bnlmos

Dear Friends and Family,

Four hours from Vilnius, Lithuania by bus, Riga, the capital of Latvia, sits on a wide river, the River Daugava. The river flows through Russia and Latvia, then into the Baltic Sea, making Riga an important trading center. Riga is a UNESCO world heritage site city that was founded by the Germans more than 800 years ago. It has a rich and rather dark history of occupation, similar to Poland, Latvia, and Estonia. As we mentioned in an earlier post, these countries were first occupied by the Soviets, then the Nazis, and then again by the Soviets. Even with their histories of occupation, 2018 is being widely celebrated as their centennial year of independence. Today Latvia is 52% Latvian, 38% Russian, and 10% “other,” mostly Germans and Swedes. One-third of Riga was destroyed by the Nazis during WWII. Then the Soviets began re-building. Consequently, the architecture is an interesting mix of German, Russian, and Neo-Renaissance. The expansive Old Town blends easily into the busy modern downtown.

Our Old Town Doma Plaza hostel room was on the 5th floor, 97 steps up, with no elevator. The inside leaves a lot to be desired, but the building façade is beautiful. The hostel is right in the heart of Old Town, with an upscale bar/restaurant on the cobblestone street below. With its tiny kitchen, shared bathrooms, and odd residents, the place was really funky, but very friendly. We heard great live singers/guitarists from our dining area five floors up above. Outdoor cafes, bars, souvenir shops, and clothing stores line the streets. It was very touristy, but loads of fun.

We were in Riga for three days. One day, we took an informative free (+tip) walking tour through old town. Afterwards, we wandered around a huge central market that is housed in five arched buildings and spills out into the alleyways in-between, as well. One building contained every kind of fish, including the famous “Riga gold sprats.” These are like sardines, but golden colored. Another had every cut of meat imaginable. There was a building for cheeses, nuts, and dried fruit, and another for produce. Bruce sampled smoked salmon and also sauerkraut, while Linda enjoyed raspberries and delicious European coffee. We both found the cheesecake raisin danish irresistible!

Another day, we strolled across the River Daugava to the National Library. It is in a building that looks like a mountain. It was designed by Gunnar Birkerts, a Latvian-American architect. We also visited the KGB building, known as “the corner house. This is where the Russian KGB, aka. “Cheka,” imprisoned, interrogated, and executed enemies of the state. They beat and tortured prisoners so badly. Of the approximately 48,000 people who entered the building, only about 10% survived. Our guided tour was bone-chilling and left us feeling fearful as we exited. We bought a booklet about the museum and its history. Our wonderful guide told us the museum is being shut down this month because Russia is applying pressure. When we go to St Petersburg, we’ve decided not to take our KGB book with us. We’ll leave it at our hostel in Helsinki.

On our third day in Riga, we walked across a different bridge, and happened upon a Latvian Food Festival! Half of the exhibits were local and half were international. We sampled local meats, cheeses, coffee, teas, wines, bread, dried fruit and more. We each received 4 chips to award to the best food stations we found. At the end of the festival, the vendor with the most chips goes to an international food festival. We spent most of our time sampling local cuisine. It was a blast! We also sampled international foods.“Handsome Henri” from Portugal served us delicious coffee. He seemed smitten with Linda and invited us to dinner when we come to Portugal. We all said goodbye with handshakes and double-cheek kisses. Bruce has his business card, which he would like to toss, but Linda is trip-planning!😜 (jk). It was a really busy, fun filled 3 days in Riga!

We are a bit behind on our blog so will close for now.

