Archeological dinosaur remains, Lithuania

Dinopark gave us the opportunity to view archeological dinosaur remains. Please rotate your computer 90 degrees clockwise to view our movie of these important historical remains.

Plokštinė missile base, Lithuania

The Plokštinė nuclear missile base, constructed in 1960, was the first nuclear missile built by the Soviet Union. It was built in a remote area of Lithuania and was a top secret base housing four missile silos, each nine metres deep and capable of firing 40 tonne nuclear missiles.

All cities in Europe were within the 2500 km range of the missiles. The base is now testament to the enormous waste of money that was spent during the cold war on military hardware, money that could have been used to advance humanity in many ways.

The base is enclosed within an electrified fence overlooked by guard houses. The base cost as much to build as a small city.

How something so innocuous could be so lethal.

Gretel demonstating the thickness of the missile sleeve walls.

Looking down into the 30 metre deep missile sleeve.

Milk, roundabouts, Latvia and farewell to Estonia.

Tartu, Estonia represented another turning point in our trip, 27 degrees East being as far east as we will get. Two things have become apparent the further east we go: Men in Finland and Estonia drink copious amounts of milk and roundabouts become of gargantuan proportions. We are unsure if there is a correlation between the two observations.

Crossing into Latvia we witnessed the greatest differences in apparent wealth between rural and urban communities we have seen on our trip. Unlike New Zealand, most farm houses are very modest with exteriors in varying states of disrepair.

The countryside itself is very attractive with lots of rivers, bush, extending to impressive beaches on the Baltic coast. Getting between the two is a suspension testing experience, we witnessed mufflers and other auto debris littering the roads. Except when on the motorway, our average driving speed would not have exceeded 25 km/hr.

As with Estonia the people were exceptionally friendly and their competence in English made conversation easy.

Gretel sheltering from the omnipresent rain

Latvian children are very friendly, rain and cold weather did little to prevent Johan playing carpark football with local children..

This beach on the Baltic was designated for nudists only. The cold weather and rain meant we were protected from seeing any unseemly sights.

Sunset

Latvian river in their equivalent to our National Park

Tartu, Estonia

The principle reason for visiting Tartu was to experience their science centre. We were not disappointed, it contained a range of impressive 'hands on' exhibits that were both fun and educational.

The planetarium was, without doubt, the best we have visited. Interestingly the commentary was all in english. Most Estonians we have met are fluent in english.

The schools in Estonian villages are invariably the most cared for buildings in the village. Clearly education is highly valued. In Pisa assessments of 15 year olds' across, mathematics, reading and science, Estonia (along with Finland) score significantly higher than New Zealand; there must be something we can learn from them.

Where is the knife?

Too many pastries?

Defying gravity

Johan riding a bike across a tightrope.

Lightening the load.

Tallin, Estonia

Tallin was our first experience of Estonia, a walled medieval city full of interesting architecture, churches and fortifications. We camped at the marina where the European Youth Championships were being held, memories of many years ago.

Additionally we visited the 'Seaplane Museum',  giving an insight into both the military history of Estonia and viking life.

The marina and a brief glimpse of sunshine.

The seaplane museum included a range of yachts including this 470, the same class of yacht Gretel sailed in the world championships in 1981.

A submarine built for the Estonian navy.

Johan about to be launched

.... and travelling back in time about 1000 years.

A Russian Orthodox Church

Part of the Tallin town wall constructed in 1265.

Typical architecture within the 'old city'.

Turku archipelago, Finland

The Turku Archipelago is made up of 40,000 islands, a yachting heaven with flat water and good breezes. The Finns make the most of it with yachts of all description out sailing. The main islands are connected by ferries and bridges, the ferries being free to use as they are part of the 'road system'.

Motorhomes are now a rare sight on the roads, not many making it this far north east.

Johan getting some air.

Turku castle, Finland

The medieval castle castle in Turku has undergone extensive rebuilding since being damaged by Russian warship bombardment in 1941 (Finland fought alongside Germany in WW2, but their forces remained independent of Hitler's command. Finland was primarily in a battle with Russia, which resulted in a considerable portion of Finland being annexed by Russia).

The renovation has been expertly completed to provide a fascinating story about medieval life inside the castle.

Turku castle is situated overlooking the Baltic Sea.

The interior architecture is impressive.

This photo was taken at 1.00 am in the morning. At a latitude of 60 degrees north the darkness is not complete.

Sweden - SOS

We have changed our unit of distance; kilometres have been replaced by ABBA songs or in the case of longer distances whole ABBA cd's. For Tony and Johan it was a long way across Sweden - 14 albums and 6 songs to be precise

For us the Swedish countryside showed little variation - gently rolling land and extensive forests, Stockholm however, was a revelation. The old section had a labyrinth of inviting lanes while a range of interesting attractions were situated on small islands overlooking the mainland. One of these islands contained Stockhlolm's most famous attraction - the ABBA museum. For ABBA fans, this museum warrants inclusion on your 'bucket list'. It contained a  large range of ABBA memorabilia, even Benny's car! A huge collection of stage clothing was on display, as were Eurovision entries from Sweden over the decades and their performances. To cap it all off, the sun shone for nearly a whole day, the first time this has happened since Denmark.

Unfortunately we erred again by allowing insufficient time to see the city in as much detail as we would have liked,

First stop in Stockholm, the ABBA museum.

Alfred Nobel museum

Johan getting used to riding on cobbles.

A little bit of the USA  in Stockholm.

The infamous four

Oslo - the Fram and Viking museums, a Stave church and rain.

The Fram museum showcases the exploits of Roald Amundsen and other polar explorers. It is packed full with exhibits and information, including the Fram - the ship used by Amundsen when his expedition became the first to reach the South Pole. You could not help but come away in awe of such a brave and intrepid explorer.

The Viking museum was much smaller, but did contain three viking ships they had excavated and preserved. There were also a number of artifacts demonstrating the vikings skill in woodwork and metal work, and propensity to travel and trade.

This was our eleventh and last day in Norway, and our wettest. It has rained everyday we have been here with temperatures ranging between 6 -18 degrees. We are missing the sun.

Apart from the weather Norway has lived up to our expectations. Nowhere have we used our camera so frequently; the interface of water and land, the simple attractiveness of their buildings and boats, all these memories we will take with us.

Finally the friendliness of the people. Norwegians appear very trusting, often we would encounter small dinghies moored on isolated lakes with outboard motors attached. I doubt that either the dinghy or the outboard would be safe from thieves in many places in New Zealand.

The Fram exhibiting a decent beam and impressive bowsprit

A preserved viking longboat

Viking attention to detail was apparent in their carving

An out of focus Gretel at the helm of the Fram

 

 

 

Tony getting amorous (not really, he's past all that) outside a Stave church.

A Norwegian school

We endeavour to look at a school in most countries we visit. For sheer quality, schools in Norway would be hard to beat. We were lucky enough to be shown through a small village school with low student to teacher ratios, having one teacher per 15 students for the 170 students.

Further amenties included a synthetic football field and running track, gymnasium and large drama room.

Students are currently enjoying their summer break, but it was clear there were significant differences in classroom layout to that most commonly seen in New Zealand.

Johan showing his German heritage.

Lacking resemblance to a NZ classroom

Lots of indoor recreation (it does rain a bit in Norway).