England

Although I spent most of my days in London buried in maps and books, I was luckily able to make time for some other English adventures as well. I immediately found the Dickens House Museum in order to pay homage to this beloved British writer and stare at the desk at which he wrote A Tale of Two Cities, my favorite book of all time.

I combined my family’s tradition of attending a production of the Messiah every year (which I continued at Eastman at college) with my obsession with Queen Victoria and Prince Alpert and allowed myself one Christmas splurge: to see the Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Goldsmiths Choral Union, English Concert Chorus, and the Highgate Choral Society-the choir was so big they began to spill into the audience seats! I sat in-between two other “messiah diehards” (One English and one Sri Lankin) who spent the entire concert pseudo conducting along with the Maestro. I hummed my favorite parts the whole tube ride home and decided this majestic concert makes it into my “Top Ten” experiences of all time.

I was able to visit friends from Voronezh in Bath, who took me to one of their Russian classes at University of Bath where I ran into other Russian classmates from last year. I attended my first kickboxing match to cheer on a friend, stepped back in time at the Jane Austen Museum, ate delicious Cornish pasties, and experienced my first English Christmas a little early with “Christmas Crackers”. Here we are wearing our Christmas Cracker crowns!

Of course, as a former classics major, my favorite part about Bath were ..the baths! I went in the late afternoon, so by the time I was ready to leave, dusk had come and gone and the torches were lit.

Isn't Bath the most beautiful?

I also met my Bath friends in Oxford a few weeks later. Unfortunately, I only went for a day but was still able to take in the beautiful sites-Christ Church, the Bodleain library, Tolkien’s house (!!!!) and finally the Eagle & Child, the favorite pub of Tolkien and Lewis, where we sat for dinner and imagined Tolkien and Lewis sitting a few tables away from us with the rest of the Inklings.

To continue the literary theme, my final English trip was to Stratford-upon-avon where I toured Shakespeare’s birth house and Anne Hathaway (his wife)’s childhood home and gardens. Although it was December, the gardens were still beautiful, and I took the scenic paths through gardens and parks to wander a smaller town, enjoy a break from the huge city of London, and indulge in tea and scones with clotted cream. Here is a shot of Anne's cottage. 

Most of all, I enjoyed exploring London during the Christmas season, with its the festive lights and all of the free Christmas concerts at outdoor markets and train stations. After a lovely Christmas celebration with my London housemates, I was ready to come home for the holidays!

Ireland

Words cannot describe how excited I was to spend a few days on the Emerald Isle. As a former Irish Step Dancer whose parents play traditionally Irish instruments, it was hard to believe I finally had a chance to see Ireland. The entire week I kept repeating to myself “I’m really in Ireland! I’m really in Ireland!”

My one day in Dublin became a self-guided tour of the fabulous libraries the city had to offer. The first, and most incredible, was the Chester Beatty Library, created to house the collection of Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, an Irish-American bibliophile. The collection was so vast and the special exhibits were very well done and featured many of the collection’s rare treasures. They had an “Arts of the Book” exhibit that included early Chinese techniques I had never seen before. I then met a friend of a friend at Trinity College who graciously took me on a whirlwind tour of the college and then shepherded me into the library so that I could finally lay eyes on the famous Book of Kells. My next library destination was the National Library which currently housed an exhibit on Yates, an author whose life I knew little about, so I enjoyed it immensely. My final library stop in Dublin was the Marsh Library, an incredible rare book library that still retained its stalls into which patrons would be locked when they were reading library material to ensure it would not stolen. The Marsh Library maintained a seasonal exhibition on James Joyce and his very own visits to the Marsh Library (the library even receives mention in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake).

I then hopped on a bus to the West Coast, and my lovely college friend Katie met me in Galway where she is currently attending medical school. The next day happened to be Thanksgiving, so I joined her and her Irish friends at my second ex-pat Thanksgiving (the first one if you missed it) -- complete with corn bread, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie!

While Katie was busy with classes and homework, I took a few day trips to explore as much of Ireland as possible. 

Cliffs of Moher: Even though the weather was rather rainy and grey, the grass was still green and the views were breathtaking. I watched as people lay down and ever so slowly crawled to the edge of the cliff. I didn’t dare try -- I am too much of a klutz. Fun fact: the incredible Cliffs of Moher are the famous “cliffs of insanity” from The Princess Bride.

My second day trip was to the Aran Islands, a group of islands off the coast of Galway. If I could have a summerhouse (or Russian dacha…) anywhere in the world it would be somewhere on these islands. I decided to go to Inis Mor by bus and ferry and then rent a city bike on the island. I rode all day on the island with its winding stone walls and horses apathetically grazing on one side and crashing waves and seals on the other. When I wanted to climb Dún Dúchathair I didn’t know what to do with my bike since I didn’t have a lock, so I asked the man at the entrance to the trail. His answer was a short laugh as he replied that nothing is ever stolen on this island.