Love n hugs, BnL

Dear Friends and Family,

On Saturday, we took the bus 8 hours from Warsaw to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The clock moved forward another hour too, so we are now 10 hours ahead of you. The bus didn’t stop for food, so we were hungry. We quickly dropped our packs at our Old Town B&B and headed out for a bite to eat . We were shocked to find ourselves in the middle of 8-10 thousand people attending a giant free rock fest they hold annually on the September 1st weekend, the “Vilnius City Fiesta”,kicking off the Vilnius University school year. University education is nearly free here..3000 euros a year, and the streets were swarming with young men and women, drinking and dancing to the loudest bands we’ve ever heard. What a backdrop to the street food we hungrily gobbled up. There were long lines, but they weren’t for food. Everyone was buying beer. Vilnius has had to discourage drinking by limiting evening purchase times. Sunday night was another Rock Fest and finally, on Monday, students went to class.

Our B&B was delightfully quiet after all that rocking out. On Sunday, we walked to a street market where they sold hemp infused food and drinks, veggies, sausages, and smoked fish. Smoking high THC weed here is punishable by 2 years in prison, but the purely CBD edible version is quite legal. It produces no high.

Linda was too tummy sick to go on a walking tour, so Bruce attended alone and learned a lot about Lithuanian history. This is a very old, well preserved town and country that Hitler didn’t manage to destroy. It had one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe, in fact, Vilnius was named after a Jewish man, and has always had a reputation for tolerance. Vilnius has 40 churches, some Catholic and many Greek Orthodox, but it was a Pagan stronghold for many centuries. The tour guide quipped that the #2 religion here is actually Basketball. Lithuanians are exceptionally tall and they love the game.

There is a self-proclaimed country within Vilnius called Uzupis. It’s actually an artist colony of around 10,000 people. They have their own constitution, prime minister, and mayor. Their artistic statement is a hand with a large hole in the palm. It symbolizes their belief that art cannot be stopped, it will find a way to be expressed! They brought in eleven retired grand pianos and have them scattered around “to die amidst artists.” A sign post shows the way to other artistic outposts in Europe.

The food was good here. We especially enjoyed the blyneliai su varsky, a dessert kind of like blintzes. They are light pancakes stacked with cottage cheese between the layers, topped with a tangy red fruit sauce and drizzled with thin sour cream, then sprinkled with powdered sugar. Mmmm! We made our own omelettes in the mornings in our cute little kitchenette. Our bungalow was built between the 16th and 17th centuries and was really comfortable. We had a kitchen/living room downstairs and a loft bedroom above. We’re on our way to Riga, Latvia where we’ll be staying at a hostel.

Will post again soon!

Love n hugs,

BnL

Dear Friends and Family,

Dzien Dobry! (“Good day”)

Varshava (That’s “Warsaw” in Polish,) is the capital of Poland and has a population of 1.7 million.

As you can imagine, Polish is not easy to learn. Fortunately, we were always able to find someone who spoke enough English to help us out with directions, etc. People were pretty friendly. So far we can only say thank you, good day, yes, no, excuse me and toilet, in Polish. The time is indicated in a different way than Bruce expected. He paid for the 2am train to Warsaw, when he meant to book the 2 pm (14:00) train. Consequently, we got to the station twelve hours too late and had to fork over $70 for new tickets. We arrived at Warsaw Central Station in no time on a spiffy Express train. Warsaw Main Station is next to a giant plaza and modern mall where we ate in unique food court venues and enjoyed seeing Mission Impossible and Mama MIA in style, with Polish subtitles.

The Nazis completely leveled Warsaw. Consequently, Old Town here is a kind of plastic replica. It was completely reconstructed, including the Royal Palace, churches, etc. They were fortunate to have detailed paintings of Warsaw by Bernardo Bellotto Canalotto. We took the free walking tour around old town and learned a lot, but it felt like we were walking through a Hollywood movie set, especially after having been in Gdańsk, where so many of the buildings are original.

Chopin spent the first half of his life in Warsaw, studying, composing, and performing music. We bought tickets for a Chopin Festival concert and were disappointed that the performance we attended wasn’t even Chopin, just a contemporary. It was still very enjoyable. There are benches around the city that actually play Chopin when you push a button! We found two of them, one at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and one near the Presidential Palace.

