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Fabulous France

4

Nov
November 4, 2012 by Karen
Fabulous France
We spent two weeks on a Workaway in Grand-Champ village (actually about five houses) in the Dordogne region of France. We helped a wonderful French/American family who were building their own straw bale house.
The house we were working on
Mud, mud glorious mud…….our render mix.
Notice who was dirtier by the end of each day!
Does that mean I wasn't working as hard?
Work in progress. Some of our handiwork!
Would you trust this woman to help build your house?
I wouldn't!
Tea break! Nick with Kevin and our fellow workawayer Sebastian. We looked forward to these breaks, especially on the days when there was pain au chocolat on offer!
We mainly worked on the second floor so we spent a lot of time going up and down the ladder.

Usually with a bucket of mud render in our hands.

Most days we worked from nine until two and then it was home in the back of the van for lunch and the afternoon off.

Every afternoon we tried to go out for a walk to explore the surrounding countryside.
 
Out for an afternoon walk with Sebastian, Lucien and Noa. Lucien was on his bike but pulled the “I'm tired!” card way too far from home.
Another beautiful sunrise in the French countryside.

One day we stayed home to help Elizabeth. One of our jobs was shelling walnuts. We had a 'shell ten and then eat one rule!' Lucien, Elizabeth and Kevin's four year old son helped us and it was more like 'shell one and eat five!'. When it was put to the court, he was found guilty!

 

After we left Grand Champ we travelled by train to Saint Lary in the Pyrenees to catch up with Gina, Gas, Zoe and Luke, my gorgeous NZ friends from my days in Santiago de Chile.

It is hard to believe Zoe and Luke were babies that I cuddled and kissed when we were in Chile. Luke was turning nine the day after we left. Where does time go? I was at the hospital the day he was born!
Trying on Berets in the local shop! Thankfully Nick did not buy one!
We spent just one night in Paris in the Latin quarter before heading off to Budapest.

 

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Our Baltic Bonanza: Fairy Tales really do come true!

1

Nov
November 1, 2012 by Karen
Our Baltic Bonanza: Fairy Tales really do come true!
Estonia was next on our radar and we headed straight for Tallinn, the capital. Thanks to Otels.com we stayed at Hotel PK Llmarine for the same price as a hostel! It was nice to be kept in the manor to which I am accustomed.
Russian dolls were for sale everywhere. Notice the Elvis dolls in the photo. You could also get Osama Bin Laden or Barrack Obama ones.
The old Russian market was an interesting place where a whole variety of things could be purchased including handguns!
Old Russian passport anyone?
You could even buy your tombstone on the way to buying your cigarettes!

We drove across to Tartu for one night, a beautiful university town.

The kissing statue.

At the former KGB prison.

Weird statue of the artist and his 18 month old child. Seems people enjoy rubbing a certain part for luck.
A giant pair of stone clogs in the street? We took this one for you Roel!

We headed off again into the Estonian countryside. Russia was so close, just across the lake!

Nick decided to take the boat over to Russia.
We stopped at this beautiful old church.
And discovered this grave stone….1800-1934??? A mistake or the World's oldest person ever!
Castles were the order of the day.
A peaceful sculpture garden outside one of the castles on the way in!
Overtaken by a bus load of tourists on the way out!

;

Before blasting our way back down to Lithuania we stopped in Southern Latvia to check out RUNDĀLE PALACE and were not disappointed.

Back in Lithuania we spent two nights in Kanaus. We visited many churches but one of the most interesting was the St. Francis Xavier Church & Jesuit Monastery.

'During the Soviet occupation, the monastery buildings were used as a technical college, the interior of the church as a sports hall, the crypts as a sauna and the church attic housed a shooting gallery no less. The church was returned to the Jesuits in 1990, and was consecrated once again in 1992.'

Kaunas in your pocket

Check out the fabulous parking skills of the locals.
It was a quick trip to the Trakia to check out Trakai Castle before taking the car back to Vilnius for our last night there.
We visited the places we missed the first time there including ,Užupis a crazy republic with its own Point constitution.

Here are our six favourite points:

Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation.

Everyone has the right to love and take care of a cat.

A dog has the right to be a dog.

