Lithawhere?

The past 8 days have taken us through 6 counties and 5 currencies. We've been checking out the Baltics for the past week. Dumplings, walled cities, lakes, smurf churches and a large portion of the populace wearing 'track suits' in their everyday lives. These countries seemed to have shaken that soviet hangover and are all doing great. Their economies are on fire and the people are kind...but a little more reserved than Western europeans. They may just be acting humbly because they have a surplus of sweaters with vests stitched directly onto them. Who knows.

We started in Lithuania, then visited Latvia and finally Estonia. They go gangbusters over hoops in Lithuania and many of their people think they have a shot at the gold in Beijing... We'll see.

We spent a few days canoeing in a small national park in central Estonia, leaving a few pints of blood behind to a barage of mosquitoes. This was a great experience for us though...we stayed on a farm in the country side and saw some beautiful country by river. Estonia's capital, Tallin was outstanding as well.

The food here was interesting. New inductees into the New/Odd Food Hall of Fame are smoked pig ears, deep fried bread and Zepellins...which are deep fried starch footballs with a sausage entombed in the center. We also found the best chocolate we've had on the trip....dark chocolate with blue cheese in the middle.

Tallin, Estonia

Tallin, Estonia

Farmstead, Estonia

Flooded campsite, Estonia

Canoeing upstream in Estonia

Sunset at Soomaa NP in Estonia

Lithuania

Hill of Crosses, Lithuania


Tallin, Estonia

Lithuania



We are in moscow now and boarding the Trans-Siberian railway tomorrow to get to Mongolia. We hope you are all having a great and adventurous summer...more soon..