They honor Seniors here in Warsaw with reduced tickets and free transport (over 70 yrs. old) Nice! They have a great system of trams and buses. Our hotel, part of a Polish chain, the Metropol, was terrific, with a great buffet breakfast and ideal soundproof rooms. We had a nice view of a large round-about below from which we observed the amazing synchronization of buses, cars, trams, etc., at a major intersection. Pedestrians walk underground to cross at these big intersections. You can easily get turned around down there if you aren’t paying attention, or start window-shopping at the little underground shops and stalls along the way!

We really enjoyed walking Warsaw’s Royal Way on the way to Old Town. We agree with Rick Steves that the History of the Jews (Polin) Museum is one of the best museums anywhere. The displays include film, sound, and visuals of Jewish life in Europe from early times to the present. Polish Jews are trying to revitalize their culture in Krakow, but what once was a rich Polish Jewish culture has now been scattered throughout the world. Of the six million Jews that died during the Holocaust, three million of them were Polish. There are a few buildings in Warsaw that weren’t completely blown up, just partially, and you can see the pock marks from bullets in the original portions of them.

On April 10, 2010, a plane carrying the Polish President, his wife, and most of his cabinet crashed on the way to Russia and killed everyone. We learned that the loss enabled the opposing party to take control of the Polish government. Of course there are a lot of conspiracy theories surrounding this tragedy. We visited a memorial to the victims. It is a solid granite staircase leading to heaven, but some have protested bitterly that it symbolizes the climb to power of the opposing party. *sigh*

All in all, we had fun in this big, modern city. We’re looking forward to another country tomorrow. Lithuania awaits!

Hope you are well. Love n hugs,

BnL

Dear Friends and Family,
Last night we returned around 9pm to our lovely, boutique hotel in Gdańsk, Poland, intending to play cards on the front terrace. Instead, we found ourselves dancing briefly “Cheek to Cheek” to a whispery rendition of this jazz standard, played and sung by 2 young ladies on the street, right outside our doorstep. Gdansk Old Town is just like that, very romantic, especially along the water-front. Vivaldi, played by a violin trio echoed under a 500 year old archway near the Motlawa River. Two guitarists sang in sweet harmony, as they gently picked out the notes of “Hallelujah” in front of a quiet candlelit bar. An accordion/guitar duo tugged at our heart-strings with “O Solo Mio” a block or so further down river. Old Town Gdańsk has narrow cobblestone pedestrian streets. The “Royal Rd.” is crowded with throngs of tourists. We climbed the medieval Town Hall tower for an aerial view. The bells of nearby St. Mary’s Basilica ring out the hour and sometimes play a tune. Canals flowing into the Baltic Sea are lined with outdoor cafes, coffee shops and bars. It’s a romantic getaway, a place to marry/honeymoon, with lots of mellow music everywhere. Gotyk House, our hotel, is the oldest remaining house (A.D. 1451). Nicolas Copernicus, first to prove the earth revolves around the sun, is rumored to have had an affair with his young niece here, in 1541. This was one of the few historic buildings left intact after WWII, when 90% of Gdańsk was destroyed. Though much of the city was re-built, there is still a lot of construction going on.

It was a rough trip getting here from Berlin. When we arrived at Berlin Hbf train station, after just 2hrs of sleep, we learned our 6:30 am train had been cancelled. The next train, at 9:37, left us with no seat reservation for our 2nd train from Posnan to Gdansk. They don’t accept euros once you cross the border, and we had no Polish Zloty to purchase food for the 6 hr trip. Starved, but happy with the magical look of Old Town Gdansk, Bruce consumed 2 dinners after changing our money. The food is strange to us, the menus confusing, even with English translation. Flaki zupy was translated as “guts soup.” It was, in fact, tripe soup. We’ve seen lots of lumpy mashed potatoes, bizarre cabbage meatballs, goulash, beet and cabbage salads, and chicken schnitzel. We’ve also had great fish dishes. Most foods and attraction fees are half the price of those in Berlin. We eat mostly at milk bars. A milk bar is an a la carte cafeteria. Tap water/ice is not available. People are reserved here, but not unfriendly, just abrupt, with limited English speaking skills. Rick Steves referred to them as “pensive Poles.”

