Nevsky Prospekt

The morning was a late wakeup morning. But well worth it, sometimes you just gotta sleep in.

So the first thing I did was head down to the front desk to get some papers printed out for my flight from Riga to Warsaw, my train from Moscow to Warsaw, and my hotel in Riga. We spent some time going round and round with the gal at the front desk. I think she was having problems with her email as I kept sending her the documents, but they just weren't getting through. Meh. I asked if there was a place nearby where I can get a cheap USB drive that I could transfer the documents to and then she could print it.

She told me that the manager goes down the street bordering the park kitty corner to me. The place is called Chip and Dip (though the Russian spelling of such). So she wrote it down and I was on my way.

I ended up taking a very long walk all the way down to the Metro station at the far end of the Alexander Park (its a big park). But it was a cool walk checking out all the local type shops for the native. Not a lot of English or tourist areas. I ended up buying a cheap meal from a tiny buffet type place. The weird salami/olive soup, some noodle with sliced ham in it, a slab of beef with a tasty gamey sauce, a latte, bread, and juice for only 275 rubles. That's pretty cheap and the food was good.

On the way back I seen a cellphone place with other gadgets and voila! I found a cheap 4GB USB drive. A little farther down and I got some more blister packs for my feet. So food, USB, and blisters out of the way. I walked by a cool looking building that resembled a flying saucer. I might have to hit the sucker up maybe the last day and get some pics.

Anyway, I didn't just get the USB to transfer docs. I was thinking about getting one just to keep a backup in case the Netbook got stolen. I mean that would suck, but losing all the photos would be far far worse.

This ended up meaning that I wasn't ready to head out until about 2pm. This wasn't bad in itself but I was planning on hitting up the Russian National Museum to check out history and culture. I decided to say "fuck it" and just hit the infamous Nevsky Prospekt, the equivalent of a Main Street over here.

That was definitely not a mistake. It was a long street and it took me a good 3 1/2 hours to walk from one end (the canal by the hotel) to the other (where it hits the central train station). But it was packed with people from everywhere. Europeans, Americans, Asians, Africans, etc. Tourists shops, high end malls and shop, and really sweet architecture on massive buildings.

This church was just insanely detailed. What looks like tiles are individual artworks.

 And I have no clue what this is, but it was one big mofo.

I walked down the left hand side of the street to go down but came up on the right hand side. Which means I wasn't able to go into the huge mall they have until the trip back, which worked out awesome. The mall was more like the kinds I have seen in Helsinki and Tev Aviv. In the US, it would seem like one giant store. In reality the entire floor plan for the place was a giant ring. 

The thing was, you had to look at the walls. There were giant sliding doors that separated each of the individuals stores, but it just seemed like you were walked down a crowded aisle in the middle of one very very long store. Except each section had its own cash register. I was puzzled as to why it wasn't built like most modern stores. Welp, apparently this mall has been running for 300 years.

Yup. There were mall rats in Russia before we were even a country. Maybe they will finally put in that goddamn Orange Julius.

I did find something I wanted though. They had authentic Russian muskrat skin hats. I ended up going for broke and getting a good hat. The real deal set me back about $170 bucks. But this damn thing feels bulletproof and I'm sure nothing resembling cold can penetrate it.

Feeling hatted and refreshed, it was time to saunter back to the hotel. I wanted to try out the Chinese place around the corner from the hostel. I think in part because it was such a messed up ethnic slur as to be out of place. The restaurant was called Chin Chin and had two Chinese "coolie" statutes in bright red bowing in front of the menu.

I mean I guess you could say that its just two guys bowing and I'm reading it wrong, but I kinda don't think so. This belongs in my mind next to a Sambo's of ages past (thankfully). but the menu looked interesting, so I headed in.

It was worth it. The restaurant had a wood interior with a wall that was just a bunch of wooden squares with all sorts of objects in it. And the food was great. I had seafood dumpling vegetable broth soup with seafood, chicken, and beef fried spring rolls. The main dish was a wok stir fried beef with asparagus on mixed greens with a 2010 Italian Pinot Grigio. But that wasn't the high point. On a whim, I decided to get dessert and some green tea too (the place was expensive - 2500 rubles, roughly ten times my morning meal so it evenes out).

The dessert? A light-as-air ginger cheesecake with thyme leaves, flaked and baked filo dough, and drizzled with lemon infused honey.

Yes, I'm touching myself inappropriately just thinking about it...

Mmmmmm. Well that was a good day. I hung around the hotel for a while and then eventually decided to head out for a night walk. I cruised all over the place. Started out the hotel and up Dobrolyubova, then quite a ways down Bolshoy Prospekt. The corner of which is a HUGE stadium with the lights blaring to the point where it lit up everything for a couple blocks around it.

I felt completely safe the entire time. People were out walking their kids around at 10pm at night. Little old ladies taking strolls. All the gloom and doom talk from travel blogs and Marianne was just smoke. If there are roving gangs of thugs in St. Petersburg, I have yet to see them anywhere. In all honestly, I could easily spend a couple weeks here and still not see all the cool things.

Nyet! Nyet! You will not be making smile in Russian hat. It is forbidden. Nyet!

Peterhof and The Hermitage

Morning found me in a much better mood. I woke up early, showered in a nice heated tile floor bathroom, and dropped off my clothes at the front desk for washing. The cute older gal was just getting off shift and a younger, thin, blue eyed gorgeous blonde took her place. Then I met my 21 year old student guide. A stunning blue-green eyed with long blonde hair all the way down her back. Model material. Seriously.

Ok, my day just got better somehow.

We walked over a couple bridges to a hydrofoil ship that goes to the island where Peter the Great created his pleasure palace. It was used for balls and meeting state dignitaries. The ship cruise was cool and Alexandria talked about the various islands around and answered any questions I had about Russia. She was in college to be a "immediate translator" and knew English and French. She was planning on changing her major though to be a geologist.

Anyway, the ship drops us off in the middle a a windy cold morning. We wander our way down for a quick coffee and bite to eat first. Hot dog in a grilled roll with a hole poked into it and a cappuccino. The walk up was long as the gardens surrounding the palace were enormous. There were fountains everywhere and they all ran using the power from the springs themselves. Pumps were not required.

The place had been originally built in 1720, but the Nazis had destroyed a lot of it during WWII. I couple have spent probably a couple days just going to palace, through all the park area with its building and fountains. Seriously, the place was gigantic.

 

We started with the palace itself. It was incredible. Each room had its own theme. Different wallpaper, furnishing, artwork. The two that really stuck out for me was the portraits room, which was nothing but portraits from floor to ceiling. And not of nobility, they deliberately had a cross section of every walk of life. Young, old, beautiful, ugly, peasants, nobility, craftsman - all manner of folk.

Pimp my ride bitches...

The other room that was cool was the room that I could tell at a glance was Peter the Great's favorite. It was all wooden with intricate carvings of various crafts. All that was in it was a desk and a globe. It was basically a study room for one person where he could collect his thoughts before going out and conquering things. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in Peterhof. So I have nothing for the inside. The outside, however, was open to the public and there were many amazing things to be seen.

