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Scandinavia and the Baltics

July - August 2023
Plus scotland and Poland Read more
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  • 26footprints
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  • 26days
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  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 26

    And home!

    August 6, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Finally home! Customs had a lot of questions. After a while i wasn't sure if she was asking customs questions or just interested in my trip haha. Made me tell her about every country i went to. Anyways... here's the final tally:

    8 countries
    8 flights
    4 trains
    1 bus
    1 ferry
    And a lot of trams, ubers and subways

    And i just found out chris christie was secretly in ukraine which explains why he was on the same plane from poland. Ok... thats a wrap!    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 25

    New York

    August 5, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Arrived at jfk airport around 8pm after a 9 hour flight from poland. I had a business class ticket, and was able to turn my seat horizontally into a bed and get some sleep. On exiting the airplane i noticed presidential candidate Chris Christie was sitting behind me. Really wanted to engage with him but he was pretty busy chatting with others and i didn't want to bug him either.

    Quickly booked a Manhattan hotel and my taxi got me there around 9pm. Walked around a tiny bit and found a nearby place that my front desk requested.

    Then to another place where you pour your own beer. You get a special card from the cashier, load up money onto the card and then tap the card on the beer tap you want and it charges you by the ounce as you pour. Brilliant! 40 different beers/taps.

    Watched the big event boxing match there with some new friends and then called it a night. On the way back to the hotel i could smell street food being cooked from a block away. Some sort of Egyptian version of a gyro or shawarma. So good! I didn't have any American dollars on me but the guy behind me was kind enough to take my 20 euro bill and give me 10 American in return and buy my sandwich for me.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 24

    Warsaw - Day 2

    August 4, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Joined an old town 2.5 hour walking tour. Very informative and excellent guide with a very dry sense of humour. It blows my mind that over 800,000 citizens of Warsaw lost their lives in world war II. Thats more than the american and british armies lost combined!

    After the tour, walked around some more to some areas the guide recommended and eventually rested at the hotel for a while. Later went to the restaurant right next to my hotel and enjoyed sipping on beers watching thousands of people stroll by. Ordered the wild boar stroganoff with mushrooms. Excellent last meal here.

    Walked around some more to the really busy bar area but ultimately too tired to stay long. And that pretty much wraps up the European part of the trip. Off to New York tomorrow    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 23

    Warsaw - Day 1

    August 3, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Met up with the germans and americans from the prior night to watch a women's world cup game just after lunch. Had to bring my backpack with me because i was now homeless. Still wasn't sure if i should stay one more day in gdansk or make my way to warsaw.

    Ultimately figured its probably best to get moving again and caught a bullet train to warsaw. I cant believe it got me there in 2 hours. All the other trains were 3.5 to 4 hours from what i saw online.

    Checked into my hotel in really pretty castle plaza and walked around taking in the city. Everything here is much bigger in size than gdansk. Was pretty tired so i found a quiet craft beer place to relax. But matt the bartender was incredibly colorful and engaging. Met antoine from france too. We chatted for a few hours but he had an overnight bus to lithuania and had to go

    Then met lovely maria and jakim from norway. Chatted a long time and then they wanted to show me some other nearby places. Maria went to university in warsaw, so she knew some great hidden spots that i never would have found. I usually have a pretty strict rule of no shots but they were so hospitable and kind that i felt saying no wasn't really an option. Another late finish but the trip is so close to over, and I'm fortunate to meet so many nice people every day. Trying to enjoy every minute and maximize my opportunities    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 23

    Gdańsk 2.5

    August 3, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    I wrote my day 2 for gdansk as i finished my beer and was about to head to my hotel. But things took a fun turn. Thus, this 2nd entry.

    I remembered the pub next to my hotel was still open. I figured i would pop in for one more as i was planning to leave gdansk in the morning and a bit reluctant to say goodbye.

    I was standing at the bar sipping my beer and i could hear a familiar accent next to me. I asked the girl where she was from and she said texas. Soon discovered she used to travel to ottawa monthly for work. I got invited to join her and her family at their table.

