I spent much more time in Finland and Estonia than I had originally planned. I am not complaining. I had a great time, but I can't afford to spend two weeks in each of the 20 countries! That will take 280 days! I was budgeting 120 days, although I may take over 150.
Estonia casualty report
People may leave their hearts in San Francisco, but I left a bunch of stuff in Estonia:
- Left my GoLite T-shirt.
- Left my black T-shirt.
- Lost my sunglasses.
- Broke my camcorder when I fell off a canoe in Estonia (it works, although it always tries to eject the tape and I can't fix it in Eastern Europe).
If I keep this up, I will come back to the US naked.
I've lost most of my stuff, now I'm lost in Latvia. Luckily, I found out a bit about the country along the way.
Beat up Baltics
The Baltics are like that little nerdy guy at school who always got beat up for his lunch money.
Wait, that sounds like me!
Consider the history of the Baltics:
- First the Danes ran the show.
- Then they sold it to the German Knights of the Sword (don't they just sound like a bunch of bad-asses?), who established the Teutonic Order and ruled the land in the 14th century.
- The Polish beat up Latvia for almost 100 years.
- The Swedes wanted some lunch money too, so they snapped up Estonia in 1620.
- After 20 years of fighting, the Russians conquered the place in 1721.
- The Soviets handed over the Baltics to Germany after WW I.
- The Estonians finally got their independence in 1920 and the Soviet promised never to invade again.
- Less than 20 years later, the Soviets were back.
- Then the Germans came back as WW II got started.
- Believe it or not, the Estonians and Latvians gave flowers to the Nazis because they were the liberators of the terrible Russian Bear.
- Then the Nazis showed their true colors and killed almost 500,000 Baltic folks in concentration camps. They also imposed their ugly language and did all those nasty things that Nazis do.
- Stalin took over after WW II and picked up where Hitler left off: 250,000 were deported Siberia.
Sometimes I am frustrated that we have to choose between two idiots: George Bush and John Kerry.
But think about the Baltics: they had to choose between Stalin and Hitler.
Wouldn't that make you want to stay home on election day?
In short, since they started the Baltics have been beaten like a rented mule.
The 2 million person chain
On Aug 23, 1989 about 2 million Baltic folks literally joined hands and formed a human chain that stretched a whopping 650km. That's about 400 miles. That eventually led to the Soviets letting the beat up nerd go (and they just killed a few people on their way out).
Roaming Riga
That's what I learned from the Museum of Occupation in Riga, Latvia. You know your country's history is bit rough when you can devote an entire museum to all the jerks who have occupied your land.
Riga is a beautiful city with an old city that is bigger and better than Tallinn. Charming alleys, cobblestone streets, and quaint cafes litter the capital of Latvia.
By the way, like Finland, Latvians aren't afraid to elect a woman as their president. In 1999 Vaira Vike-Freiberga became the first woman to head a former USSR state.
I will try to not leave anything in the remaining Baltic countries....
July 21, 2004
