The Baltics

At the beginning of May, we had a two-week break for Ukrainian "May holidays", including their Labor Day, Orthodox Easter, and Victory Day.  Edward was going to the Baltics with his mom and her boyfriend Bill and I was very luckily invited along!  I really knew nothing about any of the Baltic countries' histories, cultures, or languages.  I still know next to nothing, but it's a huge improvement on what I knew before.  Our trip started with a couple days in Kiev, after which we went to Vilnius, Trakai, and Anyksciai in Lithuania, Riga (Latvia), and Tallinn (Estonia):

Kiev

Even though I had lived in Kiev for a week during training, we had had no opportunity to see the city.  So, we planned to start our trip with a couple days there to make up for that.  Isaac, an AEC teacher in Kiev, was our wonderful tour guide and showed us so many beautiful sights.

Central square

A really interesting building with a ton of strange gargoyles!

The presidential building

8O

Monument to the ~6 million victims of the Russian famine of 1921

Lavra (big religious complex with caves!)

The Motherland statue

Lithuania

I fell in love with Vilnius.  After being there for a few hours I was already scheming to get someone to pay me to live there.  Granted, I'm sure I'd feel differently if I experienced their winter, which probably puts Ukraine's to shame.  But while we were there the weather was sunny and warm.  The old town is gorgeous and almost quaint, although not at all kitsch.  It's really small which gives it an incredibly personal atmosphere that I loved.  Also, there were a lot of young people, a lot of street musicians, and a good balance of locals and tourists that made it very lively.  On our first night there we went out and I ended up running around the town until 10 am with a group of locals.  And the food was so good!  One of Lithuania's culinary claims to fame is called "Zeppelini", since they're the same shape as zeppelins.  They consist of potato dough stuffed with meat and covered with oil.  And sometimes fried.  And sometimes also covered with bacon.  Or sour cream.  Not for the faint of heart, or for anyone who has any respect for their heart.  Also delicious.

There was so much amber!

Cathedral

The fortress at Trakai

Riga

I didn't bond to Riga the way I did to Vilnius, but I was nevertheless surprised and blown away by it's architectural wealth.  Riga has explosive pockets of art nouveau buildings, covered in the most unexpected images ranging from classical human figures to Mayan heads to steam punk robots.  Meanwhile, the city preserves older architecture mostly in stunning churches.  There were moments when it felt you were walking in one big work of art.  The main reason I think I didn't connect as much to Riga was that everything was much bigger and less personal.

The apartment we stayed in through Air B&B!

Russian church

View from a sky-scraper

Tallinn

The last city we visited was Tallinn, Estonia.  Tallinn had some interesting architecture, but was mostly fun for it's lively medieval-themed atmosphere.  This was definitely the most touristy of all the cities, and it really played up it's character with medieval restaurants, kiosks, and even costumes for the employees to wear.

Old city walls

Russian church

Finally, after a lot of driving, a couple flights, a long time at the train station, and a short train trip that seemed like forever, I got home and started settling back in.  I just started a new semester with much fewer hours since enrollment is low over the summer.  Of course that means a smaller salary, but I think I will welcome the extra time.