The fountains and garden area was huge.we only covered a very small portion of it and seen a variety of fountains and pavilions.

A fountain Lewis Carroll would have been proud of, with dragons.

We spent an hour or two just walking around the park and shooting the breeze. I had lunch there at a pavilion/restaurant. A spicy salami soup with olives and a bad of sour cream, a hot chocolate, and fried pork slices with cheese on top.

After this it was getting close to the time to get back on the hydrofoil, but we had time to hit a small building called the hermitage (smaller case). There were two stories and the idea was that the servants stayed on the bottom floor and a table was winched up to the top floor. So meals were prepared, clothing arranged, etc. without the servants ever knowing how was on the top floor.

We hit the hydrofoil and headed back to the main strip. The hydrofoil dock was actually right in front of The Hermitage, or winter palace. Apparently, a hermitage can be one of two things. Either it denotes a place where someone can be alone (usually religious) or a huge building where a family (and their bazillion servants) can have a winter residence. Or something. I never really got why it was called The Hermitage.

Regardless, it was the winter palace of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. Now however, it was the biggest art museum in Europe. Kind of. apparently The Louvre and The Hermitage go back and forth with that honor by building new branches onto both buildings. Kind of a uber art pissing contest. The funny thing is that the Russians have more art. There is a huge warehouse on the outskirts of St. Petersburg where the have all the art they can't fit into The Hermitage.

The tour was really quick as the tour itself was scheduled for two hours in The Hermitage and you could easily spend a week there and not hit everything. Alexandria took me to a dozen exhibits that sounded good to me or where her favorites with only a couple minutes in each spot. One of the coolest things was the Peacock Clock. A massive gift from one of Catherine the Great's lovers. It was a wind up mechanical clock that was basically a life sized forest scene with a peacock that spread its feathers every hour.

The second hand was a dragonfly that spun around.

I seen Leonardo, Dutch masters, impressionists, etc. The thing is - I've seen so many art galleries that the art starts to blend together unless its something truly new. I doubt I will go back to The Hermitage. There is a Russian museum that I'm more interested in as it would give me an insight into the Russian culture. 

So I tipped Alexandria 500 rubles (I have no idea whether that was a good tip or not, she seemed happy) and headed back to the hostel to relax. I read for a bit and then decided to walk around the local area a bit. Its got a slummy feeling to it, but the reality is its just middle class working folk walking their dogs and kids around the block. Lone women were walking the streets, which is generally a good sign that a neighborhood is safe.

I ended up trying to find an open restaurant somewhere that was open late on Sunday and not having much luck. I finally found what appeared to be a hipster kind of place up the block a bit. They had an eclectic menu but one in English, so I figured I would give it a shot. I had a beer (no idea what - the waiter spoke very little English), Tom Yum Kah (spicy coconut milk sup with seafood), and beef stroganoff. The soup was great but the stroganoff was the best I've ever had. Small portions though, but very intense flavor. I'll have to remember this place.

Welp, off to hit the hotel and sleep in tomorrow (no tour).

Ok yalls, just stop it...

Ok, so heere is the thing. Reading the US embassy reports and travelers blogs and listening to my brother's wive's mother - I was worried about St. Petersburg and Moscow. Namely in three areas.

Crossing the border and going through customs.
Safety in St. Petersburg/Moscow while walking the streets.
Corrupt officials and everyone trying to rip off tourists.

So I didn't get a lot of sleep last night as I was worried about what to say when going through customs, making sure everything is in order, etc. So I woke up early, had the hostel breakfast (cheap and was never awake in time to have it before), and got all my things together.

The breakfast was a typical hostel breakfast with tiny sausages (more like hot dogs really), meatballs, sliced cheese, toast, OJ , coffee, sliced tomatoes, baked beans, and toast with butter/jam. Ok, so that was kind of my first mistake as I ate a ton of greasy foods.

I get to the station and hop on the train to St. Petersburg. I also happen to be on the train with a group of elderly Germans going to St. Petersburg. As the border approached I was filled with a kind of dread. The Finnish passport control was very relaxed and chill. So that was no worries (I expected non, as a US citizen - the EU pretty much just wave you through). The Russian side however you had to fill out a form for coming and going. It was a two sided piece of paper with the same data on both side and perforated down the middle.

Then they explained that the customs procedures were located in the shelving in the cabin. I found them and read through the long list of confusing things that had to be declared. Anything with transmitted a radio frequency signal and any narcotic drugs (prescription) had to be declared in writing. I think... I find the written declaration papers, but they are only in Russian (gulp!). Oh boy. I'm sure they won't be happy having to baby sit me through the forms with a whole train that needs to be taken care of.

So we finally hit the customs point where the Russian customs officers walk through the cabin. They take the card I filled out and give me back half (I have to keep it with me in order to leave the country). The guy walks up to me and asks me if I have anything to declare. I told him that the Kindle, Netbook, and phone have RF transmitter. He waves his hand. Then he asks if I had any prescription drugs. I say that I have some Vicodin for emergencies based on my shoulder. I was kinda stressing as I had one Valium in the bottle in order to help me if I needed to take it at night (Vicodin keeps me awake) and had tossed the original prescription bottle. He then walks away.

After about five minutes I realize they didn't give a crap. I had worked myself up for nothing.

So I hit the train station and had a driver with my name out ready to take me to my hotel. He didn't speak English, so it was a quiet ride with a heavy silence in the air. The guy never smiled, never really acknowledged my presence. The city cars and building had a thick layer of grunge on them. The colors on most places were fairly sterile and most people wore very muted greys, tans, or black. I was definitely feeling out of place.

The guy dropped me off at the hotel and I tipped him 200 Rubles. I have no idea if it was a good tip or not, I'll have to investigate tipping here. That's the only time he smiled and then he shook my hand.

So I get into the hotel and the gal scans my passport and Visa, I'm assuming to send them to the local police (its by law you have to report in, though the hotel usually does it for 400 rubles - $12 or so). The hotel doesn't have a lounge or restaurant. The room is really nice however.

They have a weird thing that is also kind of cool. Once you get into the room, you have to put the room key into a special holder by the door in order for the lights to work. That saves them energy and you also always know where the key is located.

And the bathroom floor is heated tile. Fucking sweet. There really is nothing like walking off carpet into the bathroom and have your feet get all nice and toastied up.

There is a programmable room safe for your valuables, a couple channels of English programming (just news though), and a mini-bar with snacks, drinks, and booze (insanely expensive - same as the states).

So I sit in bed and read. I am just chilling out because the whole stressing out thing and the grunginess of the city has me a little spooked. However, I know I have to head out and get a gallon of water. The water here is ok to drink if you boil it, I was told. There is a electric water heater to make tea with, but while that boils it - the thing shuts off once it starts boiling. That kinda not how that thing is supposed to work - you need to keep boiling for 10 minutes. So I know I will have to head out and find a bank to get money, places to eat as there is none in the hotel, and a market for water.