    Chatted with Spring, Blake and Letisha until the place closed. I told them i know a place that is still open so off we went. At this next place befriended two germans who are cycling 2500km across europe. And also some poles. When this place closed, we decided to find one more place for dancing. My phone cell service died so i couldn't find the place i was at the night before.

    While wandering the streets, we accumulated a few more people from australia and nepal. We thought we found a place and all piled in but it was actually a gentleman's club haha. When i got in, everyone already had a huge table to my surprise. I took a quick picture of only the group and this employee came running over asking for my phone and to delete my picture. I said no thank you and they kicked me out.

    Fortunately everyone followed and the germans thanked me haha. Finally found the blues brothers bar and we were home. One of the germans bought a round. The americans bought shots and i bought the last round and then we all eventually decided to leave and get to bed.

    Made several new polish friends on the walk back. Said our goodbyes with some pics by the neptune statue outside our accomodations. And the Americans arranged a next day meetup at noon at the irish bar. Told everyone I'd likely be on a train to warsaw and the germans told me if i show up, they'd pay for everything haha.

    I don't know how many times i heard "hey Canadian, come here!!" Haha. Possibly my favourite night of the trip and it was so close to not happening    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 22

    Gdańsk - Day 2

    August 2, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Decided to sleep in after the late night. The restaurant i wanted to go to didn't open until 2pm so decided to ascend the 405 stairs to the st marys bell tower summit first. Then walked down the harbor front for quite a while and eventually to that restaurant finally. Had a really interesting local herring dish and then a very long and needed nap.

    Found some yummy dumplings/perogies near my hotel and sipped a few beers while catching up with friends and family back home. Missed my backpacking meetup today which is a bit too bad but needed to recharge too.

    Was soooo close to buying an amazing piece of carving artwork i found on the many street tents selling all kinds of cool stuff. But the price tag was fairly dear.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 21

    Gdańsk - Day 1

    August 1, 2023 in Poland ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Got up early and had fun navigating my rental from the old town to the airport. Flying to Gdansk with a 1 hour connection in Warsaw. My Warsaw flight was over 30 mins late. Had to sprint from one end of the terminal to the other end to just board in time. I had a perfect view of the guys loading the luggage and lets just say i wasn't at all surprised that my backpack didn't make it.

    Another gray rainy day but made the best of it and wandered dizzily through the gorgeous old town streets. Then the rain really came down in buckets for a long time. Got some traditional soup and eventually set out to find some good craft beer between rain drops.

    Landed at very hard to find spot called pub 107 with an amazing beer list. Was hard at first to meet anyone because they were all good friends. But eventually befriended 6ft7 jacob and his friend matt. They took me to another bar where we met paulina and izka. Jacob and matt went home and the girls took me to a dance club which became a much later night than i intended. But really fun. And when i got back to my hotel, my backpack had arrived yay!    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 20

    Trakai / Kaunas / Vilnius

    July 31, 2023 in Lithuania ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Picked up my rental car at the airport and headed off towards Trakai. I paid for the cheapest Economy car but they gave me a really nice Volkswagen SUV. That doesn't happen often. But the guy said he didn't have any other automatic transmissions so he had to give me this one. Yay.

    Rained most of the way to Trakai but cleared up beautifully just as i arrived. Trakai has a cool old castle on an island. There wasn't tons to see but its in such a pretty location and really well preserved. Went for lunch at a nearby place that some Lithuanians recommend to me from the night prior. And wow did it rain while i was eating. Speaking of which, had a really yummy lamb stew. Apparently Trakai was their first capital. This doesn't make any sense to me because its just a village.

