Last part of the trip

So my family flew back home from Stockholm and I hung around with JF for a few more days. He has his own apartment that he's redone himself. We had a great time hanging out. After that, I traveled through Estonia and Latvia by myself before flying back to Kazakhstan. Very relaxing.

The walls of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Estonia is a small country and it's having trouble with the current economic crisis, but I really enjoyed it. The infrastructure was great, everyone speaks English, and the countryside is beautiful.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. It's a Russian Orthodox church, but most Estonians and Latvians (if they are religious) are Lutherans.

Skyline of the old town. It's one of the nicest medieval old towns I've seen.

A park, originally built around a summer palace for Peter the Great of Russia.

The palace for Peter the Great




The Estonian island of Saaremaa has one of the coolest castles I've been to, mostly because it has a complete moat.






Street in Kuressaare, Saaremaa. Many Finns have vacation homes here. The whole place had a nice relaxed atmosphere.










When I was in Kuressaare, the Estonian Motocross tour (yes there is such a thing) just happened to have a race out there. There were bikes and quads racing around a track at the local airport. The racers were mostly Estonian, with a few Latvians and Finns also competing.






Wreck





Quads





The next island I went to was tiny Kihnu, which only has a couple hundred inhabitants. It is a UNESCO world heritage site because of the unique dress, songs, and culture of the people. It's also really peaceful there.


A hedgehog in front of the place I stayed at.



I rented a bike and rode around the island for a day (it's only seven km long).




The traditional local dress. This is a picture of a picture from the museum.




The lighthouse at the end of the island.





A Latvian Open Air Museum (basically re-assembled villages) outside Riga.