I head down to the lobby and talk to the gal there. I ask her if its safe to walk around and she rolls her eyes. I apologize and tell her that I here all sorts of stories. But then again, I have heard the same things about the Tel Aviv Muslim quarter, Rome, London, and Prague. She says, don't worry about it. The thing to fear is pickpockets. She gives me some places to find a market and bank, so I head out.

I walked around, found the bank immediately. The ATM was inside a door that could be locked, and is at night, so a lot of the scams used on ATMs wouldn't be on this one. They check in banks and there is a guy working right there that sees people walking up, plus a camera. Way safe. I found a bunch of little restaurants and bars. I found a 24/7 mini-market and the bigger local market. I felt completely and utterly safe the entire time I did everything. Fuck a duck. All that stressing for nothing.

So I got me a turkey salad sandwich, a jar of mini pickles, some milk, a gallon of water, and a Coke. Walking back I noticed that a zoo and park with playground is kitty corner to the hotel and that the other corner was a gorgeous canal. There were tons of landmarks right there. A giant church steeple, a floating restaurant, etc. So i never even had to bother looking at the map she gave me or at street signs. I could find this place in my sleep. 

View out my window of the corner. Behind the trees is a zoo. The street to the right goes over a bridge starting at the sign.

So I am safely landed and feeling a TON better about everything.

Russia, here I come.

Soumenlinna

Got up this morning and headed out pretty much first thing. I was feeling pretty much entirely unsick and I had wanted to try out the salmon soup special at the open market. It was worth the trip, cheap, tasty, warm, and cheap (did I mention that?)

I then wandered around the Senate building area looking for the museum I thought I had seen earlier. Ended up finding a free museum about Helsinki instead. It was small and touristy feeling, but hey - you can't beat free. It was only two floors but it was cool in that it gave a feel of how the city grew up over the last 150 years.

The church down the street. Closed to the public but pretty cool from outside.

After the museum, I tried to look for the one that I had though I'd seen earlier. It had a picture of Adolph Hitler, so I though it might be a WWII museum. Its a common theme in the post Soviet block countries. They tend to be pretty cool. No such luck though. So I headed over to the public ferry to head out to the group of islands that were famous called Soumenlinna.

Finnish tradition: You engrave you and your lovers name on a lock.

You then lock the lock on a bridge over a canal and throw the keys into the canal.
Course, if you break up - then you have to dive into just above freezing waters and

200 years of sewage. Though to be fair, this better than a lot of breakups.

Soumenlinna is basically the reason Helsinki is there in the first place. Way back int he 1800s, the Swedes though it was a strategic point on the Baltic Sea. Well so did the Russians. So in a nutshell, Soumenlinna and Helsinki were tossed back and forth between the Swedes, English, and Russians for a hundred some odd years until in 1918 the Finns told the Russians that they wanted to break free and be their own country. The Russians had their own internal troubles and were on good terms with the Finns, so they said "Meh, Go ahead." This worked out pretty well for both sides as they had, and still have, great trade agreements and people crossing the borders on both sides.

The island turned into a cool place for shops, galleries, restaurants, and residential areas. Basically a cool spot to hang out for the day and chill. Walk around and look at all the old battlements.

Children under ten are not allowed to sport mustaches in Finland. This would NEVER fly in Italy.

The place was awesome. The entire place was riddled with battlements, you could walk into them and get a feel for were people were stationed. They had munition bunkers and plenty of places were people could duck out of incoming fire. Unfortunately, when the British came, their cannon were of a better, later quality. So the huge armada simply stayed out of Finnish cannon range while safely bombarding the shoreline.

Also, hobbits lived there.

The entire island group of five island could easily be walked over the bridges from one end to the other in under an hour. In earlier days, there was only one way onto and off of the island, at King's Gate. Later developments in artillery made most of these fortifications obsolete. However, it made it one cool place to wander around.

Next to King's Gate.

after walking to the ends of the island, I wanted to get a bite to eat. Unfortunately, almost all the restaurants were closed now that summer was gone. The one I did find that was open was down a dirt road next to a bunch of out of place old industrial buildings and a small pier. The sign on the main road was a small chalkboard with a printed out paper taped onto it. I was wondering if it was even open until I came right upon it. Cool place in an old fortified barracks or some such. I have some smoked salmon soup, pasta carbonara, and a Coke. Pretty tasty and the first time I'd seen a egg yolk sitting on top of the pasta.

"Sorry bra, no high fiving allowed on the island."

So I just got done getting most of my things packed and I'll be heading out for a beer with Pete and his Finnish friend Cecily. Be gentle to me Pete, meh belly needs to be calm when I hit St. Petersburg. 

Woof

Well I woke up this morning a little worse for wear. Last night me and Pete met up in Kallio in the seediest street where I was on Monday. There was what appeared to be a punk rock/hip hop some kind of seedy club I had walked by. My hostelmate bailed on me as he didn't want to spend the money to hit a bar. No worries.

So I walk the seedy district to an Internet cafe/bar called Viva La Vida to wait for Pete. It was pretty cool little geeky dive with student wearing more punkish clothes and some with their face painted. They had some game controllers and everyone was drinking. It had a distinct geek vibe that I enjoyed. When I recontacted Pete to see where he was, he said he was walking down the street. So I headed out to intercept him. Since he was busy typing on his phone, I said "pssssst heroin..." as he was walking past. He said no thank you, then did a double take. I guess I just have that creepy druggie vibe goin on.

So we headed back to the place covered in graffiti over painted black with dingy red fluorescent lights on the outside. There was a huge crowd of people smoking outside so we dived in. It was much nicer inside, though the bathroom was nasty and had a couple decades of graffiti in layers on the walls. The beer was cheap and the place was a kind of dive/hipstery bar. We meet up with a guy named Pitre and ended up drinking all sorts of Finnish liquor specialties and talking economics and politics. We did shots with folks, some couple invited us back to his place for some blow (eerrrr... no thanks), and just had a complete blast. I wanted to see about hitting the sauna so I left around 1:30.

I had a shitty time with a cab driver trying to fleece me. I asked him how much to get to where my hostel was and he quoted 15 euro. Then he immediately started driving in the opposite direction. I asked him what the fuck he thought he was doing. He eventually pulled a u turn, then tried it again when getting near the hostel. He drove past the turn off and was heading down the street. I got him to stop and I only had a 20 euro bill. Grrrr. I got change so he didn't fleece me that bad. I think threatening to call the cops did it. Cest la vie.

So woke up at 8, but was not in shape to hit a sauna. I don't get hangovers like most people. I don't get headaches. I just end up feeling sick to my stomach for a long time. Its noon and I'm still feeling ill. A lot of it is exposure to cigarette smoke while drinking though. The mix really messes me up and I was talking to folks outside in the smoking area.

So I'm gingerly drinking a Coke and reading a book, hoping to settle my stomach to I can head out again.

Welp I got settled enough to wander out and hit the downtown area. I'm still looking for a nice scarf but I'm not seeing a hell of a lot for men. I guess its just not a thing here for whatever reason. Meh. So I managed to get down some pea soup and a small salad. After that I walked around a bit to see if that would settle things down. <sigh> Not really. So I headed back to the hostel.

