New blog link

Since I could not get this blog to allow comments normally, I've opened up another one here:

http://thekas.posterous.com/

See you there!

Poland advice needed!

Dear friends and relatives!
We are going to Poland in two days. Will arrive in Warsaw on Aug 19th.
We need advice which cities to visit, the sights to see and where to stay. All recommendations are welcome!
Please comment on the blog or email us directly.
Hugs!
J&L

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Where we're now

Really briefly - since Riga/Sigulda we've gone to Kolka, and Kuldiga, and are currently making way to Lithuania to Klaipeda as there are no buses going to Vilnus any other Latvian city other than Riga.  More later...

Latvia Day 2: Sigulda

Aug 15th, 2011

Uncle Igor was telling us about this place called Sigulda that had a castle, and he laid out the program that we were supposed to follow on our 2^nd day in Latvia.  We checked out our Lonely Planet guide, found Sigulda there, and compared notes.  Turned out Uncle Igor’s version of the plan was word for word identical to the one suggested by the guide.  Without any doubts we settled on that plan.  That is until the morning of the day when we were supposed to set out on our (mostly) outdoor adventure.  The thing was it was raining cats and dogs (extra points to whoever can tell where this expression comes from).   All night long.  And then in the morning.  We were woken up by the sound of the rain hitting the trees outside not to mention the thunder and lightnining.  After some consideration we decided to proceed, and settled on a slogan for the trip “Tourists don’t chose the weather”.  To date, our rain jackets are the most useful piece of equipment we brought with us.

Sigulda is about an hour away from Riga.  It’s a nice little town with a castle, and a bunch of other very old buildings.  One of the ways to get to the castle is via a cable car (“funikuler”), which is what we did.  It runs about 150 feet above the ground, and the ride is picturesque (see videos, we’ll eventually upload it there).  As we were riding the train, and the cable car the weather was calm, as it was during the first hour of our walk.  However as we were making way from Krimulda (one small town) to the castle with a stop for lunch at a cave, we got caught in a storm.  As we’re writing this on the next day, we can tell you that’s not the last time we got caught in a storm.  More on this subject in the next post.

By the time we got to the castle, and climbed up and down the tower, the weather improved, and we were able to explore, and enjoy the castle with its museums, and the surroundings.  Again, the whole thing is best described in pictures rather than words.

We brought some apples with us, but instead ate those that we knocked down from the trees using Uncle Ugor’s umbrella. 

By now we owe you write ups about 2 more places we’ve visited, but we gotta go fetch the next bus. 

Till next free wifi,

Lev & Julie

Latvia Day 1: Riga

Aug. 13, 2011

Meet Uncle Igor: A man in his 60, with an opinion about everything, a knowledge of an encyclopedia, the stamina of a healthy marathon runner, and a care of a true uncle.

After making sure that we had all the food that we can fit into our stomachs (relatives and overfeeding is the theme of the journey thus far), at 11 am we headed to the old city.

Riga’s old city is slightly smaller than Tallinn’s, has a different charm and we covered all of it! And we mean ALL of it! Just look at the pictures, if you don’t believe us. As mentioned before, Uncle Igor is a walking encyclopedia. He gave us a better tour than any tour guide could have. All was done with sarcasm, care and some beers to break up the day. (Of course we forgot most of it right away, but we were still very engaged and impressed).

Highlights of the day:

- We found a clock in a café that is identical to the one that my parents own and has been in the family for generations. See picture: Parents, please send a picture of our clock so we can make a true comparison. (I can guarantee that the chime is EXACTLY the same)

- We found the statue of Bremenskie Muzykanty and we were able to reach the highest nose. (This is supposed bring us luck in our journey!)

- As we stood and watched a photo shoot of one of the many weddings, the groom approached us and handed candies asking something like, “Be happy for us”. We thought it was cute!

- A cock the size of a pony (see pictures)

- A lavishly restored Russian Orthodox church (Moscow calling?), and a completely deserted VEF (one of the biggest Soviet times manufacturers of various equipment)

Overall we loved Riga, the old town is beautiful, interesting, and hold tremendous amount of history that we hope Uncle Igor will put down in writing one day. 

Cheers,

us

Parnu

As we write this post, we’re three days behind. This is due to a couple factors.

- The unavailability of the access to the Internet (apparently Riga is not covered in Wi-Fi as we hoped)

- We had quite a busy itinerary

So, 3 days ago on Aug. 12, 2011 we made a bus journey from Tallinn to Riga with a stop at Parnu. We heard that Parnu was a great beach town and worth the visit. Upon arrival, we once again realized that the beach wear will not be necessary as we’re still quite North of the beach weather. So we spent the day exploring the town. It turns out that aside from the beach, Parnu holds little historical significance. We explored what little the town had to offer, 3 churches, some cute cafes and the beach.

And we became real travellers on that day. Instead of eating at the cafes/restaurants we purchased fresh fruits at a local farmer’s market (at Tallinn) and bread, cheese and meat and kefir at a grocery store. Then we had a lovely lunch on the beach. Hello budget travelling!

And then we caught a super-fly-business-class bus to Tallinn, with wifi, food and comfy seats. The only down side was that our seats were separate. But we took this as an opportunity to miss each other, per the recommendation of our mothers J (See, we DO listen!) Gtalk over Wi-Fi was no help though.

At 11 pm we arrived at the Riga bus station to be greeted by Lev’s uncle. From then on, we were at his complete mercy, hence the tardiness of this post J

More about this in the next post.

Hugs,

L&J


P.S. as I'm posting it we're even more behind - and we're stealing someone's free wifi

Tallinn History

As I mentioned in a previous post, Vadim took us around Tallinn and shared some of the history with us. I was most impressed that he used to live in a 500 year old apartment that is fully preserved and updated with modern amenities. Here are the pictures of the place that he shared:
Would you ever like to live in a museum. I personally think that this would be awesome!










j.