just being friendly.  So then I left because I was fed up.

I thought this place was a bit over hyped by people saying how lovely it was. It is a nice place don't get me wrong but it's not unbelievably gorgeous or anything. But the inside of every church is. I wish I could have gone to a service.

Town Gate

  

Dresden: So fresh and so clean

Knowing about what happened in Dresden during WWII, this was the city I was anticipating the most. For those who don't know, the city was bombed flat by the Brits and Americans late in the war after it had been pretty much decided who would win. This contributed to why it was so controversial to bomb the city resulting in many innocent casualties.

Hofkirche, only catholic church in Dresden

The city itself has an incredible number of outstanding looking buildings which had to be rebuilt from scratch. The city is still rebuilding itself.

The Frauenkirche stands in the middle of town and was just completed in 2005 to enormous praise from the community. All of the money was donated by regular people around the world for the rebuilding. For years it stood as a ruin reminding people of what once happened. But I don't think the people need any more reminding here.

Frauenkirche

The inside of the church is full of bright colors almost doing the church an injustice to how incredible it is. If you notice on the outside there are some dark stones which are originals.

Frauenkirche

I didn't think I would realize the newness of the place but you really can, which disappointed me a bit. But it still is a beautiful place.

There is not much going on in the old town. They just opened up their big mall in the main square last year. That shows just how much rebuilding they are doing. Just one block from the Frauenkirche stands a large overgrown empty lot. Hard to imagine such ground going unused in the middle of town.

The new city on the other side of the river is really funky. Graffiti and art galleries galore. Bars and restaurants line every street. Very alternative cool place to hang out at night.

As for my happenings I couchsurfed here and had an awesome dinner with 4 lovely ladies the first night. Bouldering the next night.

If I were to study somewhere I think this would be an awesome University town for a few years. I really recommend everyone to not pass this city up. It's just as good as Prague if not better in my opinion. Come summer time you can be hiking or grilling on the shores of the river with a great view.

The Zwinger/City Palace