Can you spot me?

Back in Galway on my last night, I wandered around the coast to Salt Hill, a nearby town, and caught up on my travel journal as I watched the sun go to bed.

I was itching to hear traditional Irish music and found a pub of “regulars” who, it seemed, dropped in nightly to listen to the music as well. I was immediately befriended by Mikey and Paddy, two sweet elderly gents, who explained that the pub was a family establishment and that the two sons were bartenders. While I was seated with them talking, one of the sons came up to Mikey, brought him his regular drink and then asked him to be godfather of his daughter! Mikey and Paddy then told me all about retirement and their grandchildren and asked if I had any “nice aunties I could set Paddy up with in America”. So, if anyone is looking, let me know.  Of course, they hospitably insisted on buying me an Irish beer and were jokingly warned by the bartenders “Fellas! Keep your hands on your pints”. The music was fantastic; the band played for a few hours straight, and I especially loved watching the bodhran player since that musical instrument has always mesmerized me. Finally I had to say my farewells to Mikey and Paddy (and Katie!) and took off for my last research destination: London.

Belgium

Belgium was a short, whirlwind stop on my route from Germany to the British Isles where I took in five incredible places in five days (one city to another is closer than my house is to the nearest movie theater!). After a flight and a few train rides, I made it to Menen, a small town in Flanders close to Kotrijk, and was met by my friend Trees, a Belgian girl who studied Russian with me in Voronezh. Her family welcomed me into their home and fed me delicious Belgian pastries before taking me into Ypres to sample Belgian burgers and beer (yum and yum!). We attended the “Last Post” Ceremony and then headed home to drink Belgian hot chocolate and watch British detective shows. Since my own family also loves watching British mysteries and drinking tea every night, I remember this evening as one of the most peaceful on my journey. I felt so comfortable with a Flemish-speaking family I had just met: one of the incredible phenomena of traveling by yourself in a strange place – never know when it will feel just like home.

The next morning Trees fed me a traditional Dutch breakfast: Chocolate sprinkles on bread. Yes, those sprinkles you normally put on ice cream and cake can be doubly savored as a breakfast food. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but a simple google search of “hagelslag” will sufficiently make your mouth water. Why hasn’t America hopped on that bandwagon yet?

Here are a few pictures of the other Belgian cities I discovered.

Gent: by far my favorite Belgian destination. I spent most of the day wandering through flower markets, discovering old castles, and ambling around the canals and taking in all of the incredible architecture-each building had some intricacy that set it apart from the others. 

Leuven: Trees’ university town dotted with cute shops and student cafes. Trees and I took the cold weather as an excuse to get Belgian hot chocolate.

Antwerp: Diamonds, diamonds, diamonds!

Bruges: The entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and therefore a charming town known for its lace and canals. Also lined with little Christmas shops that I adored but got yelled at for trying to take pictures in…Yes, I was that tourist. I ended my last night in Belgian sampling local Belgian beer (from a brewery that is building its own pipeline in Brugge) with my new Belgian friend, PJ, and his lovely girlfriend Suzie.

Essentially, my Belgian week consisted of eating and more eating and then walking through beautiful towns to walk off all the eating. What more can one want in Belgium?

Germany

I spent most of my time in Germany in Munich in the heart of Bavaria. When I wasn’t perusing Russian books in the Bavaria State Library, I was exploring everything Munich had to offer. Since I arrived post Oktoberfest and pre Christmas markets, the city wasn’t very crowded which was a great plus.

 Not surprisingly, I learned from my free walking tour that the city’s history almost completely revolves around German beer. During the Thirty Years War, the Swedish army was paid off by the citizens of Munich with…beer. When the Munich opera house caught on fire what was used to put it out? Beer. Citizens rioted in 1844 when King Ludwig I of Bavria declared a tax on beer. I could go on and on. Naturally, I had to see what all the fuss was about. I popped into Augustiner-Bräu, Munich’s oldest independent brewery and sipped a beer while the Austrian musician next to me befriended me and told me her life story and invited me to all her upcoming concerts. The beer was delicious, probably partly due to the fact that Augustiner-Bräu’s beers adhere to the German Beer Purity Law or Reinheitsgebot (the oldest food safety law in the world). Bavarians consume on average 150 litres of beer a year, and the Bavarians who took me in for the week were no exception. I stayed with my friend Katya, a Ukranian girl I met in Moscow a few years ago, and her landlord, Dieta, a beer loving, Bavarian dialect speaking man who could only say the word “beautiful” in English. Which was lovely (and convenient) since he called almost everything “beautiful”.

Katya and I took a day trip to see the Bavarian alps at Lake Starnberg.