Gdańsk has 2 great museums, one on WWll and the other on the Solidarity movement. We spent several hours at each one. We shed tears at the WWII museum, and felt consumed by darkness. Near the end of the exhibition, we walked through a room with ceiling to floor photographs of Holocaust victims. The first shots of WWll were fired in Gdańsk. The Nazis devastated Poland, exterminating millions of Jews, Poles, and others. Then Russia took over, but the oppression didn’t end.

The Soviet rule lasted about 40 years and was terrible for the people of Poland. The story of Poland’s eventual democracy is quite uplifting and was well presented at the Solidarity Museum. Following Hitler’s defeat, the Soviet Union repressed all forms of free speech in the Eastern Block countries, murdering and starving the population, denying worker’s rights to form unions and demands for decent working conditions. Over a period of 40 years, Poland was ruled with an iron fist. Gdańsk is famous for its 17,000 worker shipyard which spawned the Solidarity trade union movement that led to the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1981, the shipyard workers of Gdańsk, led by Lech Walesa, won the right to form a union. After only one year, that right was suddenly rescinded, and the 10 million member strong Solidarity union was attacked. Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and Pope Paul ll also gave his support. Finally, in 1989, after many violent street demonstrations, the Soviets, under Gorbachev’s Perestroika, gave Poland the right to form a democratic government. One by one, the rest of the Eastern Block countries followed suit, and now, thanks to Walesa and the Solidarity movement, Russian Communism no longer dominates these democracies.

We went to the Maritime Culture Center and enjoyed learning about ship-building and drilling platforms. Bruce hopped into a virtual suit and had an inter-active first-hand ship builders experience! There were boats from all over the world on display. It was all housed in a six story glass building overlooking the river. We enjoyed a delicious dinner in the roof-top restaurant.

We took two day trips by train out of the city to beaches near Gdansk. Our favorite beach was Sobieszewska where the locals go. After a long walk in the sand, looking for Baltic amber, we hurried into a great fish restaurant, just avoiding a major rain downpour. The other day we spent in Sopot, dubbed the Polish Riviera, and not all that appealing. To us, the niftiest thing about Sopot was the Gaudi inspired “Crooked House,” and it was disappointingly filled with high-end shops and eateries. The Baltic was surprisingly calm. The water was not very cold, and the beaches were uncrowded and clean. Though we didn’t find amber along the beach, we found plenty at souvenir stands. We also went to the Amber Museum. Surprisingly, it was housed in a 5 story former prison tower, with torture chambers! Amber is 40 M yr-old petrified tree-sap. One piece even contained an ancient lizard! There was gorgeous amber furniture, art, jewelry, etc. We had no idea we would encounter the torture chambers on our way back down the winding passages and staircases. Tape recorded wailing voices added to the ambiance, as we scurried down past cells and staged scenes with ancient torture equipment.

On the last evening of our visit to Gdansk, we attended a 50 piece orchestra performance of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra. It was wonderful! Their great repertoire ranged from traditional Bach to some very modern jazz, featuring an amazing violinist, Alexander Pavarotsky. Together with his two adult children, they formed the Pavarotsky Trio. We later learned he was Russian born and trained, and is now living and working in Israel.

Tomorrow we leave by train for the big city, Warsaw, the capital of Poland. We hope you are all well and that the fires in CA are under control.

Love n hugs,
BnL

Guten tag, dear Friends and Family!

