Days 48-49: Riga, Latvia

A replica of the Gulag at the Occupation Museum.


Orthodox Cathedral, of the Russian variety.


The Freedom Monument, aka Milda.


Art Nouveau building on Alberta iela. Check out the details.


More Art Nouveau at sunset.


House of Blackheads.


The ugliest skyscraper in the known universe. Less than affectionately called "Stalin's Birthday Cake." Did the guy actually deserve this monstrosity? Three hours in the Occupation Museum will answer that. Yeah, he did.


Riga's Old City from atop St. Peter's Cathedral spire.

We also went to Lithuania, but we have no pictures because it was 3 in the morning on our way to...

Days 45-47: Tallinn, Estonia

Rain followed us here too. But the rivers in the streets made for a cute picture.


"Estonian Meat Plate for Two." Seriously, that's what it was called. Meatballs, chicken schnitzel, bacon, pork, and pig knuckle. Mmmm.


(burp)


Marty's about to explode and Leah's ready for Round 2.


Tallinn's Old Town from the top of St. Olaf's Church--formerly the tallest church in Europe.


Dinner at Old Hansa, the authentic Medieval restaurant.


Kadriorg Palace, a home of Peter the Great.


Night (finally) falling, over the Old Town. It'd been a good week without nightfall.


Nevsky Cathedral.

Days 43-44: Rovaniemi, Finland and the Arctic Circle

Midnight Sun? Foiled again…


…but we did make it to the Arctic Circle.


We saw Santa Clause, or at least his office.


I’m getting the hang of this.


The shot of Santa’s Toy Shop that didn’t cost $10…


…and our picture with Santa that didn’t cost $25.


Dunno what happened here, but Marty appears to have a chin-stache.


Not the proudest moment of our trip, but we managed to make it to the “northest”(?) McDonald’s in the world.


Maybe this one was a little self-indulgent. Is this getting old yet? And not just that... I have no idea where we'll find a Marissa or Caelyn in Eastern Europe...

Days 40-42: Helsinki, Finland

The Senaatintori (Senate Square). I’m sensing a pattern here…



Upenski Cathedral.


Is this really authentic Native American music?


Marty is bewildered by the menu at a traditional Finnish restaurant…


…and this is what we ended up with. It was actually pretty good—reindeer stew and fried Baltic herring.


Doesn't seem like much for three days...but that's because most of our time in Hell-sinki was spent trying to find his bag the airline lost. Happy Birthday Marty. :(

Days 37-39: Bergen, Norway and the Fjords

Myrdal Plateau on the train ride to Bergen.

Old Bryggen section in Bergen on a cloudy day.

Parkering whenever possible. Just thinking of my Godson while in Norway.

Parkering not allowed makes Marty sad.

The funicular to the top of Mt. Floeyen.

View from the top.

A troll snuck up on Leah… and Marty takes his revenge. (They really do infest the place…)

The weather is less than cooperative for the Fjord Cruise in Sognefjorden...

...and it makes Leah’s journey to the homeland sad.

Even so, it was still pretty amazing.

At last, something that drenched us more than the weather!!!

Wonderful timing! The weather clears up as we are leaving the city!

Days 35-36: Oslo, Norway

Vigeland Park.


Pillar of People?


We wanted to stay for sunset, but it wasn’t until 1 am, and it had been a long day. This was taken at 9:15.


Akershus Festning (fort).


Ring-spiration at the Viking Ship Museum.