I thought I might as well use the free internet to finish summing up what I wanted to sum up a few days ago - my good, bad and ugly list so here goes - as a reminder, I am starting over again but with editions as I am now not in such a rush and can think about it a little more + I've added a couple of things from St Petersburg now that I have spent about 3 days here.
The good:
1. Berlin local scene - it was great to stay with Linda's friends - Janna, Barbara and Co. - we got to see things that we would never have seen as tourists. We haven't had such luck again so far as to get to see what the locals REALLY do here. Thanks again to all.
The highlight of the local hang out must be the squatter-like bar in Tacheles. Very bohemian - just the way I like it.
(of course, we did all the touristy stuff in Berlin too - and the Berlin wall graffiti was particularly interesting...)
2. Various exhibitions in Berlin including the UN Bears in Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin - very cool exhibition of every country from the UN.
3. Warsaw musical talents. Everywhere there were musicians. The best time I had was listening to almost a private piano concert in a restaurant - just having coffee. (Fantasie Impromptu included) - Pook must be very jealous now. Also listening to a Chopin piano recital in the park at Ĺazienki in Warsaw as well....
4. Poster Museum in Warsaw - great for those interested in graphics...ah hem...me!
5. Uzupis - the Independent republic of artists, musicians, and drunks...very bohemian - has its very own existence in Vilnius.
6. Karaite sect's version of Cornish pasty (with a mix of Shanghai dumpling style - as it contains liquid inside)
7. Juamala beach - I guess cannot compare to the Thai beach but hey - it's a nice place to hang in Europe and the water is warm enough for me to swim in. Plus the train that took us there was so huge (and old) - very nice.
8. The hostel in Tallinn - it's a great place to stay (slightly expensive but a great place to relax and rest before my big rail trip)
9. The friendly fellow tourists who are willing to take photos for me when I explore the city on my own.
10. St Petersburg Metro - escalators that move twice as fast as London and the deepest in the world; trains that are so 'retro' - wide and with almost art deco lights; platforms that are so wide and decorative in parts yet have something of the construtive architecture / interior in other parts... (pics illegal, i'm afraid)
11. Art Centre in St Petersburg - very arty farty - in the true sense that the whole building looks like it will probably fall apart very soon.
13. Russian police's summer hats (part of uniform)! They are sooooo tall! Could ski down there, I'm sure!
14. Meeting new friends!
15. Watching people from different countries - just watching people actually....!!!
16. Free high speed internet - in super fast computer - now!
The bad:
1. The hot chicks in the Baltic states. May not be such a bad thing if you're a guy - but it's making feel rather short and ugly. oh well... I wasn't born with the genes..so I tell myself.
2. The extremely slow service in the Eastern countries...it seems to get slower and slower as I move further East - just as well, I'm not usually in any sort of hurry.
3. The not so friendly people (in Riga + in St Petersburg) - hey - I'm not generalising - there were some very nice people but many have been rude and rather stand-off-ish.
4. The bugs that seems to have taken over the hostel in Riga. I am still suffering from recurring itch....hmm...wonder what they were....
5. The keyboards that just don't work - or with keys in the places that I'm not used to. It doesn't help that I touch type at 70WPM!
6. Cyrillic everywhere and no English - (not necessarily bad - part of the fun, I guess...just a bit scary sometimes!)
7. The G8 Summit - resulted in a lot of things being closed
8. The Bread Museum (yes, bread that we eat) was closed today... slightly disappointed...
The ugly
1. Ryan air losing my bag in Berlin...(bag was sent to Dublin) but on the bright side - this was returned to me within 2 days.
2. Crossing the border - Estonia into St Petersburg - the whole process took almost 3 hours - although the last hour seems like we were waiting for nothing with everyone on my bus having already gone through immigration/passport control successfully....what happened there? (See my previous blog for details of my Cyrillic skills)
3. Not being told that the hotel that I'm supposed to stay in St Petersburg has changed - lugging around my backpack on the Metro (and a fair bit of walking) across town and trying to find out what's going on at 8am- made worse by the fact that this was all after a very long bus ride from another country!
4. Always seems to be running out of time - haven't really written my diary as much as I should!
Gotta run.....
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