A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in time of need.

Everyone has the right to appreciate their unimportance.

Everyone has the right to celebrate or not celebrate their birthday.

'Lands of crumbling castles, soaring dunes, pagan rituals, towering pine forests, quaking lakelands and churning northern seas – a trip to the Baltic proves that fairy tales do come true…'

Lonely Planet

Bye, bye Baltics!

 

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Our Baltic Bonanza: The Latvian Leg!

20

Oct
October 20, 2012 by Karen
Our Baltic Bonanza: The Latvian Leg!

“Latvia has some of the world’s worst drivers. It’s not that they can’t steer or press the break pedal, although for some reason Latvians can’t master the art of parallel parking, it’s more likely a reckless streak that allows grown men and women to act like children behind the wheel. Passing on blind curves is shockingly common, red lights are ignored by most BMWs and pedestrians on crosswalks tend to become targets for wannabe F1 drivers in tricked out Mercedes jeeps. If, like many locals, you enjoy operating an automobile while intoxicated, you should bear in mind that all perpetrators, including foreigners, face a mandatory ten-day jail sentence and a 500Ls fine.”

Riga in your pocket

You can imagine how excited we were to be driving in Latvia after reading this quote! Unfortunately they lived up to their reputation and we awarded them 'The worst drivers' in the Baltic award!

Our first stop in Latvia was Riga for three nights. We did another 'free'( pay what you can afford) walking tour' with Tours in Riga. Tom was our gorgeous and extremely entertaining guide showing us around the old town.

We loved our walking tour with Tom so much that we also did his evening kayaking tour on the colourful canal.

“A century ago, Riga, just as other European cities, was swept away by a style of architecture and living inspired by longing for creative freedom and daring opulence: art nouveau. By learning from nature, delighting in bunches of flowers, ornamentation, sinuous and undulating lines, relishing in antique beauty, fantasising about sphinxes, gryphons and Cerberuses, art nouveau rendered Riga more lavish, mysterious and seductive. Raise your eyes upwards and discover Europe’s most beautiful art nouveau buildings for yourself!”

www.latvia.travel

In Latvia, it's a tradition to fasten a lock to a bridge on your wedding day and throw the key in the water to symbolise an unbreakable marriage.

The couple were obviously looking for a 'get out' clause.

' When construction was completed in 1930, Riga’s Central Market was one of the largest and most modern marketplaces on the European continent. Seventy years later, four of the five pavilions, which were used as zeppelin hangars during WWI, still serve their original function as meat, fish, produce and dairy markets.'

Riga in your pocket

Nick and his sweet tooth did not know which way to look in the bakery section.
He settled on a doughnut to start!

We stayed at Central Hostel in Riga. One of our highlights was going to an ice hockey match to see the local team Dinamoriga play. No cameras were allowed in. Nick almost lost his head when the puck went flying by.

We left Riga and headed for the coast.

Just another bright sunny day at the beach!
We had one of the most bizarre but amazing experiences of our lives in the Latvian countryside at a Perts. Lonely Planet explains it much better than we can!
“Cast modesty aside and indulge in Latvia's most Latvian tradition, the pirts. A pirts is Latvia's version of the sauna, and while somewhat similar to the Finnish sauna, there are many elements that set this sweaty experience apart. A traditional pirts is run by a sauna master, who cares for her attendees while performing choreographed branch beatings that feel almost shamanistic in nature. Yes, you read correctly – while lying down in your birthday suit, the sauna master swishes branches in the air to raise the humidity then lightly beats a variety of wildflowers and branches over your back while you rest. Pirts also tends to be much hotter and more humid than they Finnish counterparts – a branch beating session usually lasts around 15 minutes before one exits the sauna to jump in a nearby body of water (lake, pond or sea). The aroma of the pirts is also very important – sauna masters take great care to create a mélange of herbs and spices to accent the air. In general, an afternoon at the pirts involves multiple sweat sessions interspersed with leaps into cold water – beer, herbal tea and snacks are a must.”
Lonely Planet

So, we had done our research, reading not only in the Lonely Planet but also in a few other places that the traditional way is to do the whole thing naked. Picture our horror when we were asked to change into our swimming costumes, with our response being, “We don't have any and thought we'd do it naked!”