I set up guided tours and transportation from the railway stations and back. I just want to be safe in Russia and make sure nothing goes wrong. I'll probably feel better about things once I get there, but in the meantime - I want my bases covered. So I had to figure out some way to sign some paperwork, scan it, and send it back to the travel agency. The gal down at the front desk was able to help me out with that, so I'm set. I'm in my grubbies and things are finally starting to smell good. So I ordered some ravioli with spinach, cheese, and ham in a marinara sauce with some nachos from the restaurant in the hostel.

I'm thinking its going to be a chill the hell out kind of night, so I'll just get the night sauna and sit in there my meal. Then maybe watch one of the movies on my Netbook. so, lumping it in Finland tonight.

Wow. The sauna made me want to redouble my efforts to turn the spot next to the Green Room into a wood burning sauna. The one at the hostel will only fit about six guys, so its pretty small. Right outside of it are three showers. The are also BallMats(tm). A clothish paper towel that will just prevent your balls and taint from sweat on the seat. I probably committed a faux pas by not using one when I first came in. I simply didn't notice until folks got up that they were being used.

So the idea of a sauna is pretty cool. Get in there. Throw water on the heated rocks until its where you can barely stand the heat, then throw more on. Stay in there a long as your can stand it, then go out and turn on the cold water in the shower. Repeat 3-4 times. The idea is to sweat everything out of your body. Its works great if you have a cold.

Also makes you tuckered out really quick. G'night folks.

Finland, Finland, Finland.

Woke up and missed the morning sauna again. I might have to just fork out the cash and hit an evening sauna. Anyways, Philip (Berlin hostel mate) suggested heading out, so I got washed up and we headed out to check out the town. Our first stop was at the dock open market for some munchies.

Y'know those free samples of things that are tasty when you hand them out nice and warm, but once they get cold...

Yah, the tiny whole fish were tasty at first. After a while though, the saltiness started to get to the point where I couldn't finish them. Plus they are kinda nasty once cold. They had a special on salmon soup that Philip got. A bowl of fresh salmon soup, bread, and a cup of coffee for 7 euro. That's a good deal in Finland.

After breakfast we parted ways though. I still had a day left on my 48 hour hop /off bus tour and he didn't want to spend the money on a bus. Which is cool, he was doing things on the cheap and Helsinki is a very walkable town.

I hopped on the bus and took the tour around. It managed to answer a question I had about the odd tables by the waterfront I encountered while walking around on my first day here.

All over Helsinki they have spots like this. And apparently in the spring/summer, the Fins grab their rugs/carpets off the wooden floors and wash them in the water from the Baltic Sea. The water is far less brackish, so perfectly suited for the task and they use a traditional pine tar soap. Then the carpets are left on the table to dry.

Cool street art on the side of the building by a marina.

The tour was fairly short but the guide was cool and it gave me a pretty good idea on some of the culture that Finland is based on. They have a word "sisu" which means independence, rationality, willing to face death in the face of adversity. Its why when the Russians tried to take them over in WWII, they were able to fight them off with a third the army and a small fraction of the heavy weaponry. At the end of the war, they chose to bypass the Marshall Plan and paid of Russia in record time to keep themselves free of debt. The closest thing we would have would be I guess "rational bravery".

I wanted to stop off at their Olympic stadium to check out the tall tower they have that allows the best panoramic view of Helsinki. Its pretty cool, rather than let the massive Olympic building go to disrepair, they converted the stadium into office buildings, a hostel, and a cafeteria in the middle of it all. I would have minded renting a place there for an office.

View from the top.

I took off and hopped back on the bus to travel down one stop. I wanted to hit the Finnish National museum to check out the history of their culture. There aren't a lot of museums in Helsinki, so its good that this one was a damn good one.

It started off with pre-history. Basically examples of clothing, tools, and building in the stone/bronze/iron ages when there was't a lot of written history. They didn't talk much about the Viking, which was cool I had Viking history by the shitload in Dublin and Oslo. Not much changes in that respect. They did have cool information about how their culture developed over the last century. They used to be ruled by Russia, but this ended peacefully and they still maintain a close trading relationship with Russia. They kind of bridged the gap between the West and East when they started trading good that the Soviets liked (furs, fish, reindeer meat, etc) and won the respect of the Soviets during WWII for their fighting determination.

And here we see an example of early Renaissance papal fisting practices.

I then headed back down into town and hopped on the tram back. I hopped off at the Hard Rock Cafe to have a burger, Coke, and fries. Before winding my way back to the hostel. Now I'm just hanging out blogging and likely will head out to meet up with Pete with Philip in tow.

I self-entitled this one "Three Naked Guys Beating the Crap Out of an Anvil"
Please, friends don't let friends blacksmith naked...

Freezing my bälls off...

Aahhh. I have the room to myself. I can read and relax (though my damn Ultraviolet player wouldn't play my Batman movies). So I stayed up later than I should have reading a Steven King novel (damn you Steve!).

My plan to hit the morning sauna was slightly delayed as I was lazy by a half hour. Then I went down to wash my clothes only to find that the cleaning staff had booked the machines. There are only two washers and one dryer. There are no laundromat anywhere near the hostel. And we have to share the machine with the cleaning crew - so they use it all day. This would be called sucking.

Cool street art on the walk from the hostel to the cruise ship dock.

I walked down to the nearby dock open market area to find information on ship and bus tours. It was much colder today than yesterday, so I was freezing my previously mentioned unmentionables off. I did manage to book a combo ship cruise around the bay area and 48 hour hop on/off bus tour. I then looked around the market which was next to the dock to try and find a cheap hat and scarf. All the hats started at 20 euro, so I figured I could do better by going into the huge mall in town.

The cruise was pretty cool. It lasted an hour and a half with lunch and a bar on board. So I had a roast beef sandwich with dill and a couple lattes. The outdoor part with the good view for pictures was cold, but they did provide blankets you could put on your legs. Nothing to help my head though. There were a lot of islands and most of them had fortifications on them. They were a big deal during the Finnish/Swedish war and later when the Russians used it. The really cool thing is that they have withstood the test of time, so they are still very much in place and unspoiled. A sad thing is that the guide was saying that the bay usually froze up, making it possible to drive to the islands during winter - but that it no longer happened the last couple decades. Might be that whole pesky global warming thing.

The cruise eventually got chilly enough to where I went inside the boat and decided I definitely needed to hit a mall to get some clothes. After the tour I walked up the main thoroughfare to the shopping district and its main mall "Focus". The mall was different from the ones I'm used to and this one was built into a hill. They setup is a number of small halls (maybe 15 feet wide) branching in many directions with a very small open area in the middle. Very cramped compared to our malls, yet they had over 130 stores in it - so the size of the mall was the same. I went in at ground level and figured out it was built into a hill when on level four I walked out the back into a neighborhood. Whoa. I ended up hitting a sports store and got super thing thermals, a hat, and gloves. I needed the hat anyway from yesterday's encounter at the station. When a giant bigoted Nazi Fin tells you your hat is a bad thing, it must REALLY be a bad thing. I then ended up having a Southern Fried Chicken meal on the bottom floor.