We flew 10 hrs to Amsterdam, had a one hr layover, then changed planes for a 1 hr flight into the German capital, Berlin. We finally arrived via U Bahn, (the subway), and S Bahn, (a tram), at the Circus hostel on Rosenthaller Platz, where we are 9 hrs ahead of you in California. The U/S Bahn network is vast and felt quite confusing at first, especially with our jet lag, but it is the #1 form of Berlin transport, with bicycles coming in a close 2nd. Though a short ride ticket is only €1.70, some take a chance and ride for free, since ticket purchase is not closely monitored. Today we saw one guy get caught and read that the fine is €60, proving once again, crime doesn’t pay. Our 6th floor room at the hostel had a balcony overlooking throngs of passers by, beer and food cafes, and busy tram, bike and car traffic. It’s very colorful, but noisy all night with young beer drinkers. They kept Bruce up most of the 2 nights before we could switch to a quieter, but still noisy 1st floor room. Beer (bier) is quite popular here. In fact, it’s common to see people walking around with a beer at any/all hours of the day. We received three welcome drinks apiece upon arrival. Prost! (Cheers!) The hostel, with a great buffet bkfst, a nice café, a bar, several comfortable areas in which to relax, and a fantastic shower, is like a 4 star hotel. It’s in a fabulous location from which to see the sights! In spite of the noise, we’re happy with this choice.

The outdoor cafes near the hostel are filled with happy party goers. The neighboring Weinberg park is filled every evening with young families and couples on blankets, relaxing and drinking. There are long lines for gelato each evening, just like you find in Italy. We took an informative free(+tip) walking tour that included a section of the iconic Berlin Wall, Hitler’s bunker, Museum Island, the Reichstag, (parliament ) and Brandenburg Gate. We spent a few sobering minutes walking around the “Memorial for Murdered Jews of Europe.” At the Reichstag plaza, in Tiergarten Park, (hunting grounds of yesteryear), Bruce asked if Hitler held his rallies there, slightly raising his hand to gesture. Our guide warned him that a group of tourists were recently arrested for posing for a photo all doing the “Sig-Heil.” Pretty dumb and insensitive! Hitler, the Nazis, and the millions murdered during WWII are a sensitive issue here. After our tour, we spent a couple of hours at a nearby museum, “Topography of Terror. The exhibit included all of the countries and the people who were murdered during WWII. There are over 170 museums here, numerous memorials, the gorgeous New Synagogue, and several beautiful churches. Our favorite was the massive Dom Cathedral on the Spree River.

We spent several hours at the German History Museum. It gave us an excellent account of the history of Germany through 1990. Germany’s economy was destroyed by WW1 and The Great Depression. It enabled Hitler’s rise to power, the Nazi war machine, and the murder of millions of innocent people, including Jews, Gypsies, gays, the disabled, Jehovah’s Witness, Poles, Czechs, Russians and others. We hoped to get the Jewish perspective on the Holocaust at The Jewish Museum of Berlin. We were disappointed that their historical floors are all closed for remodeling until next year. Instead, they had a presentation on Jerusalem, art exhibits, and stories about Jews fleeing Germany for other countries. The building was designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind and was unique, unsettling, and perfect for it’s purpose. It’s frightening to realize that Nazi Germany was capable of such horrific genocide. Modern Germany, at least Berlin, appears to be quite accepting of people of all cultures.

There are numerous memorials around the city dedicated to the many groups of victims of WWII. Today we happened across one stirring memorial for 500,000 Gypsies, who, like Jews, were forced to wear identifying armbands. Theirs had a “Z” on them, signifying the German word for gypsy. Gypsies included several ethnic groups, mostly Sinti and Roma, and were euthanized and thrown into ovens as part of Hitlers’ genetic cleansing campaign.

