I didn’t sleep well last night. So didn’t like thealarm at 730. Shower and breakfast downstairs, last check of the room and we checked out by 9. It was a short walk to the bus stop to await our tour to Trakai castle. This was discounted €15 because of our card. We had an audio guide on the way introduce us to some history of Lithuania. We then were dropped off for 2.5 hours of free time.

We went in to the castle and explored. In the courtyard there were a set of gallows and a cage you could go in to experience medievil torture.

We then walked in to “town” (Trakai is quite asmall village), to go to the chocolate museum. This was another one on our pass, and we could see numerous chocolate sculptures. These were amazing but i wouldn’t have paid €5 to see them!

We stopped for an ice cream on the way back and passed the time before going back to the bus stop. The bus was about 5 minutes late and 6 people weren’t there. Too bad though! We don’t know if they deliberately missed it (and had told the driver) or if they were just late, but once the 4of us who were there were on, we were gone! It was much hotter today and i was feeling the fatigue and lack of adrenaline so slept for some of the way back.

We walked for a bit and then had some lunch. We had beetroot soup, beef stroganoff and a potato pie, with a cider this time. Then it wasoff to the palace for a tour, which was free today as it is the last Sunday of the month. Bonus! Plus it was air conditioned inside so lovely and cool. Double bonus! We took our time walking around as we had an hour to kill. But we hadn’t factored in the size of the place! By the end we were rushing through, getting more and more urgent as the tour took us up a floor when we needed to go down to leave.

Finally we got to the exit, grabbed or bag from the locker and hurried back to the hotel to collect our other bags. We got in a taxi and went to the airport, sad to say goodbye to this country, and the Baltic component of our holiday. We checked in and boarded our twin turbo prop back to Helsinki.

We caught the bus back to Pipsa’s place no problems at all – we were locals here now! Pipsa and Ville still weren’t back from the farm so we went to a bar nearby and had a drink and some nachos. We thought we should grab some drinks to bring to Pipsa’s, but whilst the supermarket is 24 hours, the alcohol section closes at 9. So we were out of luck.

We walked round the back thinking we wouldwait for them to get home. And they were just parking the car! Perfect timing. So we went inside and had a chat, and then grabbed the keys to Tommi’s flat. Kaoru did a load of washing. We had a shower to makesure we didn’t being back any bed bugs, and passed the time until the machine finished. Once the washing was hung up we went to bed.

Kaoru was going to wake up early and go to the market before breakfast. But she slept in,so we got up, showered and had a relaxed breakfast (again, inclusive). We left the hotel about 10.00.

Our first stop was the cathedral, for a bit of a look. Then it was off to the tourist information centre to get a few plans. We decided to get the Vilnius city card for €19.99. We got them to start it from 12.00 as we didn’t really know what we were going to useit on.

We walked around the city and went to Uzopia – a Republic within the city. They have passport stamps but i wasn’t game to put one in my passport so i just put it in a notebook. We sat down and had a drink and a think.

Once we had made our plan, the rest of the day was going to be busy. So we payed and rushed down to the market for a look, taking photos of a few sites along the way, including the gates of dawn. It was quite a small market so didn’t take us as long as we were expecting. We bought some pastries for the afternoon.

Next was to get on the “hop on hop off” bus. So we went to the ticket office, showed our Vilnius card and were given our passes, just in time to catch the bus. We were doing this as a means to an end – we needed to be back at cathedral square by 1.30 and the busarrives there at 1.28. So we got to see some of the outside of the city, and then got off and rushed to the statue.

Now for the “alternative” city walk. Not around the old city but started by catching a bus (€1) to an old neighborhood, nestled between ever-growing skyscrapers of the business district. It was a lovely area, which still didn’t have running water to the houses!

Walking through the cbd a bit, we went to the22nd floor of the Radisson hotel for a commanding view of the city. There is a bar but it was closed so we could only look out the two end windows of the rectangular shaped building. It was still great to see the city from up so high.

After a short walk we stopped for a break, where we had a crepe and i had a bottle of gira. Everybody else had tea or coffee. Then to the bus stop to go to the other end of the city.

