Our time in Lithuania and Latvia is short due to our deadline of meeting HiG in Tallinn on Tuesday (though according to a Japanese woman I met in reception at our hostel in Riga, 10 days is way too short for Japan and way too long for Riga - she's been here for 3 years teaching, so perhaps she needs a break).Our original two days in Vilnius was extended to three due to a night spent imbibing Vana Tallinn (or Estonian Gutrot as we've since christened it). Our two other days were spent wandering about the Vilnius Old Town (vainly searching for the Frank Zappa statue) and on a day trip to Trakai to see the castle.
The trip took about 20 minutes from Vilnius by bus to arrive at the touristy village. After leaving the bus stop it wasn't at first evident which way to go, but we followed our noses and soon worked out that we were on the right trail. A bit of cross country walking through the snow and next thing we knew we were walking across the frozen lake to the castle itself. Banz later remarked that it was a great idea to build this castle on an island in the middle of the lake - for six months of the year it would be damn hard to get to.... the other six you would have to be careful that you didn't slip over as you rolled your cannons, trebuchets and other heavy armaments from Age of Empires over the ice.
Yesterday was our time for our first bus trip of The Big Trip Part II. I really don't like buses but unfortunately in the Baltics you don't have much choice. When you weigh up a fifteen hour/several change train journey against a four and a bit hour direct bus there isn't really a question. We haven't exactly been blown away by Riga (despite a fantastic curry last night - not exactly a selling point for Riga itself). I guess we're not going to be able to judge tonight when in true Aussie/English abroad style we're going to an Irish Pub to watch an injury-ravaged Boro side play Bolton. A good result might just put a nice shine on our time in Riga, a bad one may lead to an early departure for Tallinn.
Some New Gallery Updates Below
Warsaw
Gdansk and Malbork
Lithuania
