England: Windsor

We spent the day in Windsor with the family. Windsor is very quaint, especially by the river. The swans were tame enough that a child was even patting one. I really, really wanted to do the same, but knowing they can be aggressive made me think twice. 

We went for a stroll around the outside of the castle, but had left it too late to actually go inside. We also had a cheeky peek in some the shops in the small shopping precinct where the old train tunnels used to be. 

Next stop, afternoon tea. We contemplated the Crooked House of Windsor which was originally built in 1592 (before being rebuilt in 1718), but being quite the tourist attraction meant a cup of coffee and a piece of cake cost more than a sizable lunch elsewhere. It is actually situated on Britain's smallest street, Queen Charlotte Street (16 Metres long). Instead we found a cute little place and still had the full English tea experience with scones and jam for good measure. 

Then we went for a long walk. 

But we didn't actually do The Long Walk. The path in the picture below is a 4.26 kilometer walk from the castle to the copper horse statue of King George III.

It's not all that surprising the Queen spends most of here time here. It's a pretty great little place. They fly the flag if the Queen is home.

All up a great day, and an even better day because we spent it with family. 

- Kate

Switzerland: Basel

We were off to England for the weekend, but instead of flying from Munich we decided to catch the train to Basel and fly from there. It is right at the corner of Switzerland, France and Germany and had a very cosmopolitan feel to it.

We headed for the river and had a picnic lunch along the bank watching people float past towards France with the strong current. Although it was a warm day the water would still have been freezing.

The never ending search for a toilet (why can't girls hold it?) took us into the town hall which was fairly wildly decorated.

After lunch we made our way into the old town. There were lots of narrow winding streets uphill which eventually led to this church overlooking the river. It looked as though a wedding was about to take place with wine and food scattered about the courtyard. Not a bad spot for a wedding.

There were lots of narrow buildings with shops all the way along selling things at outrageous Swiss prices. Swiss watches cost more here than they do in Australia.

We had the rest of the afternoon to relax, and with Kate feeling sick I decided it was best to head to a local pub and re-hydrate before our flight.

- Joe

Latvia: Riga

Just a short bus ride south of Tallinn is Latvia and it's capital Riga. It is very quaint, a great walking city. The architecture is very eclectic. We made our way through the city and past some quirky looking places, such as "The House of the Blackheads" below.

This little row of houses was my favourite - especially the yellow place with purple flowers, such a great colour combination!

We weren't sure what this tower was exactly, but we definitely have a thing for buildings covered in vines around Europe. There's something a little bit magical about them.

Later it started to rain, so we decided to pass the time in a local pub with a pet bunny!!! There was a rowdy bunch of Irish that I kid you not, had about 8-10 shots in the space of an hour. I felt like throwing up on their behalf. 

We crossed the bridge and went for a walk through a park that had been decorated with installation art. You follow a path that eventually takes you along the river and to the outer part of the city. 

Latvian orthodox??

It was nice to explore some of the very medieval parts of Europe and its culture. Would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

- Kate

Finland: Helsinki

Just a 1.5 hour ferry trip away from Tallinn is Helsinki, Finland. There are dozens of crossings every day amongst several ferry companies, and ours seemed to be full of Finns who had come across to Estonia to take advantage of the cheap alcohol. The guy behind us was taking 5 cartons of beer back with him.

Once we arrived we hopped on another ferry for the short trip to Suomenlinna Island, which has an old fortress which protected Helsinki harbour. It was very peaceful walking through the old rock fortifications built into the hills.

We found a cafe hidden within a boat yard and tried a reindeer sandwich and some sort of warm bready thing with rice and meat inside. The reindeer sandwich was a tad strong tasting for my liking, but not too bad. It definitely needed mustard.

Kate made friends with a little bird who was eating bits of bread off her leg.

There were millions of little yellow flowers on the dunes, along with cannons pointing out to sea. The icy wind was starting to pick up which thinned out the tourists a little.

Everyone was doing it....

As we took the ferry back to the city the weather started to turn a bit grim. Compared to Tallinn, Helsinki seems a much more modern city with newer buildings and wide streets.

We didn't venture too far because we weren't really dressed for the cold and one of us was complaining a bit. So back to the warmth of the ferry and back to Tallinn.

- Joe

Estonia: Tallinn

Our trip to Tallinn involved a flight via Vilnius in the smallest plane we've ever been in. As the bus at Munich airport pulled up next to a plain white unmarked plane at some far flung part of the airport, I got the impression that the Munich-Vilnius route doesn't have a particularly high priority. Our pilot (who looked like a gangly 15 year old in his dad's suit) announced that the load sheet was wrong so there would be a delay while they sorted it out. For the second leg from Vilnius to Tallinn we were upgraded to the pride of the Air Lituanica fleet (which consists of 2 planes) which was somewhat larger but ironically only had about 20 passengers. Anyway the flights went fairly smoothly and we made it to Estonia in one piece.

Near the harbour is a disused theater hall built in the Soviet Union days for the 1980 Olympics as the sailing events were held here. It is made entirely of concrete and doubled as a bomb shelter in case Finland ever launched an attack. It is rapidly deteriorating and will probably need to be fenced off soon.

Back in the centre of town, the medieval quarter is still surrounded by the original stone wall which is one of the best preserved in Europe.

We saw a sign advertising "Elk Soup" and thought we'd better give it a go, so we headed into this dark medieval looking kitchen and ordered the Elk soup, pastie, a jug of beer and fished some pickles out of the pickle barrel. The food was brilliant, the beer ridiculously strong, and the ambiance was perfect including the suitably surly serving wenches.

We went to "Estonia's oldest pub" for dinner and watched the world cup with a bunch of disappointed Italians.

Tallinn has one of the best old town centres we have seen, combined with good food, nice people, and a quick ferry to Helsinki, it's a really nice place for long weekend.

- Joe