Back to Germany

We returned to where we started, circumnavigating the Baltic, in the afternoon on the 27th. The kids were excited to see us and we gave them some small gifts we had picked up along the way, then the next day was V's birthday, we picked up an apple cake at the bakery and gave her some birthday presents from our trip, then late in the day DR and I went to Hamburg to spend the night and I saw him off at the airport, for his flight back to the US, this morning.

In Copenhagen, Denmark

... more soon ...

In Stockholm, Sweden

... more soon ...

In Helsinki, Finland

We took an early morning ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki and walked around town for the afternoon (and ate a lot of small fish for lunch). Then back to the harbor and we are currently on an overnight ferry to Stockholm.

In Tallinn, Estonia

We took a bus this morning from Riga to Tallinn. Tallinn is a much friendlier feeling city then Riga. It has a very nice old town. We walked around town, ate a late lunch at an African restaurant, then supper at "The Hansa" restaurant. While there I saw several people that I have met in the last few years at professional meetings file into the restaurant. Apparently they are having a meeting in Tallinn this weekend. We got out unnoticed except perhaps by one person that I saw last year in Cairo and they stared at me for a moment.

In Riga, Latvia

We walked around Vilnius' old town some more this morning, including a self declared breakaway republic across a stream, then went back to the bus station and took a bus to Riga. We arrived here over an hour early. The driver kept passing trucks and forcing oncoming cars off the lane while doing it. The weather got cooler and turned to rain along the way. After arriving in Riga the first thing we did was get some tickets for tomorrow to Tallin, but most of the routes were sold out and we ended up getting a bus that leaves at 8am, so we won't have as much time here in Riga. We walked around the old town a bit before it got dark but we were constantly bugged by beggars everywhere we turned. If I get up early and the rain has stopped, I might try to head back for a bit early in the morning.

(PS - The keyboard I'm using at the moment also has Cyrillic (Russian) letters on it.)

In Vilnius, Lithuania

... hard to write, touchscreen kiosk, all is fine.

I will update this post some more, I couldn't write much at the time and am running out of time again. One thing I want to mention is that we spotted several Georgia flags in Vilnius next to Lithuanian flags, like cars flying one of each through town, in an apparent show of solidarity with Georgia against Russia.