Seeing Double
At first we thought it was an isolated incident... but sightseeing in all the various cities we started to recognize it as an often recurring phenomenon... Tourist couples dressed exactly the same, we've named it the Twin phenomenon. Some people are a bit subtle with their Twinness, e.g both wearing jeans, sneakers and a red t-shirt but the t-shirts being slightly different. Others are full blown Twins, where both are wearing the exact same clothes in the same unisex style and same colors. We haven't yet figured out why this phenomenon occurs. Is it a way to show the world that they belong together, or a way to feel safe that in a foreign place there will be at least one other person looking like you? Or is it simply a case of having the same taste in clothes, or packing the most comfortable and versatile items in the closet which then happen to be very similar? Or maybe it is simply something that creeps up on you and one day you walk around some old town taking pictures of each other posing in front of different churches, and you suddenly realize that you are dressed exactly the same. Whatever the reasons there are plenty of couples out there touristing as Twins, and we might be following their lead as one day we walked out the door of our hostel and realized we were both wearing beige shorts and black jackets...
The Need to Eat and Going Local
As keen and more or less adventurous eaters we decided to try as many local specialties as we could on this trip, to really get a sense of the food culture in each country that we visit.
But what do you do when the local specialty happens to be blood sausage or you don't want to eat herring for breakfast a second day in a row? Is it awful to long for more familiar and tried things?
So far we have managed to try some new and interesting dishes, and we have tried to go to local restaurants rather than fancy looking ones. When you are sitting in the old town of some place surrounded by tourists it can be questionable if you are really going local, and what you are eating might be a fancy version of what people actually eat.
I have to admit though that on a few occasions we have gone more international rather than local...
In Norway we went for pizza (if Nick got his way we would be on a pizza tasting trip around Europe, but I put up a good fight), and I guess even on that occasion there was a local twist. The pizzas were on a very thin base and we got served a 'pizza salad' before the meal which is a very Scandinavian thing, it's like coleslaw but in a vinaigrette dressing.
In both Tallinn and Warsaw we've been for sushi. I guess you could try and argue that the fish might be local....
In Vilnius we felt like eating steak and ended up in Zoe's American Bar and Grill. That was very international, the chef turned out to be Swedish and the steaks were definitely European in size.
We are now in Warsaw staying with Nick's aunt and also visiting my aunt and uncle. You can't really eat more local than we are doing now, we get spoiled with some great food, and plenty of it as is the local custom. It's also great to eat those 'exotic' home cooked dishes that I've been longing for.
So bar from a few glitches (and avoiding the blood sausages) I guess you could say we are going local all the way.
The Baltic States...
of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania seem as if they would be very similar. They are very close to each other, share a common history and were all part of the USSR.
Upon arrival in each of these countries I immediately thought of their similarities to Poland. Each had its run down streets and entire neighborhoods of reinforced concrete panel apartment blocks. However you could also get the sense that each is moving and growing quickly to try and catch up with the rest of the European Union.
Veronika and I first took the ferry from Helsinki to Talinn on Thursday morning. It's a three hour ferry ride across this bit of the Baltic to Talinn on the bigger ferries or one and a half hours by jet ferry. On a budget, we took the slower and cheaper option.
Due to its close proximity to Finland their are a lot of ferries between the two cities bringing a lot of Finnish tourists. Since it is so much cheaper in Estonia there are a lot of them. In general there are a lot of tourists in Talinn as the old town is very picturesque and the harbor is very nearby.
Talinn is/was the home of Skype and there has been much hype around Talinn as a very modern IT city. It is supposed to have one of the most up to date IT infrastructures in Europe but I didn't get the sense of this. It was difficult to find internet cafes which you would think would be everywhere.
The Old Town truly looked like a movie set as everything was perfectly restored even if it seemed void of people. We spent half a day there and we left quickly the next morning as the hostel we stayed at was pretty bad.