Sign for the downstairs bathroom, I self entitled it "Why does it hurt when I pee?!?!"

I was able to find the 4 tram to my hostel right off the bat this time and headed straight back to the hostel. I got to the laundry room just in time to see two students (mining engineers) trying to get some laundry done too. So we took the clothes out of the washer (it was the hostel staff and we checked first) and we each took a washer. After a half hour we stuck both our loads int he dryer. Cool guys, they were hitting the various college teaching mining engineering in the country.

While sitting here waiting for my clothes to dry, and in between text Mr. Pete Lee to go get some drinks tonight (he's here for a month vacationing); I noticed something pretty cool. In the apartments they have these fully enclosed double glass insulated balconies so that they can enjoy the sunlight when while they can and not get frozen. Me like. Also, as in Sweden, it appears they think dryers are a silly idea and most households simply hang the clothes in a bathroom (with warmed floor tiles) or in a special room by the heater.

Now just awaiting for my clothes to dry.

The bathrooms here have a twist to them that I can only picture as uniquely Scandinavian, like having heated bathroom floor tiles. There are speakers in front of the two toilet rooms that continuously play the sounds of a bunch of birds chirping. Obviously to cover up the sounds of the people in the toilets. Its these cultural dualities that always intrigue me. They won't use a dryer, but they take the time out to cover bathroom noises.

I think I caught a session of OCD though. There was a guy with arm sleeve tattoos (I haven't seen a lot of tattooed folks) washing his hands when I went it. He was already soaping, rinsing and repeating. He maintained this throughout my bathroom visit and only moved to the dryer to dry his hands when he seen I needed the sink. Just helping out unintentionally it seems.

Heading out now to meet Pete and Pub Sirdie.

Ok, Pub Sirdie was really cool. It is owned by an old Bulgarian guy that married a Finnish wife and opened a bar about the size of my living room. There was old Soviet gas masks and uniforms on the walls along with a string of old beer mugs lining the area above the bar itself. It also had the unique distinction of being on of the very rare pubs that had a working jukebox that still played 45 albums. Though the songs ranged between Kenny Logins and old Soviet songs. Very unique character. We had a couple beers, tried some unique Finnish liquors (one tasted like Glenlivet and one was smokey that was made with pine tar). This was on a hill in the Bohemian Kallio district.

After this we headed down to Molly Malone's further downtown. It was owned by an ex-pat and it was a typical Irish pub stuck in the middle of Helsinki. There was a cute Moldavian bartendress I chatted with, we played blackjack (minus side the house wins on a push, plus side everything goes to charity), and talked to a blind stinky Irish guy that kept lamenting on how he wanted to get into a fight with someone randomly. Yeh. Stereotype confirming isn't a good thing homey...

I ended up losing Pete, so headed out to the hostel. Met up with the new hostel mate. Speaks fluent English and he's from Berlin. Wants to travel to different cities and check out how people live in each city. Cool guy. I might get up early enough for a sauna. Might not. We'll see.

Finland is great... for whitey...

So here is the good, the bad, and the really fucking ugly.

WTF part one, this was hanging in my hostel room

The Good

The Russian hostel mate apparently was here on some kind of night shift job for a week I think. He stayed up til 1am reading, which kept me awake (even though we have individual lights, his would keep me awake). After which he got up, changing into some utility type clothes, grabbed his backpack and split. His stuff was in his shelving unit and it looked like he had two dozen packs of smokes. Along with the bare eating essentials, like bread and fruit. He came back around 8am, packed up all his stuff and left. So my sleep sucked but now I don't have Serious Non-talkative Russian Guy in the room anymore.

So just waiting for the hot Scandinavian supermodel that likes to walk around her hostel room in expensive lingerie. Yup. I'll be right here awaitin'...  Anytime now...

So anyways, I walk down to the tram station right behind the hostel. Strutting meh stuff like I had a tram pass already. Oh wait, that I do! I hop on and head to the Central Train Station. I get there and I was able to book my trip to St. Petersburg and from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Unfortunately, they couldn't book my sleeper cab from Moscow to Riga. So I'll have to do that in St. Petersburg. The gal behind the desk told me that its doubtful that anyone in the train stations there speak English, so I'll have to drag my guide into the station in order to have them help me get tickets.

The Ugly
So I'm standing at the tram station waiting for the tram to take me to Kallio, a Bohemian artsy working type area in the middle of the city. So large Finnish working guy in some torn and stitched up jacket asks me about my hat. Huh? He says its a 1930s style cap, and that's not a good thing. I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but apparently the 30s weren't good in Finland. He mentioned a couple royalty (I think) blowing their brains out. Ok, good to know. Then after I mentioned I got the hat in Edinburgh, he immediately asks me what percentage of "dark skinned" people were in Scotland. Then he asked what about in London. Then he muttered something about not mixing the races as it destroyed blond, blue eyed people. Uhm...ok... He goes on an on about that, and how the US likes to bomb other countries. I try to be polite at this point and ignore him. He eventually have realizes I have stopped talking to him and he gets on his tram. Damn. I hope that isn't a prevalent attitude in Finland. Otherwise we may have to bomb this place.

The Bad
Finland has a nice enough tram system, but their information on it sucks serious balls. I'm used to tourist maps that have the tram/bus/metro lines on them. Neither of the ones I have do this and the only thing I have on one of them is a vague metro map without end destination names or the name of stops. Also the tram stops themselves have little to no information on them. I'm used to seeing the stop name, then the trams that stop there with the end destination next to it so you know which way you are going. They don't do that here. The station names don't match the street names most of the time and the end destination changes in some system I just do not understand. The central station also doesn't have bus or tram maps. The only place in any country I've been in where there is nothing. Feh.

So I wander around Kallio. I seen some artsy stuff but I mainly seen "massage parlors" and sex shops. I'm pretty sure I'm in the wrong part of Kallio as supposedly there is a cool pub/art scene. I did walk by some vegan shops, natural food places, and pipe shops. Just didn't see the cool arty shops and such I expected. And I seen a ton of residential apartments. So I'll have to figure out where this place is supposed to be.

So found a kebab shop and had a kebab with marinara sauce on french fry plate with a salad. Cheap and hit the spot, not a lot of English speaking folks around here so I just want to make do. On the way back I found a tram line that would take me back to the central station. Unfortunately, I could not make heads or tails of which way the trams went. There were two rails and the same number said different thing depending on which side of the street you were on. So yah, sometime the exact same stop have a different name depending on which way the train is going. Also the seeming destination made no sense and matched nothing on the map I had. I found someone who spoke English and he was kind enough to actually walk me down to the Metro station instead and explain which way each went. He said they had the smallest Metro in the world with only six stops (there were more, but not many) and the Metro actually DID have the end station on the signs.

Hit center station and then a train back. I seen a cute girl with short red hair in a dress and poofy mini-skirt. Great legs and knee high studded red shoes. Pretty decked out for a morning and she had a guitar on her back. When she walked by, that's when I noticed that the reason for her skirt being so short (it is pretty chilly out there right now) was that she was wearing something underneath the skirt. She had a 3 foot long fluffy brown tail attached to her butt and it was hanging down. You wouldn't see it until she walked past. I thought that was pretty damn cool. I would have commented but I doubt she spoke English, so telling her she was awesome would have just seemed like me being a lech if she didn't understand what I was saying.