We walked through the train station and were shown a cafe recently opened that looks out on the tracks. It was about 4.00 so too early for hipsters to be there. Then we were taken to an older part of the station where a number of trains and the platform had been converted to another hipster cafe. Not having a man-bun or beard meant i couldn’t stay for a drink😊. But it was cool to see.

We went through a number of other similarly bizarre buildings, before getting to the market. We didn’t have to rush there earlier! but at least we got pastries last time (which we had consumed by now). Our walk then concluded with us saying goodbye and giving the guide a tip, as it was a free tour.

We went to the fort and were given another museum to walk through, and more views of the city. Seeing the artifacts discovered makes it hard to comprehend the times that people have lived through.

We walked back through the village with our next destination in mind, but decided to havean ice cream. While thinking about what to get i got a tap on my shoulder. It was one of the guys from our Riga trip! They invited us to join them (they were sitting across the road) so we sat down and had a beer while sharing stories of the day. But we couldn’t stay long as there were still some things to cram in.

We rushed to the cathedral belfry but were too late. We made it 15 minutes before closing time but last entrance is 30 minutes. So no luck there.

We tried to find the entrance to the grand dukes tower but couldn’t find it. We got to the palace but didn’t want to do that right now. so instead we went back to our hotel for the toilet, and asked where the entrance was. We got conflicting directions from the 2staff members but decided if we did a lap we would have to find it.

Sure enough we got to it and started the longwalk up the rocky, cobblestone path. We were wondering where we were supposed to pay. Once we got to the top of the hill (the base of the tower) we found the ticket office and showed our card. We looked around the ground floor of the tower and were pretty disappointed at what we had seen, as there was nowhere else to go. But on our way out we were directed up some more stairs and after looking through a number of rooms along the way, eventually made it to the top. And this was the most awesome 360° view of the town!

Once photos were taken and we had enjoyedthe view for a while we made our way back down to the bottom. Then across the river and up to the top of 3 cross hill (not to be mistaken with the hill of crosses). This was atrying hike after all we had done for the day but again was worth it to look back over the town from such height. We took photos with our “Shaw and Partners” hats for Ben, as thisseemed like a nice spot to do it.

We walked back a different way and made our way to the air kitchen. It was open this time! It was basically a food truck festival with music and beer. We walked past a truck that was scraping melted cheese on something so decided then and there it was what we wanted. It came with potato, bacon and salad, and was a melted Swiss-type block of cheese. I got a beer and we found a seat and enjoyed our dinner.

As we were finishing it started to rain so we waited 5 minutes for that to pass and startedthe walk back to the hotel. We were thinking of going for a drink but decided to just go home and have an early night. So we packedour bag for tomorrow and went to bed.

The alarm woke me at 730. Kaoru was in the shower. Once i had showered we had breakfast and then checked out to catch our next tour bus. We found it just outside wherewe had been dropped off 2 days ago.

Today’s tour had 7 of us; we said hello and all got in our car and off we went. Our first stop was a the Salispals Memorial monument built by the Russians in the 1960s showing the suppression from the Germans. It is a controversial monument to the Latvians, and as our guide was explaining it, the emotion in her voice was clear.

Back in the car, after a quick rest stop we went to Rundalez Palace, where we could walk around the magnificent gardens and admire the palace from both inside and out.

Lunch was another half hour down the road, at a nice little restaurant. Kaoru and i both had venison, but she also had some soup. I had a beer but Kaoru tried the local drink – nesa (???). It was described as a fermented bread drink and was really quite nice and refreshing.

Our next stop was the hill of crosses. We knew this was on the itenerary so were looking forward to it. But it cannot be described by words or pictures. So many thousands of crosses on this hill in the middle of nowhere. Ranging from gigantic ones like from a cemetery to small ones made from twisting lollypop sticks together. Anna explained the history of it to us which was another reminder of the hard times these people have been through.

We continued on towards Vilnius, and i noticed a sign saying 205km to go. It’s 290km total if you go direct so we certainly were taking a scenic route. We made a slightdetour via Kaunas and walked around the old city. There were lots of churches and we went in the one that Pope John Paul II visiteda couple of years earlier. We also saw the high water mark from when the town floodedduring the construction of the hydro dam.