We hit the road and drove to Riga, Latvia. Of the three countries, Riga is the biggest city and is a major port. It is very cosmopolitan and has beautiful neighborhoods and streets once you get into the center of town (Like most cities in former communist countries, the suburbs can be pretty grim).
Because of the previous bad night, we decided to stay in the Riga Bed and Breakfast which was slightly more upscale in Riga. It did not disappoint while not hammering our wallets too hard. We were able to eat breakfast across the street at a little bakery as part of staying the night.
Though we only spent half a day in Riga we saw the entirety of the Old Town and some very nice Art Nouveau neighborhoods. On this trip thus far the Riga Old Town is the best that I have seen. It is all very nicely restored and full of activity. One gets the sense that the Old Town is not just a tourist centre but a place that is also lived in.
We were there Friday, September 1st which happened to be the first day of school. Every student was out and about and parties seemed to be happening everywhere you went. We stayed out late listening to music at the centra square. The whole evening was very enjoyable.
The next day, Saturday, we took off to Lithuania. I'll continue next time.
Oh Lordi, Lordi Finland!
We're actually now in Poland but am trying to catch up with the other countries. The countries come fast and furious once you get out of Scandinavia and it is difficult to keep up.
As anyone who watched this year's Eurovision song contest knows, Finland won this year's competition. Also for those who know, Finland does not normally do well in the competition and on top of that, the group that won is unlike any other in the competiton's history.
Lordi is a hard rock group where all members are dressed completely like demons. Their song, 'Hard Rock....Hellelujah!' the outfits and the stage show was completely different from all the other entries. In a shocking vote, the people of Europe voted Lordi contest winners. Not even, the block partisan voting of the Balkan countries could stop Lordi and Finland being victorious. So with this in mind you can understand that I wasn't expecting Finland to be anything like the band representing Finland.
Truthfully Finland wasn't like the band. There were no demons or fireworks upon arrival in Turku, Finland. Simply a nice little port city on the western coast of Finland that at one time served as capital of what was then owned by the imperialist Swedes. It has a castle that was built by the Swedes to house the governor of the Finn land and it is a good place ot visit. Of course the castle is today open to public viewing and is used as a meeting and exhibition center.
While wandering through the castle we entered a room that was being used as an exhibition space celebrating different moments in Finnish history. In this room, first display case on the right, was a display celebrating Lordi winning the Eurovision song contest. For any fan of the band this would be an experience as it had the costume of the lead singer, photos, guitars and other memoribilia.
For a country that is probably as misunderstood and unknown as Finland, the Lordi victory is probably a welcome boost. Funnily enough it is also truly representative of Finns and youth culture.
On the rest of our way through Finland to Helsinki it became pretty clear that Finns appreciate their hard rock. Everywhere, young adults were dressed in hard rock style; from full on goths to long haired metal heads. The sense that I got was that this wasn't some type of passing phase of fashion but something solidified within Finnish culture.
The guys wearing Metallica or Iron Maiden t-shirts weren't wearing them ironically but with full sincerity. The women with full arm tattoes got them tattoed and not painted on. The people of Finland don't just wear hard rock....they live it!
Maybe it has something to do with the weather being so cold for most of the year and that the amount of sunlight is very little in winter, or that the food is mostly made up of meat and potatoes or the Baltic sea is so cold even on the hottest day.
Regardless, I found Finland to be the most hard-rocking country on this trip and one that was the biggest surprise.
Helsinki is a cool city with architecture that is impressive and a sense of design that is well known. We took a tour of Helsinki and saw the main sites. Most impressive was a church on a hill. It wasn't so much on a hill as in it. A competition was held to build a new church in Helsinki and the winning entry was a design that blasted a hole into the hill through solid rock. then reconstructed the hill on top of the church. The interior is very minimalist and flooded with natural light. It's different from any church I have been to.
I guess this takes me back to my point that Finland rocks in many ways. Definitely worth a visit.
