Unmapped Escapades

When we crossed the border from Lithuania into Poland, our Lonely Planet guidebook suddenly became obsolete, and our knowledge base, our bible, is now Let’s Go Eastern Europe. It’s a book that’s designed to blow you through Eastern Europe at a pace of about one country every 2 days. It points out the [...]

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We had to drop 500 fat ones on a new digital camera after the old one - we’ve had it since before we left for Kenya (Summer 2002) - crapped out.  RIP. 
Check out pictures from our campsite and hike in Zakopane here and let me know if you think it was money well spent.  I [...]

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A folk singer friend of ours tells a story about playing a series of gigs in Arizona, driving from one town to the next.  The towns were small, conservative, and boring, and as the band worked their way toward Phoenix, the big city became Eden in their minds.  On their final approach, a chant was [...]

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Yay!  We’re on the train, not the bus, which heightens the comfort level of the next 8 hours dramatically.  On the negative side, it also heightens the stress level as the bikes take up a lot of space between the seats.  There’s no tuckng them away underneath.  Just hoping wagon #2 stays relatively uncrowded.
This gives [...]

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Vilnius seems to be a city that is at ease with itself. It’s grittier, grungier, graffitied…er than the other major Baltic cities. Dress is down and personality is up. There’s a lot more laughter from alterna-chicks than clenched cheekbones of high-fashion vixens.
An example of the fun-loving Lithuanian personality (and the reason we’d [...]

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Monica’s parents visited Riga 6 years ago. Denis said that what he remembered of the city was that it was full of women wearing miniskirts, tight tops, and high heels. I say that he’s right. I also say that’s not the only thing that makes Riga a wonderful place.
Riga is alive. [...]

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The LP guidebook has begun the slow process of redeeming itself. The writer of the Latvian section gave stunningly glowing reviews of a town northeast of Riga called Cesis. “We just loved Cesis,” the section began. Well, the writer was right.
We got off the train in Cesis, with thoughts of riding our [...]

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We’re on our way out of Estonia. We spent the day hanging around Otepaa, taking short jaunts to the Dali-Lama-blessed Lake Puhajarv, eating raspberries in the square, and trying to get motivated at the energy column.
Tomorrow morning, we bus to Valga and continue by train into Latvia, to Cesis or Seguilda, towns not far northeast [...]

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Bicycle touring is a curious thing. Before getting on the bikes in the morning, it’s easy to insist that, tonight, we’re going to camp at a place 3kms outside of the town where we’ll be stopping for the night, paying no more than 10 bucks. Our determination wanes over the next 70 kilometers [...]

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How long has it been since you´ve seen the video for the Beastie Boys´ “Fight For Your Right”? If you haven´t had the pleasure in a while, watch it. It’s hilarious. Mike D., MCA, and the other guy appear to be about 17, and they take themselves as seriously as John Stewart [...]

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