Riga to Tallinn

on thursday I ended up visiting the war museum and made a very short visit to the occupation museum, my visits to the railroad museum and the firefighting museum didn't come to pass. It can be mentioned that they lie further away and probably had an entrance fee. But I went to Jurmala, there I had a dip in the ocean and at the town in Majori. I had a local church member along as guide and company. Afterwards we had a long walk in Riga. The problem was me wearing flip-flops, my other shoes weren't any better, since I took the wrong ones on my feet as I embarked on my journey. So my legs, feet and especially knees hurt A LOT. Long story short, on friday morning I took the early bus to Pärnu and this is where I am now.

Riga

It turned out to be a little complicated to add pictures straight here from my phone. So, the one from the airport was uploaded to facebook and then used web-transfer to add here. I'll just add some afterwards when I get back home. ...enough of the technical details.

I've been quite amazed with Riga, it's a very nice city. I've been equally amazed with the Hostel, it's totally super! It's noontime on tursday now, and I'm about to embark on a little journey to some museums now, what I can manage to get done before it's off to the beach at 1:30. Yesterday evening, I met up a church member that I knew from before, and today I'll probably meet up with her again and anothe member that I also know. I'll have to enjoy the day, because it's my last. I'm taking the buss to Parnu tomorrow morning.

I got to Riga, Ryanair wasn't that bad after all. Just cheap ya know. And my impression if Riga is all good so far, even if I haven't seen very mucn of it yet. Once in the bus i took out my map and followed the route. It was fairly easy to follow the route of bus 22. And I was happy to noticed that we stopped at the RMR works :) The hostel is really nice and I found some people to talk to right away, people with whom I've been talking till now. I'm was really hungry, I ate before I got on the train, that would be at around 14:00, after that an apple on the train and a sandwich at the train station in tampere. But these people were kind enough to offer me some bisquites as well, to slightly calm my stomach. But I'll seriously go and buy some food tomorrow.

Welcome to ryanair

The Norea bank in town didn't deal Latvian currency because the rate is to unstable. I say cheap suckers, I'll use another bank next time. Next up, I only found a map of Tallinn, the country maps were all sold out. I'll manage any way. So all that done I've done the trainride and I am now on the bus. It displayed the text "ryanair", the driver was very fast, he only stopped for a minute, no waiting for anyone that might not have been outside. I instantly got the feeling that ryanair indeed was very cheap in their ways.
Oh and by the way. i managed to leave my home with the wrong shoes on my feet. I might have to do some shopping.
Since it wasn't that long since I published the last post, I'll just add to it. I got to the airport checked in and I am now waiting. Takeoff is in one anda half hour and terminal 2 is very small, it took me 2 minutes to look trough the shop. So now I'll just wait.

4 hours left.

Ok, it's the morning of the day I'm going. I have to go to town, get some foreign currency and look for good maps. I have a map of Riga, but I'd like something of Estonia and Latvia. I haven't packed my things yet either. 4 hours till my train goes.
My train ticket, plane, hostel in riga and boat ticket is all booked.

I am certanly very amused!

A group of people, members from church, went to an amusement park today. The name of it is Power Park, it's a bit weird since it's located in the middle of nothing. There's a small town around, but that's it. But it has a lot of cool rides and is within comfortable travelling distance from several cities since it's located in the middle. We had been planning to make this trip for quite a while and now we did. I haven't been to power park before. I had a blast. I have two favourite rides: The big wooden roller-coaster aka "Thunderbird" and the big blue roller-coaster aka "cobra". If you go there, you certanly know what I am talking about! The picture shows me and a girl in a ride, and the cobra roller-coaster in the background. The webadress is: www.powerpark.fi

Other than that, countdown for my baltic trip continues, I've booked my hostel now as well :)

Travelling to the Baltics.

Right, so I am planning to visit the Baltics, I've been to Estonia twice, and my visit time last summer was a real eye-opener. Estonia was really great, and now I'm planning to go visit again, and also to feel a little of the other Baltic countries. I will fly in to Riga, and then do it backpacking style, but I'm afraid there won't be time to visit Lithuania this time. I fly out Tuesday evening and I have to be back for an appointment on native soil on Monday.

I have ordered my airplane ticket with Ryanair , but other than that it's still open.
Man, I hate booking Ryanair, Blue1 is much nicer, and still really cheap. I wouldn't be surprised if I have to pay another 200 at the airport because I messed up or missed something while buying the ticket.

Below is my preliminary plan:
I come in on Tuesday evening, plan to stay 2 full days in Latvia, sleeping at a hostel in Riga. One day to explore the "further aways" and one day to get acquainted with the city, I have made contact with some members of my church there, and one has suggested to show me a few things in Riga.

The following morning I'd take a bus to Pärnu, watch the city for a bit and then take the evening train to Tallinn. Then I'd spend a couple of days in Tallinn. So, that's the plan. We'll see how it turns out in reality, I plan to keep a travellers blog here. Stay tuned.

This is it.

First, I will introduce myself. I am a 27 year old male student. I live on my own. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints, commonly known as the Mormons or the LDS church www.lds.org

I don't know how it is in other parts of the world, but in Finland. Religion is very much taboo, one does not speak religion here. One is expected to drink alcohol, have sex and not go to church. Mine is the very other way around. I don't drink, in my belief sex is reserved for marriage and I do go to church, pretty much every Sunday. I am not going to start deciphering my belief, but rather just go trough life trying to be a saint in a world that expects me to be something else. I have no idea what this will turn out into being, I just started.

M. Russell Ballard encouraged me to do this, and so I did!