Another 75 minutes of driving and we finally made it to Vilnius. The traffic was that of a big city. Eventually we found somewhere to park, got out of the car and said goodbye. We could hear music playing so there was some event nearby. We walked across the road to Amberton hotel and checked in. Our room here was lovely! Much larger than our other rooms. However it was a twin, not a double. So we just had beds next to each other with about a10cm gap between them.

Kaoru did a load of washing and i checked work things. We then went out for dinner. Our plan was “open kitchen” – an open market that operates Friday and Saturday nights. So we made our way down there, through swarms of people coming down another street near the cathedral square – the event had obviously just finished (we later found out it was to do with the president standing down after her 2 terms); but there was nothing to be seen. So instead we wandered back up and found a Lithuanian cuisine restaurant.

Dinner was a couple of things from the menu. The first was a mushroom soup in a bread bowl. The second was a crepe with meat inside. The third was a Lithuanian specialty -potato around meat. Didn’t go down too well!But at least we tried it.

Quite stuffed, we needed a walk, and found a place to have a beer. But we were also quite tired so went back to the hotel and went to bed.

We woke up about 8, showered and had breakfast, which was included in our room cost. There was quite a spread to choose from. No bacon and eggs though! just local food.

After breakfast we left to start exploring. It was a dismal looking day and was definitely going to rain so i went back up to get my rainjacket and Kaoru grabbed her umbrella. About 5 minutes out of the hotel we stopped to put on all my layers and the umbrella was up. But we weren’t going to let that stop us.

We walked around the village, opting againstbuying the local tourist card. The architecture was beautiful and we enjoyed looking at the buildings down the narrow streets.

We decided to have a break and had a hot chocolate at a Belgium chocolate shop, which left us feeling quite bloated. So after a bit more walking we decided to do the war museum. Entrance was free and the sign says 3 hours! i don’t think we will be that long! I didn’t really know anything about Latvian history so this was a very moving stop. We were there for a good 90 minutes, and put some money in the donation tin.

A bit of a walk took us to the canal where we decided to catch a 1 hour boat ride. We went along the canal, up the river and back down again. It was windy and cold, but luckily they had a blanket in the boat for us-i was still in shorts. We got to see a number of the sites from the outside, including the freedom monument, and relax a bit.

We wanted to go to the market for lunch-it was about 215. But we were quite cold so i went to put jeans on, and Kaoru put on a jacket. We then walked to the market and wandered around deciding what to eat, and also looking at the food for sale. We bought a few things not knowing what they are, and they all tasted great.

A bit more walking and we ended up at the cathedral which we could go up the top of, and get one of the highest views of the area. It was beautiful but very windy. And after a couple of minutes the rain came too. So once we had taken photos and had a good look we caught the elevator down.

A bit more walking around and we decided it was time for a drink. We found a place called”Easy Beer”, which is the most awesome concept I’ve seen for beer dispensing. They give you a card, and you tap and pour your own drink. So you can put as little or as much as you want in a glass and it shows you how much you have dispensed and how much credit you have left. Then at the end you pay for what you used. You could also get shots of whisky or measures of wine.

We wanted to get some food for the day tomorrow so went to a supermarket; but theydidn’t have as good selection as the one we used in Tallinn, so we found another supermarket which was marginally better.

Then it was dinner time so we ended up at an Irish pub before going back to our room and packing our bags. We went to bed about 10.45 after thinking a bit about what we would be doing in a couple of days.

We were both awake and showered before the alarm went off. We went to the same place for breakfast where i had the same but the croissants hadn’t arrived yet so Kaoru had the quiche. Back at our room we did our teeth, double checked we had everything, putthe key back in the key box and went across the road to wait for our 9.00 tour bus. There was a very light rain.

The bus was there. ..bus being a van that squeezes 8 passengers. We were 16 so filled2 cars.

Our first shift was about 2 hours driving. We got out and walked around the 6th largest city in Estonia. There were old castle ruins that we explored. After a good leg stretch it was back in the bus for another hour to lunch.

For lunch Kaoru had salmon and a sprite, while i had wild boar and a beer, and we shared an ice cheese cake.

5 minutes down the road we went to an old museum with war relics, including vehicles. Our driver briefed us a bit on the war of independence and on the history of the country. The museum was set in an old check point, as we were right on the Latvian border.

