Radio free Europe ...

I still have a lot of random thoughts and observations percolating around my head in the wake of my Europe trip. Here are a few ...

• "We can't leave the world to the Chinese and the Americans." An EU Constitution backer, quoted on BBC World Service on the day the Netherlands voted down the Constitution.
• Dutch jenever -- I tried a shot of this at a cafe in Amsterdam (well, several shots, if truth be told). I really liked it. It was much smoother than I expected it to be. I think I was expecting something more gin-like, but ti was different. A cleaner taste.
• The Man with Three Faces -- or Kolme Naoga Mees in Estonian, was my favorite watering hole in Tallinn. It had a shadowy, hipster thing going on. Like many of Tallinn's medieval spaces, it was dark, subterranean even. And they had absinthe, which I took full advantage of. They also had a very cool ceramic fireplace ...
• Caught an exhibition of expressionist Egon Schiele's work at the Van Gogh museum. I liked it. I think. Very disturbing. It was cool the way they wove performance pieces into the exhibit.
• Loved the Van Gogh museum. It was incredible to move through the galleries and watch how he progressed from somber, dour works like "The Potato-Eaters" to the explosions of color and electricity that radiated from his later efforts.
• City break destinations. This is the first time I encountered the term, in this case describing Tallinn. It generally seems to apply to European weekend destinations, preferably in cities where prices are low. I think the dawn of discount airlines in Europe gave this idea a big boost.
• The death of travelers cheques: I started wondering if omnipresent ATMs will eventually lead to the extinction of travelers cheques. Why bother with those cumbersome things when you can walk up to an ATM anywhere in the word and extract cash on demand? After getting my bank statement, though, I'm having second thoughts. The fees for ATM withdrawals are pretty stiff.
• Eten en drinken. The motto of Herberg Hooghoudt, where Lara and I had a great Dutch meal. It was just down the street from our hotel ..
• Land of contrasts: Interesting, the difference between medieval Estonia, still standing, and the Soviet-era crumbling crap that surrounds the old city. The Estonians are turning their ancient history into a vibrant tourist economy while the Soviet stuff struggles to survive a mere 50 years.
• The rat race: We arrived in Tallinn in time to catch the Rat Race, during which folks with cell phones and briefcases run through the streets of the old city. It was pretty amusing ...
• French bread: During the cab ride from De Gaulle into Paris, we passed what appeared to be a minor accident. A woman was talking to a policeman while a man stood on the corner across the street. clutching a two-foot-long baguette in one hand and watching the proceedings intently. It was the first of many baguette sightings while we were in Paris.
• Ross Mayfield was in Estonia recently and has an interesting post in his blog arguing for a more open attitude toward outsiders. I think he's right, but I also can understand why Estonians might be a bit xenophobic. They've been occupied for the majority of their history and have only been free of Soviet domination for a little over a decade. I think the country still is 30 or 40% Russian ethnically.
• Helsinki: Our daytrip to Finland was cool, literally and figuratively. We weren't really prepared for how cold it would be in June. Two young women who were selling tickets for a boat cruise burst out laughing when they tried to pitch us on a "summer tour." Clearly, the weather wasn't much like summer. But the tour was great. Helsinki is surrounded by islands, many of which have houses, each with its own sauna next to the sea.
• Two drunken Finns: Our neighbors in Tallinn were a pair of drunken Finnish car salesman who were in town to party. A lot of Finns come to Tallinn to drink, where it's alcohol and most everything is cheaper than it is across the Baltic Sea in Finland. They were nice guys. At first, we thought they were gay, but then they started explaining to Lara the wonders of the sauna, or "sow-na" as it's pronounced in Finland. The upshot was that there are few experiences more sublime for an American woman than to suana with a Finnish man. Fortunately, Lara declined the offer. But they managed to make it without causing offense.
• Perpetual dusk: The long days in Tallinn and Helsinki were really disorienting. We'd be out and about and suddenly realize it was 11 p.m. But it wasn't dark. Wasn't quite light, either. The nights were a bizarre twilight and I don't think I ever saw it get truly dark.

Posted by Bob Benz at 8:48 PM | Comments (1)