The city downtown seems like pretty much every European downtown. Mostly 5-10 story buildings with the bottom floor being a shop. I see a far greater number of people with cool colored hair. So far I like it. I just hope that bigot bastard was not the norm around here.

Sometimes when life bugs you, a good gourmet meal is in order. I headed down to the hotel by the waterfront. The cruise ship (and another cruise line) docks at the port a couple blocks from the hostel. I'm on a smallish island called Skagg. I figured that any hotel with marble floor right in front of a cruise ship dock might have some nice food.

Reindeer goulash with rosemary fraiche and dried lingonberries
Beef fillet with bacon, fried mushrooms, and crispy onions in a red wine sauce
Pumpkin marscapone  risotto

Ok good mood restored. And still no hostel mate so it looks like I'm sleeping nude tonight, woohoo!

I'll leave your with this...

WTF part two, transvestite hooker donkey balls... for kids!

Hells Sinky

Welp the room is a two bed hostel room and I'm sharing it with a Russian guy that knows no English. I would try to see if he is interested in me trying out Russian, but he seems a) sick and b) decidedly unfriendly. Cest la vie. He's around my age too, so no idea what he's doing here unless he is just looking for a cheap place to crash for an undetermined period of time.

Unfortunately, he's also pretty stinky. Feh. Oh well, hostels can be a crapshoot. Sometimes you get a seven, sometimes eleven.

The hostel has no meeting spot where people can hang out. It has a reception, an attached restaurant/bar, and a kitchen on each floor. The refrigerators, however, comprised of 24 individual locked boxes. You can get a key from the front desk with a deposit that you get back when you turn it in. I don't know what to think about that. On one hand - no one can steal your stuff and you know how much food you can store; on the other - it just seems messed up in a basic manner of kinda denying people access to a fridge. I dunno. Just seems weird to me.

The funny thing is that even though they have very few amenities, they have an entire floor dedicated to nothing but saunas. They have a mens and womens section, and a morning sauna is included in with your room. You have to pay for an evening sauna though. These there Fins looooooves them saunas, I guess.

I was somewhat beat after not getting much sleep on the cruise (there were three clubs on the boat! and a casino!), coupled with having to walk around four hours prior to my getting my room key kinda has me beat. So I stayed in the room and took a nap. I eventually ventured out to get some food and do a quick walk through the downtown area to the central station to see if I could get a tram pass. I made it to a Napalese place (basically Indian food, but it was gooooooood); had a mixed sizzling meat plate with coriander/lime and yogurt dipping sauce and rice. Plus marsala tea, though they called in Napalese Tea.

I know, I know. Different country. Food was the exact same as any Indian place I've been to though.

After that the walk downtown, though while not being very far, seemed out of reach. Plus its a Sunday night, so everything would be shut down anyway. On the way in though, I chatted with the gal at the desk about bus passes and apparently they can sell them at the desk. Sweet. Now I have unlimited tram access for three days.

Also I confirmed a flight from Riga to Warsaw. Apparently there are no direct trains between the cities, you would have to take an overnight bus. I scored a flight using LOT Polish airways for 99 euro. Since I would easily have paid that in a sleeper bunk, it sounded good to me. I also reserved a room at a highly rated hotel in old town Riga off of Hostelworld. Normally I would have just gotten a single bed room, unfortunately there were plenty of single bed rooms for every day except the last day of my stay. So I said screw it and booked a room with two beds for myself. I don't want to have to mess with checking out, putting all my luggage in storage for four hours, and then moving it to another room just for one day.

So all I have to do now it book the train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and then from Moscow to Riga (overnight). Other than that everything is taken care of.

Oh and once again, fuck Belarus.

The long trip to Helsinki

Woke up somewhat early and had breakfast with the family. Lovisa was already on a plane heading to a business conference in Alberta; so it was just me, Craig, and the kids. Fresh croissants, fresh squeezed orange juice, and coffee. Got to say my goodbyes then whisked off to the train station.

The wait wasn’t long and I so far the train ride is pleasant. Traveling over idyllic Swedish rural countryside - forests, farms, and lakes. While its pretty, nothing really stands out.

I think Riga is the way to go. I really want to go to Russia, so that is a given. But the Belarus part is looking more and more sketchy the more I look at travel blogs and such. The cost of the hotel in Riga would be $150 and the train trip slightly longer out of the way - so lets say $100 more. However, I can take3 pictures of everything, Riga is on the Baltic sea and things are a ton cheaper. So while I would be losing out on $600 for the hotel and visa, I would not have to deal with the stress. Plus if the switchover between Russia and Belarus isn’t smooth (and considering US has sanctions against Belarus - my gut feeling says it won’t be), then it would run up into the thousands and I would miss my flight back.

So, in essence, fuck Belarus. I have a feeling the extra $250 bucks to go to Riga will actually be made up in savings from getting screwed in Belarus via bribes and fleecing the tourist. Plus my stress level will be nil. I just have to figure out now about the train trip from Riga to Warsaw. Make sure it doesn’t go through a country that requires a transit visa. It shouldn’t though. It should just go through Estonia and Lithuania, both of which don’t require a visa if you have a US passport.

So, note to self in the future, while minor investigation and reading the US government website is good for EU countries - east block countries that require a visa need to be investigated ad naseum. The government travel guide doesn’t mention that if there is a problem with a visa in Belarus, you cannot get a hotel room and are therefore homeless. That kinda makes a big difference in my plans.

Gah. So the train to Stockholm left me an hour and a half to get to the Viking Line cruise ship. Just out of Stockholm, the train decided to stop at a station due to something or other happening. They only announced it in Swedish, so I was stuck looking around for the stewardess or someone to tell me what the hell was going on. I could have asked folks nearby, but no one looked stressed out at all. Anyway, I knew they closed the boarding gate 15 minutes prior to the ship launching, which left me no time to deal with the tram and walking the distance from the station. I hired a taxi and this guy kicked ass. He told me “I know exactly how you feel, I’ve been there.” The trip cost 326 kroner but I gave him 500 because he seriously took a ton of chances on the road and worked it like a pro.

I figured I would be spending the night in a cabin with four other folks as the cabin had four bunks. I had forgotten that I had simply reserved the whole cabin. Sweet. I have my own bathroom, shower, couch, and bed. Plus an awesome view from the 6th deck. This is a full on cruise ship with suana, a pub, nightclub, restaurants, casino, video game room, etc. I took this route as I have never been on a cruise ship and I love boats.

The cruise so far is awesome. We’re 3 ½ hours into it and we still haven’t gotten out of the Swedish archipelago, so little islands with tiny houses on them abound everywhere. I had a beer and cruised around the various outer decks. After a beer and a relaxing stare out into the ocean, I headed back to the cabin to chill out a tad before hitting the “Viking buffet”. They claim to have 130 different dishes. Not sure about that but I definitely took tiny bites of about 30 or so different things at least. It was pretty cool, the table I was at were a step-father and his daughter. I heard her speak and knew right off the bat she was American. Kinda. He was a Swede that had dual citizenship and when things started going bad in the US, she came over fairly recently. She is from the Ohio area near Cincinnati, now living with him right in between Stockholm and Gothenburg. I’m giving meh belly a chance to chill before I head out for some beers and maybe the club they have.