Back in the bus we had another long drive through the Latvian countryside and stoppedin the National park. We went for a walk down to the lake and then a short 1.5km walk around the old limestone cliffs. It was now really and warm.

Another 45 minutes or so took us to another town, called Cesis (?), which was famous for bombing it’s own fort so as not to lose it to Ivan the terrible. It was already 630 so we didn’t get to go inside but we found a toilet anyway (we had to pay €0.3 but once we did everybody else found it so we just left the door open between uses).

Back in the car for a bit longer, and we arrived at the point i was looking forward to -the bobsled park. This was a replica of the bobsled track used at the 1984 Olympics, built in 1986, so the Russians could train. Wecaught the lift to the top and were at the highest point in Latvia. We then walked down the bobsled track, slightly slower than people would be riding down.

At the bottom there was an old bobsled that we could sit in, so we all took turns with photos. Then it was back to our bus for the final 45km to Riga.

Once in Riga we said goodbye to everybody and walked to our accommodation. Kaoru had found a place very close to the drop off point which was also next door to an aussie backpackers. ..One place i will be staying away from! We checked in to our room and Kaoru did a load of washing while i found a place to eat. There were ear plugs on our bedside tables which was concerning.

It was less than a 10 minute walk and we passed plenty of suitable places but i had read a review on this place which looked good so we went there. It was a jazz craft beer hall. I ordered an IPA and got Kaoru a blackcurrant cider with Earl gray, which she enjoyed. I had some ribs for main.

After dinner we were both pretty tired so went to bed. It wasn’t loud so no need for theear plugs!

We woke around 8 and it was pretty quiet and warm. After a shower we went outside inthe almost empty street and walked to a place called caffeine for breakfast. I had some quiche and a chai latte and Kaoru had a choc filled choc coated croissant with a coffee.

After breakfast we went to the tourist information to buy a Tallinn card – €26 each for free entrance to a number of places. Now to try to get value for money!

After our teeth we followed a walking tour i found online (from the app Izi). We skipped the first point (will pick it up later) and the second (town hall-just near our hotel) hadn’topened. ..So on we went to point 3. We followed the walk as best we could-sometimes it was hard to read it off the map.We stopped at a number of places including…

-puppet museum
-wall walk
-nuns tower
-Epping tower

-kgb headquarters

We went to our room to get something warm as it was now going on 3 and we were about to leave the city. On the way we bought some pancakes (15, but they were bitesized) and some ice cream. After recharging we walked to the bank and saw an exhibition there, and then caught a tram to the skywheel. The map we followed said to catch a number 2 tram but enroute Kaoru found another which said number 2. So we got off where they branched and could see the wheel, so walked the rest of the way.

The wheel was on top of a shopping centre so we had a walk through there. We got 10%off with our Tallinn cards. At the top we were given a great view of the city and surrounding area including the airport and harbor.

We found a cafe in the shopping centre and had a beer, dumplings and soup. They also served some black bread. Kaoru asked if it was for dipping in the soup and the lady looked shocked. There was a tube of mustard which we put on the bread. All fantastic. I wasn’t hungry at first but the dumplings were great with the beer. We then went to the supermarket to get some snacks for tomorrow. Water here was 3 times what we paid yesterday so we didn’t get that, but we were able to get some pastries cheaply. We then caught the tram back to the old village.

On the walk back to the hotel we got to see the main gates (spot 1we bought a couple of waters and picked up some last sites. We dropped our bags back in the room and went out for dinner. Kaoru had found a restaurant which had good reviews so we went there. Because we didn’t have a reservation we couldn’t get a seat inside but there was one “walkup” table left so we took that. We ordered mushrooms for entrée, i ordered the elk for main and Kaoru got the white fish; with a sparkling rhubarb for Kaoru to drink and I had a bottle of cider. The meal was also served with some black bread.

I shouldn’t have had those dumplings! not being mega-hungry, plus being tired, and no normal food time for so long, made it really hard to eat. Somehow Kaoru managed to still have a blue cheesecake for dessert!

Back at our hotel we got our bags organized for the next day which meant packing as much as possible so as to not be too busy inthe morning. We set an alarm for 745 and were in bed by 10pm!