After we got over this intial bump in the road, we experienced everything mentioned in the Lonely Planet plus, in Nick's case beer being poured on his back whilst listening to 'Cotton-Eyed Joe.' I had a grapefruit rubbed into my skin and then honey massaged in. I was also tapped with pine needles to the sound of Ricky Martin's 'Living La Vida Loca.'
The sauna house
Nick in his birthday suit in the Perts. Can you spot his funny hat?
The cold water bath

With Our Magic Sauna Master Jānis Pavlovičs.
Looking very refreshed at the end with the sauna master Janis and his assistant!

Coming soon – the third exciting installment of Our Baltic Bonanza!

 

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Our Baltic Bonanza: Cautiously cruising countryside Lithuania

13

Oct
October 13, 2012 by Karen
Our Baltic Bonanza: Cautiously cruising countryside Lithuania

“The common or garden Lithuanian driver is notable for possessing certain eccentric habits almost unheard of in the West. A typical, edge-of-the-seat adventure sat beside a local Lewis Hamilton comes with a lashing of tailgating, cutting lanes and dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.”

Vilnius in your pocket

We picked up our hire car from the street in Vilnius. Literally! We met Thomas in the street and sat in the car to complete the paperwork. We then drove across to the west coast of Lithuania to the lovely town of Klaipeda.

This miraculous little mouse is the smallest monument in Klaipeda. His ears are for whispering dreams into which supposedly come true. The first mouse was unveiled in 2006 and promptly stolen. We whispered into the replacement's ear.

It was a short ferry ride across to the Curonian Spit. On our way to Nida we visited The Hill Of Witches.

We had a completely unexpected experience in the tourist information office carpark in Nida. A random German speaking lady on a bicycle approached us and offered us an apartment. The price was good so she rode off and we followed her in the car. The apartment was gorgeous so we booked it for the night.
20121010-173529.jpg 20121010-173547.jpg 20121010-173600.jpg
 
What was David Boon doing in Nida?
Sampling the local fried bread and garlic!
The following day it was back to the mainland and off to another 'Lonely Planet' must see site of Orvydas Garden.

“Although the Soviet Union softened after Stalin's death, life under Khrushchev still wasn't easy for artists and religious people, especially in the satellite states. Being both an artist, and a devout Christian, Vilius Orvydas felt constantly harassed by the Soviet system. Yet from his repression, he created a beautiful and innovative rebellion in the form of an open-air sculpture garden on his family's land in Lithuania. While his work was not done in direct opposition to Soviet rule but more out of a curious sense of art and religion, many flocked to the gardens and considered him a great rebel against the oppressive regime.”

We also visited a disused underground nuclear missile launch site in the middle of a forrest that has been turned into a Cold War Museum. It was amazing! From 1962 to 1978 the Russians kept this place a secret, even to the locals, until the Americans found it using satellite. It had four nuclear missiles which were 23 m long and could be launched in 10 hours. Their range was 2000 km and they could potentially destroy 100 square km. Thankfully none were ever fired.

Note the barbed-wire fences.

On our guided tour, we had the chance to look down into one of the missile silos. It's a long way down! And to think these were dug out by hand. It was not the locals though – they could speak Russian. The base was contructed by 10,000 Estonian soldiers.
Underground in what was once the control centre. There were at least 6 doors to go through to get here.
American propaganda
Russian propaganda
 
Before heading up to Latvia we dropped into The Hill of Crosses.
'Since the medieval period, the Hill of Crosses has represented the peaceful resistance of Lithuanian Catholicism to oppression………..During the Soviet era, the pilgrimage to the Hill of Crosses served as a vital expression of Lithuanian nationalism. The Soviets repeatedly removed Christian crosses placed on the hill by Lithuanians. Three times, during 1961, 1973 and 1975, the hill was leveled, the crosses were burned or turned into scrap metal, and the area was covered with waste and sewage. Following each of these desecrations local inhabitants and pilgrims from all over Lithuania rapidly replaced crosses upon the sacred hill……'

I love a good peaceful protest!

Stay tuned for the Latvian leg of our Baltic Bonanza!

 

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