So headed out for beer and the clubs. The nightclub had karaoke, the pub a metal band in lederhosen with an accordion (no I’m not kidding), and the other nightclub had an 80s cover band. I ended up cruising around and drinking beer, then settling on watching the water go by on the open deck. Cloe and Chrostov (the folks from the buffet) came by. It was her “sweet sixteen” cruise present that her dad was giving her, so she was snuck into the bars. She couldn’t drink, but since she was small - she was able to hide out and not get kicked out. Her dad is pretty cool for taking her on an awesome cruise to see a new country for her sixteenth and she was all kinds of stoked. We hung out and talked about TV shows, politics, guys that were totally scamming on her (she was cute and there were some 14 year olds acting tough and smoking on the outer deck). Totally cool peeps and we hung out for a while.

Later I was hanging out on the aft deck, enjoying the full moon on the waves and seeing the blinking lights of distant islands. It was romantic as hell, with the scent of the fresh sea air, the moonlight reflecting off the waves made by the ship. The type of night and view that would make you want to sneak a quick rendezvous in an unlit corner.

So yah, I masturbated on the poop deck. Don’t judge me you bastards…

Seriously though, this totally made up for the some of the low points in the trip and after talking to Christov - I am definitely skipping Belarus. Hola Riga!

Awoke this morning via the alarm in the cabin. Its pretty cool, it has settings for 1, 1.5, and 2 hour prior to arrival. So showered, got some free breakfast in the lounge, and headed out. Met Cloe and Christov at the gate out the boat again. Cool peeps. They are just hanging out in the city for 5 hours before they hop back on the boat to head back to Sweden. It was a quick cruise trip for them.

The hostel was 300 meters from the boat ramp. So that was cool. Problem is that I can’t check in until 2pm. Also they have no lounge and you have to pay for WiFi. No problem, I’d rather do that that have to constantly go to an Internet café or into town for the free city WiFi. However, they don’t have a lounge, which sucks.

So I’m stuck cruising around town for four hours. I passed by a little farmer’s market type thing by the waterside. I’ll hit that up on the way back I think and get the cheesy tourist crap. Currently I’m having a bowl of goulash with sour cream, bread, and some weird chocolate confection which is essentially cream filling with a thin layer of chocolate over it. Free wifi, so that is taken care of. Now just to wander to and fro until I can toss my crap on my bunk and relax.

Last day in Sverige

Welp I actually set the alarm this morning to get up in time for a ferry ride out to the islands. So took a shower while Craig made a business phone call. Unfortunately, the call and subsequent work arranged things so that we didn't get our to the ferry until 1130. The timetable for the day was such that we wouldn't be able to get back until after the time needed to get Filip to his tennis practice.

So we ended up instead heading towards the "old town" of Gothenburg, where some of the older buildings were located. apparently though, instead of being like Stockholm's old city, it was mainly older foundation with newer building on top where a large immigrant population was located. We ended up eating at a little Persian lunch spot and heading back to get Filip.

While Filip was in practice, we packed up all my extra crap and shipped it out Oregon (howdy Janie!). Then grabbed some booze at the state run store (you can't buy anything over 3.5% alcohol elsewhere) and drove around checking out parts of Gothenburg.

Picked up Filip, picked up Lovisa from work, then drove back to the house. Lovisa took Filip to his tennis tourney at 6pm while me, Craig, and Lukas headed out for some nearby pizza. Lukas got a kebab pizza, Craig something with shrimp and artichoke hearts, while I got a bacon/ground beef/olive/ mushroom pizza. They give you a coleslaw like side, except its oil, vinegar, and a bit of sugar and seasonings. Its a Swedish thing they do at pizza places.

Anyhow, slow day at the homestead. Just packing and getting ready for the train trip to Stockholm and then the cruise to Helsinki. I'm seriously thinking of changing my travel plans though. The problem I have is that my Russian visa is from Sept 28 to Oct 7. The Belarus visa is from Sept 8 to Sept 12. I talked to the gal at the Russian visa place in Seattle and she said it wouldn't be an issue in transit. I had planned to take a sleeper train and wake in Minsk.

I'm reading a LOT of things that say differently. Worst case scenario either of the two.
A) The sleeper train to Belarus is not over the border by midnight. Belarus border kicks me off the train (they have done this to people apparently). I am now in Russia a day longer than my visa. I now am stuck in Russia until I can expedite an emergency leave out of Russia, which takes three weeks. I would have to pay for three weeks of lodgings while it happens.
B) Worse scenario. The sleeper train is over the border prior to midnight. I am now in Belarus illegally. If you are in Belarus without a valid visa, you CANNOT legally go to any hotel. Basically, I'm homeless in city where I can't leave for three weeks - same as Russia. A place with a mild to high crime rate where the US is picking a fight with (we have sanctions on them and they kicked out 30 ambassadors so we have only 5 left).

So yah, Russia I'm not that worried about. They get tons of tourists and I've heard many nice things. Belarus is supposed to be a nice place, but the price of failure might be too high. I contacted my inviting tourist company and I'll see if I can get an extension of my visa so that there is a day overlap. If not, I might bite the bullet and go to Riga in Latvia. Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania all have open borders with the EU and no visa requirements for US tourists.So not even going close to the Belarus border. Instead taking a sleep train to Warsaw from Riga instead of Minsk. This would mean me being out about $600, but if I get screwed we are talking many thousands to get out of there. I'll do some research but I might be taking Minsk off my itinerary.

Also good news is hotels are cheap in Riga and its a friendly place on the Baltic sea.
Huh, Hostelworld shows I can get a private hotel room in the old city for between 30 to 50 euro a night (weekdays are cheaper). That's dirt cheap. Our government site says its a democracy and fairly safe.

It also says its not uncommon for government officials to search your things in your Belarus hotel suite.
This choice is now starting to sway closer to Riga.

The Day of the Dim Sung

Yesterday was pretty much a wash. I wasn't interested in doing much as I needed to fix my shoes (or buy a new pair) and was just in the mood to read and chill out. So after sleeping in til about noon, I got up and headed out with my bro. We went to a nearby shopping center where I picked up some new Timberlines. I'll be sad to see the old pair go as they were comfy. Plus I got them in Amsterdam when the shoes I had exploded. Cest la vie. We also stopped by an Asian buffet for lunch, then headed back so that the kids had a way in the house.