Berlin is still recovering from bombing during WWII. Eighty percent of it was destroyed. Much of the infrastructure is broken down and/or under construction, and many buildings and roads are lined with ugly graffiti. There is a lot of interesting street-art. Though it’s sometimes hopeful, it’s mostly dark and brooding. The people of Berlin were devastated by both world wars. The 11.5’ high Berlin Wall, in place for nearly thirty years, divided families and friends and left a deep scar. After Germany lost WWII, control of the country was divided. Communist Russia controlled East Germany, while West Germany had a Democratic government. The dividing line was the Iron Curtain. All of Berlin was located in what was then East Germany, but a portion of the city belonged to West Germany! West Berlin flourished under Democracy. Passports and immigration documents were only a two-hour process. People flocked into West Berlin. To prevent the outpouring, Russia built the Berlin Wall in 1961. It was not taken down until 1989. There is a double strip of inlaid stones running all through the city like a scar, where the Wall used to be. There are white crosses along the Spree River that runs through Berlin, marking places people were shot and killed trying to cross the wall. Three sections of the Wall remain today and are protected as a national monument. The longest piece is covered with graffiti and murals. Another stretch has been left as it was, an ugly, gray cement barrier.

Inlaid brass squares on sidewalks are engraved with the names of former Jewish Berliners, their birth-death dates, and the Nazi camp to which they were deported and killed. The brass memorials are located in front of what was the victim’s home at the time. We encountered one or two, and sometimes several, where an entire Family was wiped out.

Air pollution and car traffic are not that bad since most people ride bikes or use public transportation . We walked our legs off, using the tallest building in Germany as our focal point, the 368 M high “T V Tower.” We also made great use of the subway system. It has been 85-90 degrees here and the unusually hot weather has created a bee problem. They are EVERYWHERE! You especially don’t dare eat a sugary snack at an outdoor table. Berliners say they usually have mosquitos during this time of year, never bees.

Cigarette butts and beer bottle caps are everywhere. A lot more people smoke in public in Berlin than in the USA. It’s the height of the summer tourist season here. There are thousands of us milling about, mixing with roughly 3.5 million locals. There are bicycle lanes and tram tracks everywhere . Tourists walk and bike the streets, snapping photos, and eating donor kebabs, falafel, burgers, sausage and pizza. Beer, currywurst, giant pretzels, and kebabs are king here, though eclectic Asian food is also very popular. Other than currywurst, breads and pastries, traditional German food is not that popular.

We’re enjoying our travels. Bruce has had a cold but seems to be kicking it. Tomorrow we are leaving by train for Gdańsk, Poland. It will be an early day. Hope that you are all well.

Hugs n Love, BnL

Good morning, Dear Friends and Family,

We are preparing to leave the smoke-filled skies of the Pacific North-West and embark on an eight-week trip to NE Europe. We will begin our trip in Berlin, Germany and work our way over to Helsinki, Finland via Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. From there, we’ll cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia. Then we’ll fly to southern Poland to hike in the Tatra mountains and visit the cities of Krakow, Wroclaw and Posnan. It will be exciting to see how these people live and what the impact of WWII and Russian Communism has had on their lives.We’ll be transported by plane, bus, train, and cruise ship and plan to rent bicycles as well.

Though NE Europe is experiencing

an unprecedented heat-spell, weather reports indicate a cooling trend that should continue into autumn. We are looking forward to breathing cooler, cleaner air! We’ll be joining free walking tours to acquaint ourselves with each new place we visit, and supplement our own ” must see” list as we travel.

We began by booking our RT flight and the cruise in/ out of Russia several months ago. Since we committed, politics have exploded, both at home and abroad. Hopefully, we’ll be able to avoid any conflicts and yet share our thoughts with others.

We will share our experiences and photos with you here, through our blog. We appreciate hearing from each of you too, whether under the blog comments section or via personal email.

If you click on “follow” on our site, (I think it is in the lower right-hand corner), you will enter your own email and then receive a notice each time we post something new. This is a secure web-site and we have not received spam as a result of it-as far as we know! 😊

You are always in our thoughts and hearts.

Love, BnL

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Was able to upload 55 in post number 11 before we left Nepal. We’re at David’s House now in Vacaville. Slept 11 hours!woo-hoo! Will try to upload the remaining 45 photos. 

Will share 100 photos…eventually!😅