Well, I am certainly glad I chose to stop by this city, I already fell in love with it. I don’t think it will be the last time I visit this place, everything I love about Eastern Europe is right here.

Just a few thoughts, this country only has a couple of million people. It’s quite a crazy thought! Seems to be a good mixture of Russians and Latvians here with the Russian women fairly noticeable about town, its like the idea of a sexy western woman gone horribly wrong but I guess it works for them!

I hung out with my host who is friendly enough but when his friend joined us he was a bit concerned about his English, well being in Latvia, what job do you think this girl had? I don’t know if you are familiar with those online video casinos with the women welcoming guests to the virtual game in a rather fetching outfit and dealing cards or spinning roulette tables” but if you are, you will know that 90% of the time they feature an Eastern European! Well now I have met one in real life, I am very happy to cross it off my list.

Onions – Not quite figured this one out yet but the country seems divided on this one. About half the population HATES onions, not managed to trace the origin of this one yet.

Birch tree Juice – Think council pop only filtered through a tree. Actually this home made drink is probably the freshest tasting water I have had in my life and a tiny bit sweet. Apparently good for hangovers. Tap a birch tree, collect the juice.  Job done.

Big lumps of ice floating down the river and you have everything you could possibly need from a city. Sold!

View at Picasa 14-Apr-2013 15:40, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.063 sec, ISO 640	View at Picasa 15-Apr-2013 16:06, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 64	View at Picasa 15-Apr-2013 16:07, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 64
View at Picasa 15-Apr-2013 16:08, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 64	View at Picasa 16-Apr-2013 11:41, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 64	View at Picasa 14-Apr-2013 15:32, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.063 sec, ISO 320

Think I will get myself back to Poland as my wonderful toe op is coming back to haunt  me.

Saturday night in Tallinn was surprisingly civilised, Bryan has some couch surfers staying who happen to be American and just live life booking gigs in various cities around the world. Sounds nice!

View at Picasa 06-Apr-2013 22:40, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.063 sec, ISO 800

The venue was right in the old town and pretty nice actually. After watching Brian Smith / Biological Lovers (Nice) I was able to enjoy the streets of Tallinn which on a Saturday have a closer resemblance to English cities than anywhere I have previously visited in Eastern Europe. A good amount of heavily intoxicated blokes screaming and falling over combined with women wearing far too little in temperatures cold enough to freeze the sea!

Well, the verdict on Tallinn, I like the place its typical Eastern Europe but with a hint of the Nordic. They don’t believe in conventional European witchcraft like Catholicism or Christianity and have the lowest rates of religious folk for many a mile. They have however replaced religious superstitions with a series of other pagan superstitions.

• If you put the bread upside down, its  disrespectful for the bread
• If you slice bread and the sliced side faces the door, your family will go hungry
• If you put your wallet on the floor you will be poor

And a million others.

I’m going to give Tallinn/Estonia a Stare Rating – 8 out of 10 (Very high for a white man visiting a white European destination)

Oh yea and after hearing about the free transport in this place (for residents) I took advantage… until I got yanked out a bus and fined by this lovely woman. I have 15 days to go to a bank and pay my fine…. what happens after that is anyone’s guess but I sure as heck won’t be paying!

View at Picasa 30-Mar-2013 15:17, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 64	View at Picasa 30-Mar-2013 15:30, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 64	View at Picasa 30-Mar-2013 15:31, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 64
View at Picasa 30-Mar-2013 15:37, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 100	View at Picasa 30-Mar-2013 17:33, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 64	View at Picasa 30-Mar-2013 17:36, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 64
View at Picasa 31-Mar-2013 12:02, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 64	View at Picasa 31-Mar-2013 13:48, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 64	View at Picasa 31-Mar-2013 15:20, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 64
View at Picasa 31-Mar-2013 20:00, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.063 sec, ISO 640	View at Picasa 01-Apr-2013 10:38, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.031 sec, ISO 125	View at Picasa 30-Mar-2013 10:21, Sony Ericsson SK17i, 2.6, 3.5mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 80

View at Picasa This is the holiest of hors d'oeuvres - a pierogi with the image of Christ burned on. According to its owner, Donna Lee, the apparition appeared on the appetizer as she cooked her dinner on Palm Sunday. "I was frying pierogis, when I turned this one over the face of the Lord was fried into it," she said.<P><B>Ref: EMLA 100805 C </B><P><B>Splash News and Pictures</B><br>Los Angeles:310-821-2666<br>New York:212-619-2666<br>London:207-107-2666<br>photodesk@splashnews.com

I hope you have all enjoyed this Jubilee jive back home, any excuse for a celebration right? We are all united and having a good time? Well, that’s wonderful and if I was there I am sure I would annoy people with my anti-monarchy sarcasm.

But on a very serious note – what is the point in the monarchy. If anyone says it helps tourism, they will feel the back of my hand. Equally any arguments which don’t accept the many countries without a monarchy which are arguably “running better” than ours. In terms of the economy and community etc.

No, I am not getting political, its just another one of those “things” that I don’t get.

Would be nice if the whole country/world could get so excited about contributing to a genuinely good cause… instead of buying crappy flags and hats to celebrate that old woman who likes dogs and waving.

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