    Just as i finished up, the rain stopped. Definite theme today :) Headed off to lithuania's second biggest city Kaunas. Made a wrong turn but somehow ended up in the old town and right into an available parking spot. I was wondering how difficult that was going to be. Apparently not difficult at all :)

    Definitely much smaller than vilnius. There's a really nice big plaza with some nice churches nearby and a wonderful long pedestrian street lined with restaurants and shops for many many blocks. Walked up and down and then sat for a beverage to relax for a bit. And then decided i better head back to vilnius before it gets dark. Navigating alone in a foreign city is challenging enough without having to deal with darkness too.

    Just before arriving in vilnius the skies poured down buckets of rain again. I had to pull over a few times. This part was tricky... how would i find parking for my vehicle in the old town? All the streets are narrow and jammed with cars. All my research on the internet resulted in everyone suggesting to just not do it. To not even bother trying haha. I pinpointed on my map a spot i thought looked like maybe my best bet two blocks from my hotel on a long straight street thats wider than most. And super luckily found a spot just as the rain stopped too. One of those days where everything works out just right.

    Noticed on the street of my hotel a placard about the jewish getto during WWII. I didn't realize i was staying in the getto area. Very sad write-up but definitely worth a read. Will post my photo of it here.

    Was supposed to meet up with stacey and Daniel again but they were too tied. As was i. Fell asleep pretty fast at 7:30pm and woke up at 1130pm. Travel day tomorrow so i took care of some bookings and went back to sleep.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 19

    Vilnius - Day 3

    July 30, 2023 in Lithuania ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    Late morning i joined a 2.5 hour walking tour of Vilnius. Like Riga, highly informative and at the same time many sad stories. Their existence was almost entirely under polish or Russian control until the berlin wall came down. And according to my tour guide, 90-95% of jews did not survive WW2 in Lithuania.

    There's a small part of the city called Užupis that considers itself its own country. When the tour guide said they stamp passports in a nearby building she pointed to, i ran over and got an Užupis stamp haha. Its a bit of a tongue in cheek concept though. They celebrate their independence every April 1st. Which probably says enough :)

    Made some friends from france on the tour but unfortunately they were all flying later that day but they did mention something about a nearby cat cafe. So i went there and hung out with a dozen cats for a while before going for my own cat nap.

    Around 8:30 walked all over the old town for a restaurant. Lots closed because its a sunday and none of the open ones were drawing me in. Then remembered i hadn't yet visited a place called the beer library. Walked in there and while talking to the bartender about my options, met Stacey from vancouver. And she invited me to join her and her husband Daniel. I think these are the first 2 Canadians I've ran into. Chatted forever until they kicked us out because it was getting late. Finished up at the same place as the night prior and met a whole other bunch of friendly lithuanians.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonScandinavia and the Baltics
    Day 18

    Vilnius - Day 2

    July 29, 2023 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Stsrted the day with a proper scare. I visited the st johns church and at the bell tower i took glass elevator to the top. I literally had to watch the walls cuz that ride was intense. It freaked me out simething crazy. At the top, the views of the city were phenomenal but i knew i still had to go back down. I decided to force myself down the rickety old stairs similar to National Treasure. Wow that was nerve wracking. Some moved, most creaked. My heart was pounding.

    After that went to a nearby restaurant myoko 4 and ordered local delicacies of herring and beet soup. It doesn't look appetizing in the pics at all but soooo good.

    Then did a massive walkabout. I think i covered over 10km. Vilnius has amazing churches at every turn or in the horizon so i had no end to my next destination. Was a fun discovery constantly. This city is much more spread out than riga or tallinn.

    I tried to get to the beer library in the jewish quarter but it was not open until 5pm so i found a great place called senators (definitely a sign!) And walked in. Met Lithuanian lucas the bartender and we hung out and chatted for maybe 4 hours. Haven't solved world peace yet but i think we are on the right track.

    Took a nap and went back out to discover the beer library was now closed. Noooo. But met
    Mindaugas and his gf at a nearby beer garden. From there went a few more places pretty close to my hotel. Talked a ton of politics to a really nice local couple and broke the news to davidos that his taste in movies is terrible haha.    Read more

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