We woke up before the alarm. All of our washing was dry so we finished packing our bags and tidied up the apartment. We left our suitcases behind (and my laptop) and left with just a backpack and bag to cover a few days of clothes. We then went to Pipsas flat to return the keys, and were on our way. Our original plan was to have breakfast locally and return the keys but we changed our mind and did the keys first to get breakfast intown.

We caught the train and tram to get to the ferry terminal – very easy especially as Pipsahad installed the local transport app for me. Checkin hadn’t opened as we were more than 2 hours early. We wandered around for a bit and then used the self Checkin kiosk.

We went upstairs to the restaurant to grab some food and then just passed the time until boarding. It was quite smooth and took less than 20 minutes to get us all on – we actually departed a little early! We put our bag in the lock room so we didn’t have to carry it and had some food. We were feeling a bit sleepy so went for a walk around the ship.

Outside was quite breezy and cool, as well as smokey, so we went back indoors. There were several bars and entertainment areas around the ship.

We found some brochures for Tallinn, got a chai latte and planned how we would spend our time once we arrived. We pulled in to port at 2.00, right on time. We got off the ferry and made our way by foot to the old town where we were staying. There was no immigration which made the whole process much quicker than last time i did this trip in 2001.

With the help of Google maps we easily found Tallinn city apartments and luckily Kaoru remembered i had received an email with the access code – one for the front door and one for the key box. We took our bags up to the room and then left to make the most of the day.

We went across the road to the tourist information centre and worked out how to catch the bus to the Open Air Museum. We had to go to a kiosk to buy the bus ticket. Rather than paying €2 each way (the easy way) we decided to try the more challenging way of using the pass which is €1.10/hour or€3/day. And we were off.

We got off the bus one stop early. ..The name was the same but this stop had a suffix on it. So it took us a little longer to get there but the exercise was good. We payed to get in to the grounds and could then freelywalk around. Kaoru found a map (50c) whichhad a suggested route so we followed that. We got to look at old shacks and see a bit of farm life. The houses had people sitting out the front with varying levels of interaction with us. At one place the lady had some notes in japanese so she explained it to Kaoru and she had to explain to me! (What i hadn’t understood already).

We had some food and drink at a cafe to recharge us and continued our exploring. Wehad finished around 7 and caught the next bus back to the city.

We walked around the city to a couple of the sightseeing spots. Up high on the city wall we had magnificent views! For dinner we went to a themed restaurant from an old time tavern. I had a sausage and an ox rib, and a beer to wash it down.

After some more exploring Kaoru was hungry, so we went to a supermarket to get some food and some water for tomorrow. We got a rice meal which Kaoru fried up as we didn’t have a microwave in the room. It was delicious, for a cheap, easy meal.

We took our maps and went to find a bar to plan our tomorrow over a drink. We had planned to have an early night but by the time this was all done it was about midnight, so we went to bed and feel asleep pretty quickly. It was the darkest night we had experienced for some time now. Outside wasstill very lively with music from the restaurant across the road.

I was a bit rougher this morning. After eating breakfast i went back to bed.

Had some cheese for lunch. Kaoru, Bambi and i went for a walk to the b&b nearby. It used to be the milking shed, and had lots of old working equipment.

At around 5 we had my birthday lunch which was a whole salmon (which Ville fileted) and potatoes. Then pipsa brought out a birthday cake for me, which was traditional Finnish cake with banana in the middle and sour cream on top. Pipsa also gave me a mug as a present.

Tommy had a sleep to rest before the drive home. We just pottered around and eventually left about 7. With fingers crossed that there wouldn’t be a problem with the car!

We drove back on the old freeway as the speed limit is slower and we wouldn’t have to push the car as much. It also gave us different scenery than the way up. Luckily all was good and we were back at the flat around 830. First job was to do a load of washing. We then went to Pipsas flat and had some food (leftovers) and a chat before saying goodbye. We went back to our room to hang up washing and get ourselves organized for tomorrow. I booked us on the 1130 ferry to Estonia.

We needed a bit of a sleep in. We got up about 930 and had breakfast which was bread with salami, cheese and a garlic cream cheese. Followed by blueberries and yogurt.

Lots of talking.