After Munich, I decided on a spontaneous overnight trip to Nuremberg where I set off to find the famous courtroom and quickly got lost. I was befriended by a native who offered assistance and treated me to a delicious Bavarian pretzel on the way. Did I mention how delicious Bavarian soft pretzels are? I then wandered through the street markets up to Alberch Durer’s house museum and the Nuremburg castle.

I ended the day with more sausage and Lebkuchen, Nuremburg's speciality cookies.

The next day, November 9^th, I got on a bus to Berlin and sat next to a German tailor, Marie, with whom I chatted for the entire five hours about travel, life, and Gilmore Girls (always a universal topic). We realized that we were arriving in Berlin on the 25^th anniversary of the Berlin Wall opening, and Marie offered to take me down to the celebrations. She guided me through the huge crowds of people (people who got very annoyed with us and our big backpacks), and we clapped as white balloons placed along the border of the wall were released into the sky.  Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was playing at the B. Gate where Merkel and Gorbachev were officiating the ceremony, but we were too far away to hear it so some members of the crowd began humming it themselves.

While Munich is clean, medieval, and quiet, Berlin is loud, vibrant, and funky. Marie happened to live a few blocks from where I was staying in Berlin, so we were able to meet up later in the week at bar on top of a shopping mall that was also an urban garden, flea market, and outside movie theater.

I met my dear friend Johnna in Berlin (she is teaching English in Germany and had brought her students on a field trip to Berlin that week). Seeing Johnna felt like a breath of fresh air -- a tour guide who could explain all things German, and a visit from home all at once. We explored Turkish markets, independent coffee shops, bookstores, and dove into Berlin’s history in our wanderings. Here are just a few snippets of places that stood out to me in Berlin.

The Berlin Wall was of course one of the most fascinating parts of the city. Here is a view of a remaining portion of the wall where you can see the watchtower and the “dead zone”.

East Side Gallery is a portion of the Berlin Wall that is still standing and taken over by talented graffiti artists. Here is one of my favorite parts of the wall.

Pictured above is a café that makes delicious bagels and lets you read while you eat. Perfect combination!

This is a picture of Bebelplatz, the site of a Nazi book burning ceremony in 1933. Nearly 20,000 books were thrown out of the nearby library and burned in the square. Now, this memorial created by Micha Ullman is an underground room of bookshelves-room for all of the books burned that day. Next to it is a quote by Heinrich Heine from a play written in 1823 and burned that night which translates as “where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people”. Annually there is now a book sale held by the Humboldt University students on this spot.

As you can probably tell, Germany gave me a glorious three weeks full of history, food, beer, and friends (new and old!).

Estonia

Happy December! Also known as the month when I catch up on all my travel writing.

As sad as I was to leave the natural beauty of Scandinavia behind, I was very excited to venture back to the Baltic Region to the country of Estonia. Actually, historically Estonia was influenced by Nordic traditions, occupied by Sweden for decades, and its language most closely resembles Finnish, so it is very Scandinavian in some ways itself.

A few fun facts about Estonia:

-Estonia’s population is 1.3 million (which is less than the population of Philadelphia)

-Almost 50% of Estonia is forest

-Estonia was the first country to use online political voting

-Estonia created Skype (Thank you, Estonia!) and hotmail

-Estonia has the largest collection of folk songs in the world. Once every five years holds a Song and Dance Festival and even fought for freedom from the Soviets through song 

-Estonia has the highest number of meteorite craters per land area in the world

-Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn, is home to the most magical old town.

And I mean the most magical. I spent my day in Tallinn wandering the cobblestone streets through the medieval markets and buildings that laced this tiny but beautiful town. I can’t imagine what it looks like in the snow! (Though google images has convinced me a trip back in January is a must).

After a day of oohing and aahing at the beauty of Tallinn, I alighted a bus to Tartu, home of two good Estonian friends I met in Voronezh and was immediately welcomed with hugs and homemade cake. Tartu boasts the country’s oldest university and is a quaint but lively university town and in that university a library holding Russian maps I was very interested in examining. Here are a few pictures from around town.

Downtown Tartu

Ruins of an old church

A statue of students kissing- it is a student city after all

This sculpture from 1999 designed by sculptor Tiiu Kirsipuu, is of Oscar Wilde and the Estonian writer Eduard Vilde. Since the writers were contemporaries, Kirsipuu makes a humorous connection in an imaginary meeting between the two. An exact replica of this statue is now in Galway, Ireland as well (I saw it there last week! But I’m getting ahead of myself…).

After burying my head in books and maps for a few days, I came up for air on yet another bus East to Johvi, through the Estonian countryside, past abandoned bus stops and tiny houses and big, impressive lakes. I got off the bus in Johvi and, at first had no idea where to go. But then I spotted a nun hurrying to a bus stop  in the cold and immediately assumed she was going to my destination -- Puhtitsa Convent, the only convent not closed during the Soviet Period. I decided to spend the night at the convent and met two lovely girls, one from Russia and one from Ukraine, both students in Tartu. We walked the grounds of the monastery together in the freezing cold, attended services accompanied by lovely women choirs, and ate meals with the other women (and the old grumpy cat) staying in the guesthouse.