I spent the day reading and later on at night me and Craig headed out to check out the view from the Gothia towers. Its a bar a lot like the Portland City Grill, so expensive drinks but with a cool view at the top of the tower. Cool, but just not someplace to spend a lot of time. So we headed down to Adra Lanngattan, a kind of semi sketchy place but with a number of cool hipster bars. One of them had twelve beers on tap, so we had a couple beers and then cruised down the street. We hit up Wandas and Maxim. The first being a semi (as much as that exists in Sweden) high class strip club. We had a beer and watched a gal dance, there were three of them and they were pretty sexy - but all three were very "enhanced". Definitely turned down any lap dances, the price to get in was about ten bucks and the lap dances were about 75 per. Nah. Then we hit Maxims where the price to get in was twice as much. What the hell, I was on vacation. Not even close to being worth it going in. We where told that they had seven gals (unlike the three from the last place), but it was a really sketchy place and the gals were natural but a bit scary. We left there in a hurry.

This led us back towards the car to go home, though with a brief stop to get a kebab burrito thingy at an all night cheesy joint by the tram/bus stops. All in all a fun and entertaining night.

This morning was another relatively late morning. I needed to see if I could find a mini-SD to SD adapter so that my bro could have some files off my phone, I also needed to find some band-aids and more blister packs as my new shoes were tearing up my hamstring. So we headed out for lunch and to hit Gothenburg a bit.

We started out looking for an Indian restaurant Craig enjoyed but instead found a brand new Brazilian restaurant. I had a fish stew with rice that really was outstanding and finished with a latte and some kind of chocolate thingy with a baked cookie like center.

Afterwards we hiked up a local fortification that was built in the late 1600s to protect the city. It was a local landmark and gave a great view of the city.

It was a kind of cool little park in the middle of the city and with a great view. We wandered around for a half hour or so and then hopped in the car to check out various parts of the city. We had to head home to pick up Filip and take him to his soccer game, so we didn't have a lot of time. We did stop by a cool place that was a local flea market building, now closed. The cool thing was that it was covered in street art.

So we got back, picked up Filip and dropped him off at his soccer game. We tried to find a dirt cheap flash drive 4GB but couldn't. We did manage to get the blister pads and the band-aids. Craig had a flash drive that he had gotten from mom, so this worked out as I could download my photos onto it. That way I could send them back home with the rest of the touristy stuff I was carrying around.

Tonight was the night I promised the kids I would take everyone out, so we hit a nice Dim Sung place and ordered a ton of little munchies. The food was good, but I took quite a while to prepare. It was worth it. The restaurant was in an industrial and sketchy part of town, but not really that bad. I also got to talk to Marriane, Lovisa's mom. She is a cool gal and she owns the place I stayed while in Stockholm. We talked and some of it was that she was glad I was making an attempt to be in my nephews' lives. She didn't want them to know Frank as the only other Schiavone brother, and I don't blame her in the least on that one. Having a sane uncle is a good thing. When they get old enough to want to travel, they will have a place to stay and an uncle to look out for them in the pacific northwest. She did warn me about St. Petersburg though. She said that I stick out as an American and she was worried that someone might take a knife to me. From what I've read Russia and Belarus have chilled a ton in the last decade. They are making a lot of headway in making it easier to get tourist visas and they are actively trying to get rid of their bad reputation. Which makes sense. Tourists mean money to the local economy. Mugging, getting ripped off by the police or natives means more bad press and less tourism - which is simply not a good thing in any way. So crossing my fingers and diving in.

It sad though that I'm halfway through my sabbatical already. But good news is that there will be a full moon for my ship cruise to Helsinki. Sweet.

What the fuck is on my pizza dude...

Morning breakfast consisted of the more of the same. Fresh sourdough bread with butter, cheese, coffee, and juice. Breakfasts in Sweden tend to be simple like that. Afterwards, I wandered down to the bus stop to ride into Gothenburg (I'll use the English names for things as its a pain in the ass to constantly pop up the character map). The bus trip into town was quite a bit. Maybe a little less than a Max ride into Portland.

The first thing I did was make my way over to the place where they have tourist boat cruises. Unfortunately I had just missed the one at 1130, so I was stuck having to come by at 1230. This gave me time to wander around some of the streets. One cool thing they have in Sweden are these large covered markets (usually called fish markets but they have all sorts of things. Its very common for folks to have lunch or such there while picking up some cool tasty treats for the homestead. So there are some cool coffee shops and different food areas inside.

I got back for the canal trip after a quick walkabout through the market. They use special canal boats, but the water was so high that we had to take an alternate route or the boat wouldn't go under the bridges. It was still pretty cool. They have a series of parks lining the canals with artwork and native trees spread throughout the parks.

The bridge in the canals were made so that they could be turned sideways to allow boats through, but this practice died out very quickly. The gearing was still in place though they now had it attached to an electric motor instead of making a half dozen Swedes turn the thing. The canals ended up in the industrial area after a trip under "the hairdresser". A bridge so low that we had to get out of our seats and sit/lie on the floor in order for our heads to clear. This took us out the major canals with ship repair industry, cruise and cargo ships, ferries, and notable other areas. One building was were the immigrants going to America would travel to that contained a gambling casino. This would make a number of the immigrants too broke to leave Sweden in the first place.

The tour was cool but pretty short to I heading down into town to check out some of the areas. The first I ventured into was the Haga district. It was originally a working district with wooden housing and such, but its now an area very similar to the Hawthorn district in Portland. A lot of hippy types, small tea shops, hand crafted items, cool little cafes, etc. I got some cool wooden items and a bar of nice smelling soap (I ran out of my Dr. Bronner's). I was tempted to eat at a small French cafe, but it didn't look like many folks spoke English and I couldn't figure out the menu. 

This place was really cool, but everything in it was for women. Cest la vie.

I walked past Haga into the apparently "seedy" part of Gothenburg. I found the three strip clubs/sex shops/sex cinemas alongside some tasty looking Thai and Indian holes in the wall. I ignored it but made a mental note to check it out on the way back. It didn't seem like there was much else in the streets around the area, just residential and the main street by the canal. I found a cool looking church on a hill, but when I got to the top of the hill - the city view sucked and not much was there. So I headed back on down.

The trip back down included a stop over to get some lunch. I was still unsure as to what I was hunkering for when I went by some place offering pizza pasta kebab. So i figured, what the hell. They offered a kebab meat pizza so I had to check it out. It consisted of kebab meat and fried onion with a tzaziki sauce. It was actually kinda tasty, but I doubt I would order one again. I'm pretty sure it would never catch on in the states either.

After a nice meal I headed to Wandas, the least sleazy of the three strip clubs in Gothenburg. It was still outrageously expensive. Roughly ten bucks to get in, beers for twelve bucks a pop, and a lap dance would set you back $75. I got one, but it was nothing special considering Portland's strip clubs. And this concludes my (apparently) strip club report from around the globe.

On the way back I kept getting a soaker and I was wondering why as my shoes weren't really that deep in the water. I looked at the bottom of my Timberlines and seen that there were a couple large cracks through the soles. Great. Though I did manage to call Craig, find the name of a store that could help, and found a clerk that knew English enough to get Sweden's equivalent to Shoe Goo. I'll see if I can find another Timberline shop and replace the shoe as I had gotten used to it and they were pretty comfy. I always carry two pairs of shoes just for this reason now. That and one is more for hiking between the hostels and sometimes the trek with a full backpack can be fairly long. Tomorrow, shoes and maybe the science museum or some such.