Ok, shoes still gone. But I no longer think Prague is the most beautiful city in the world (no I really do...at least out of those I have seen). Tallinn, however, has given Prague a run for its money. If it doesn't win the most beautiful city prize, it comes in at a close second, at least in Europe. This has been confirmed by people who have been many more places than I have.
So, yeah, we are in Estonia, and tomorrow to Helsinki for the day. Wednesday we fly to Lithuania for a couple of days in Vilnius. It's cold and rainy, but otherwise ok. I wish we could get in one sunny day though, because the rain is getting us down and we are taking it out on each other.
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We went from Tallinn to Vilnius and it was just as beautiful and lovely to walk around. We arrived in the evening, a warm and sunny evening, just as the sun was going down only to wake up to another rainy day and one of our roommates telling me about how hot it was the day before. We walked around, took in the sights and many pictures and then readied ourselves to leave yesterday for Warsaw. Of course, after paying a deposit for our room here, we woke up to find Vilnius sunny and spent a warm sunny day on the train traveling south. It looks ok outside today, though, as we ready ourselves to see Warsaw before returning, yet again, to Berlin.
The Baltics were a good experience. The cities are beautiful, and having spent most of our time in the Old Cities of each place, we were immersed in the pre-communist history, though everywhere you go you hear and read about the Communist occupation. Riga was the only place that still seemed Soviet to me, but we moslty walked the tourist tracks everywhere, so that probably isn't a fair summary. It has been equally interesting being in places iwth no knowledge of the language and not being able to figure out words from looking at them or hearing them a few times. But many, if not most, people speak English making it infinitely easier to get around and order food etc. I haev a new appreciation for having been born an English speaker. Not speaking other languages isn't a fault that only Americans have, but the real story is that Englsih is the default langauage for everyone. Russians travel to France or Germany, and they speak English instead of the local language. Estonians speak English nearly perfectly, becuase it allows travel so much easier. I still really want to learn another language well, French (a new goal) and Chinese, but I appreciate that speaking English allows me to travel so much easier.
We are heading back to Berlin, and probably home in the next couple of weeks. The American dollar is weak everywhere right now, and we have exhausted the places that Mindy hasn't been already without the need visas. So it won't be long now, but it has been a long few months for me, and regardless of occassionally sleeping in, I am tired, though satisfied.
I did the count yesterday, and I have visited 7 new countries, so I'm almost to 30 countries before I turn 30, which isn't that far away.
Love, amy
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