Recap...

Helsinki.
Pretty nice city actually. Still the only one I've been able to skate in actually, and I'm almost done with my trip! The open market was pretty good, even if the crafts bit was absolutely geared towards tourists. Got caught in service when I was visiting a church built into rocks, with this massive copper dome. Fairly amazing architecturally, and the service was almost alright anyway- I think not being able to understand Finnish, and just listening to the cadence of their melodic language makes church much more tolerable. I still left after the first break. Just a wander around the city, mostly.
I think maybe I enjoyed Helsinki more than the other Scandinavian places because the weather was better and the prices were cheaper. But then, I disliked Riga (next stop), which was cheap and sunny....

Country 6: Riga, Latvia
My first memory of Latvia is actually not from being in Latvia, but from being in Berkeley for a MUN conference. It was quite funny because the school representing Latvia hadn't done proper research, and decided to play it up and be the class clown about it. And then voting time came, and they decided to play devil's advocate and vote for us to go into voting bloc. It was amusing, but that might have been only because we'd had 3 days of conference already, and by then even the stupidest jokes are funny. And then again, it was amusing because we didn't actually end up going into voting bloc, at which point perhaps we would have murdered them.
Anyway, now I've been there. And now I can report: People there = not nice!
Now, understand that my bag is quite heavy, and quite large. It's probably about 1/2 my size and weight. So you figure, alright, if you're going to charge extra on the bus into the city, maybe you charge half the price. Or at worst, the same price. Nope. It costed two of me! Not that it was a huge amount to begin with, but being ripped off is never amusing. It's not even like they helped me carry it or anything. Harrumph!
Better yet, I booked into a hostel, where they ran out of room. Just plain ran out despite booking! So they said, oh, no problem, we'll walk you to this other hostel, it's not far, promise. 20 minutes later with a 24kg bag on my back- and mind, Riga isn't that large at all, but this is across the city, hardly 'not far' - we arrive at the hostel. That doesn't have a kitchen, isn't as close to center, and has more beds per room for the same price. Mrr. Pride and a resistance to being ripped off pushed me to shoulder up and keep looking. I think I saw about half of the entire city with my bag on my shoulder actually.
Finally found a decent one, about 4 weary, backbreaking hours from when I landed, with no help from any of the places I stopped into. Huzzuh!
And tale number 3 of why I didn't like Riga: while I was trying to exchange money, I mistook the selling rate for the buying rate, of course not realizing it until they handed me the money. Nearly highway robbery too, in fact! And she just wouldn't give me my money back, until after about 5 minutes of arguing with her I shoved the exchange back at her, and she threw my money back at me in a huff. My mistake, yes, but one realized before I had actually agreed to the exchange!
It seemed to be the general attitude of the city, fairly Soviet in their way of thinking about foreigners I guess. The city itself, minus the people, was quite nice though. As long as I didn't really have to deal with anyone, it was pretty peaceful.







Doesn't that sound shitty? But it's true. And always, it's the people that make the experience worth it - or not, in this case. But you can ignore all that in photos, so maybe that is why I took so many there.

And then my first bus ride on this trip. I would have opted for almost anything other than a bus, but there really weren't any other options beyond massively more expensive flights!

Country 7: Vilnius, Lithuania.
Good weather actually follwed me here too, in fact its still with me. But here, the people were really friendly and easy going about everything! I got to my hostel, and they settled me in my sparse (other than the billiards table!), but very spacious room, and didn't even ask about payment. Also, while they could have crammed everyone who was staying there together into one room to cut down on cleaning, I ended up in the room by myself. Though even if I hadn't been, 4 beds in a roughly 20'x20' room is a far cry from Western European hostels, where would easily be about 20 bunkbeds.
Met my first USC alum this trip as well. I was never very school prideful or anything, but its still a common ground, and you latch onto anything when you meet a fellow traveller. Even a common language is enough sometimes.
But it was fun. We were able to chat about things like Chanos or Bovard, and not have to explain exactly what we meant.

Also, did you know, Lithuanians apparently LOVE Zappa. There is a tiny little park, not even on the tourist trail, that has a bust and mural of Frank Zappa!




Country 8: Poland
2nd bus trip, oh what a shit ride! An 8 hour sleepless night on an uncomfortable bus later, I landed in Warsaw. I might take this moment to note also, that we crossed the border about half way through our journey, at about 1am, which was just about when I started to drift off. Normally I prefer trains, but in the Baltics, that's imposible. They simply don't run. So - bus to Warsaw... which, I think, was a mistake- I should have taken the bus straight to Krakow instead.
I only stayed in Warsaw long enough to find out a) no one would break a 10zl bill (I tried for about 40 minutes) for me so I could use the luggage lockers and subsequently b) to figure out the quickest way out of there. Which unfortunately was either by bus in an hour, by train in 4 hours, or double the price in an hour. So another bus ride it was! 5 more hours and a lovely thunderstorm later: Krakow!
Another city I did quite a bit of walking with a backpack on my shoulders. But then, this time it was my fault for not having booked.
Settled down into quite a nice hostel actually. They were also really lax about payment - "oh don't worry, you can pay it when you leave." Pretty amazing, the amount of trust they have in random strangers. All the staff was really friendly, there was free laundry!, they organized tours to Auschwitz-Birkenau as well as the salt mines, and they were really cheap at less than $10 a night!
And the city! There's this sense of living history there, and bits of green park all over the place filled with friendly people. The sights are amazing, but I'd also be just as content to sit at a cafe all day long and peoplewatch...