During dinner, as soon as there was news that an American girl was around, the questions I got daily in Voronezh came flooding in.

You’re American? And Orthodox? No, you must mean Catholic. We are Orthodox here. Do you have husband? Twenty three and no husband? If you are from New York why in the world did you live in Voronezh? But seriously, isn’t my nephew handsome?

  The girls I met earlier had heard of Jordanville and assured the babushki that I was in fact Orthodox, but I don’t think they could hear my friends’ explanation over their boasting of their eligible bachelor sons and nephews and grandsons. The overbearing but well-meaning babushka concern, the heavy food with lots of unnecessary mayo, the obligatory tea after every meal- everything was reminiscent of my last year in Voronezh. The two girls saw me to my bus stop and waved white kerchiefs at me as the bus pulled out, taking me away from the serene calmness of the convent and back to Tartu which, by comparison, felt bustling and crowded. Although thankfully upon my arrival I visited my friend Renata's apartment where I drank tea and heard all about her Siberian adventures.

I was staying with my dear friend Maarja Liisa and upon my return I found her on the floor of the apartment living room. She immediately cried out “I lost a cat!”. Apparently over the weekend, her aunt had dropped off three wild kittens with Maarja Liisa, who vehemently despises all things feline. One of them had escaped and as Maarja Liisa was chasing it she said it “vanished into thin air". We scoured her small apartment all night searching and searching and finally went to bed. I was a little skeptical that this third kitten even existed. The next day a second kitten had disappeared. We searched strange places- the fridge, behind the stove, in the microwave- I think we were both going crazy. A few days later, as we were eating pasta with tuna, our very, very hungry kittens came out of a pipe and meowed plaintively, eyeing our tuna. They had crawled through a pipe in the bathroom that connects to the wall behind the kitchen stove! Maarja Liisa wrestled with them for a few minutes but finally got them in their cage.

Overall, Estonia was a brief, but rich adventure of beautiful cobblestones, wide-eyed kittens, colorful Russian maps, and good conversation with friends. What more can one ask for?

Norway in a [Rainy] Nutshell

Before reaching my next research destination, I took a very quick side trip to Norway. This was bad because there is so much to see in this country of Vikings and fjords, but good because Norway is so incredibly expensive that no budget backpacker could afford more than a weekend. I left sunny Stockholm (the only time I saw it not raining!) on a train to Oslo, where I was greeted with torrents of rain. I was beginning to worry that a trend was developing. However, I later discovered it had snowed the night before, so I suppose it could have been much worse… Nevertheless, I wandered the Oslo’s small city center, which had such charm to it. I meandered my way down to the harbor take in all the boats and the fortress nearby.

Oslo Opera- one of the coolest buildings in the city

With limited time in Norway, I was most eager to get out of the city and into nature. I hopped on a train to Myrdal, passing through fjords, some replete with vibrant fall foliage and others steeped in a few feet of snow. Every time our train was about to emerge from a tunnel, I tried to forecast what I would encounter weather-wise on the other side.

From Myrdal, I boarded the Flam Railway, a tourist train, that whisked me to Flam via some of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. Even though the ride was less than an hour, we quickly went from 860 meters above sea level to close to 0 in Flam. We passed through tunnels, waterfalls, and mountainous passes, with the occasional cottage visible only because of the small smoke stack emerging from its chimney. Arguably the most impressive segment of this journey was the ferry from Flam to Gudvangen. Unfortunately, it rained downpoured the entire three hour trip, but the fjords we passed through were so spectacular I couldn’t have cared less. I was so in awe of the beauty of the Norwegian countryside that I spent most of the journey perched on top of the boat just gaping at the landscape around me, disregarding the fact that I was getting soaked to the bone.

My last stop in Norway was Bergen, a picturesque city on the west coast of Norway surrounded by seven mountains and home to the composer Edvard Grieg.

 A girl from Lithuania, Inga, hosted me for the night and was kind enough to show me around the town and explain what life in Norway was like for her family who emigrated from Lithuania to Norway in 2011 when the Lithuanian economy was failing. When she arrived, she knew no Norwegian and just a little English. But now has learned the languages and is looking for jobs where she can utilize her economics degree. Although we had met mere hours before, we spent most of the day wandering Bergen together, discussing myriad of subjects.

Inga and I with our troll boyfriend

 I left on the train back to Oslo that evening with two sandwiches packed by her lovely mother and a sudden gratitude for the fact that I was traveling by myself-allowing me to meet such interesting, hospitable, and kind people.