Kaoru, Ville and Bambi went to shops for sausages which were cooked on the bbq.

A few beers.

I took the atv for a spin. Much easier without a passenger.

Passed the day. Really hard to know when the evening starts without the sun setting.

First sauna was short (5 minutes and i needed a break). Each time was longer though, usually with a swim in the break.

Eventually turned midnight and we were in the water. ..even Kaoru! Beautiful red sky reflecting in the water.

Went to bed about 2. It just never got dark.

Woke up early. Had a shower and went for a walk for breakfast about 8. The place we wanted to eat at didn’t open until 9 though so we went to a convenience store at the station and bought a panini, a sandwich, a bottle of juice and a “double ginger shot” drink. We ate at a table in the store.

Did our teeth and then went to Pipsas flat. She and Ville left last night for the farm and Tommy was driving Bambi and i up today. We decided we would leave in an hour or so, so Kaoru and i went for another walk and drink at a cafe. We went to the shops for some drinks and bumped in to Bambi shopping.

Once we packed the car we left about 11. Kaoru and Bambi feel asleep pretty quickly. icouldn’t last long either so got 20 minutes sleep in. We arrived at the farm just after 12, and I was promptly presented with a beer.

Pipsa gave us a tour of the farm house, and it was getting warm so we had a bite to eat and then a swim. The water was 25 degrees so it was lovely for cooling down.

We had a few more drinks and passed the time. Ville had to change the engine on the back hoe so i hung around and supervised while Kaoru helped pipsa with cooking dinner.

We went back to the house and opened the bottle of sake that i brought. Nobody had tried it before so a good experience.

I took the ATV for a ride with Ville on the back telling me where to go. Then i got on the back with him driving which was about 3 times the speed. Got the heart going!
As the sun started to go behind the house it started to cool down.

We had dinner which was amazing. Salmon, mini potatoes and salad.

We spent some time at the water and then Kaoru and i had a laydown. We wanted to make it to midnight so needed a recharge. Then i moved on to bourbon. We passed the time with a sauna, which i could barely last 5minutes in. Then back to the lake but i had cooled down already so didn’t need a swim.

Another sauna to warm up and i did then go in the water. ..i checked my watch and it was1159 and still very bright. The water was warm.

Back at the house i got my laptop out and showed some photos of our Simpson desert trip. I then spoke to mum and dad as they had just woken up, and we went to bed about 130.

We woke up about 8 so on a good time zone.
Shower and went next door for breakfast. Then Bambi came with us for the day as she is on school holidays (she is 11)

First place was tourist information centre. It took us an hour or so to get there walking past beautiful buildings. We detoured past a market. It was a perfect day.

After collecting some brochures we went for a drink and thought about what to do for the day.

Walked down to the skywheel. We stopped atthe market on the way and had some lunch which included the small fish. Then we did the touristy “flight” over Finland (4d cinema) and skywheel. Fantastic views.

We had a look in an old church with an amazing chandelier.

Walked along the water edge for a while stopping for ice cream.

Went to Japanese supermarket.

Caught the train back to the house as Bambi couldn’t walk any further.

Kaoru taught pipsa how to make sushi.

Couple of beers.

Went back to our room and went to bed

Went to airport Tuesday night. Driver missed turn on to west gate bridge.
Check in quick
Drink and got on plane
Flight to Tokyo. Watched a movie or 2 and tried to sleep
Transfer to next flight took over an hour. Quick shop and straight on to next flight
Just under 10 hours to Helsinki
Caught bus to suonienen. Pipsa and Bambi
met us at bus stop.
Went to her ex’s house and dropped bags.
Went to her house next door
Champagne and chat.
Ville got home. Not much english. Went out to fix car.
Chat for a while.
Went to a bar for a drink
Shops to buy Some dinner
Went to bed 11.00pm to get on local time Zone

This will be our first serious trip together that isn’t Japan. Our plan is Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, before going to London and wrapping up in Tokyo.

Packing clothes is not easy. What weather are we going to encounter? Tokyo will be hot (but I’m only there for 1 day). Helsinki could be hot or cold. London the same. Baltic region should be hot.

So I’ve wrapped up from work (just taking care of important stuff that pops up), and waiting for dinner time.

Then off to boys night before the airport.