For weeks I had been planning and looking forward to my self titled FEEE, Far Eastern European Extravaganza. As I was heading back to OZ for a while I decided to do a whirlwind trip visiting some of the countries I’ve never quite gotten far enough to explore.
I was all set, I said goodbye to the Ledgers and Luxembourg and dealt with my fear of the impending descent into -20 degrees... I had opted to fly Ryan Air out of Frankfurt Hahn, a sign of my desperation to get to the Baltics as I have refused to fly Ryan Air since the first time I flew with them some 7 years ago. Sadly budget and convenience got the better of me but thanks to my cheeky concealment of my 2nd bag (lap top bag) I ‘got the better’ right back!
Arriving in Riga was an instant thrill. It was -15, the language was so far distant from anything I have ever heard and the currency was bizarre. The ground was laden with thick snow, the dry crunchy style that is Angie’s bung knee friendly. Although I must note that my knee is doing exceptionally well, no slips at all, a far cry from the shuffle/crawl I had to permanently perform during mine and Amy’s Christmas/New Year adventures. Yay!!
Fun Franks hostel was fantastic. The main guy, Jeremy the Aussie, was great which helped make up for the two surly local girls who also worked there. I did come to realise the next day that their hostility was more a language and cultural barrier difference than an attitude problem.
Venturing into Riga that night I was surprised by how quiet it was, especially for a Saturday night. Fair to say this may have had something to do with the fact that it was -15 which I discovered the second I walked into a bar on a side street and saw that it was packed to the brim. Not exactly ‘roaming the streets’ weather...
Riga is a great city to just walk around exploring the intricate mate of side streets and chasing away stray cats while listening to Fifi and Jules’ new radio podcasts while laughing out loud. The markets are a must to get a real taste of the locals, and the museum of occupation of Latvia was a brilliant insight into Latvia’s former soviet history.
To enhance my ‘soviet’ experience I went to an underground former soviet bunker that is now a shooting range and it was brilliant! I went with some hilarious Scottish girls from the hostel one of whom works with my ‘Aupair’ mum in Luxembourg, such a small world! The bunker was lined roof to floor with egg cartons for noise insulation and the couple facilitating the shooting wouldn’t let us photo graph them ... Dodgy!
We would each be shooting a Glock 17, an AK – 102 and an AK-47. I personally have always wanted to do this, even more so the past year or so and I could not wait to have a shot.
First up was the Glock 17 and I found it to be the hardest. I felt uncomfortable with such a small thing - I felt like I had no control, like with one twitch of the wrist and it would be disastrous. I found the AK-102 was the best, almost no recoil and although it was bigger I felt I had much more control over it. Last but not least was the much anticipated AK-47. Holy crap, I think my shoulder was still sore 2 days later! The power of the AK-47 was exhilarating and frightening at the same time! At the end I had gotten 17/18 shots on James Bond and 15 of them were between the brain, jugular and heart. A fact I am still not sure that I should be proud of... Bah let’s face it, I loved it!
Straight after the shooting it was off to the bus station for the first of 7 overnight buses/trains I would be catching before the FEEE is over!
Tallin got off to a great start. My taxi driver was absolutely adorable and it was slightly warmer than I had been anticipating at -12 and the hostel was great and welcoming! I had lost one of my favourite red leather gloves at the underground bunker and thanks to the sub zero temperatures it was the only thing on my mind! The grounds were noticeably icier than in Riga, I noticed some spectacular stacks. Once I had bought spanking new gloves it was time to join the slip and slide around the city. I thought ‘kissing hill’ was pretty cute with a maccas at the bottom of the hill perfect for all the randy hungry teenagers. I stumbled across a park full of gorgeous snow sculptures in various shapes and sizes but all with the theme ‘child’s playground’. I particularly liked the massive naked woman; you slide from between her boobs and finish ceremoniously flying out of her vejayjay. 3 year olds screaming all the way down!
I went for a walk out to Tallin Prison where I decided to pull a Jesus and walk on water; the Baltic Sea is frozen solid out to about 200 meters. I could only bring myself to go out about 2 meters before shitting myself and ‘sliding’ back to safety. Of course right at that moment my camera ran out of battery so I high tailed it back to the hostel to thaw, recharge and check out Facebook. Good thing I did as the second I logged on I knew something was wrong from all the posts of disbelief and shock from family and friends. It took the spotting of a post from a cousin in Brisbane to another cousin in Christchurch that I realised New Zealand had been struck by another earthquake. Thankfully my family and friends are ok but my thoughts go out to all who have been affected. Arohanui
Once I had regained composure and my battery had recharged I returned to the slippery streets of Tallinn. Like Riga Tallinn is an easy city to lose yourself in. So much so I spent 5 hours walking around without a single cafe stop (stupid considering it was -20) and started to have genuine fears of frostbite. I was beginning to think that I would never regain the feeling in my fingers but managed to thaw them wrapped around a cup of hot mulled wine at Krug.
Krug is a gorgeous wee medieval tavern on the main square where you can get a mug of mulled wine, a bowl of Estonian stew and a wild boar pie for a grand total of 4euro. There was also Kohvicum, an underground cafe with funky decor and Hells Hunt bar, the first bar Tallinn and proud brewers of their own range of beers and cider (the latter being particularly yummmmmmy!).
In the upper part of town there are some amazing vantage points for views of both the city of Tallinn and the Baltic Sea. Right on sunset I got to witness that pink dusty colour that is only found during sunsets in Europe. It was up there that I discovered Boheme, a cute and cheap restaurant serving Russian style pancakes and local ‘A le Coq’ beer. Combinations of either bacon or cheese mince and potato or mushroom filled pancake served with sour cream. So tasty!
Everything about Tallinn and Riga was lovely. From the Russian like accents to the cobblestoned streets and funky filled pancakes I can’t wait to come back!
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