Is it weird to be back?

I've been getting this question, or some form of it, for several weeks now. It feels like more than a month has gone by since I returned home. If I had to put a guess to it, I'd say it feels like it has been 3 or 4 months since I left Estonia. Sometimes, it is like it never happened at all. The first few weekends home seemed a little anti-climactic...it is as if my body was saying 'it is good to be home' but my mind was saying 'what, no trips to new locales this weekend? How dull!'. But I think I am settled back in pretty much by this point. My dogs have forgiven me for leaving them for so long and my husband has quit using my 3 month absence as ammunition to get me to take the dogs out or do the dishes when it is his turn.

It is the little things about returning home that can throw you for a loop. For instance, I have been cold most of the time I have been back. Now you may be wondering how I can be cold here in stifling hot Florida when I just returned from the colder climate of Estonia. Two words: air conditioning. I am just not used to it anymore and every building I go into feels freezing cold to me.

As for things I miss about Estonia (the second question everyone seems to ask), yes there are things I miss. I do miss the freedom of being able to walk around by myself, day or night, without having to worry about my personal safety. I miss all the exercise I was getting walking around the city. And I do miss the friends I made. And kohuke...oh if only someone could send kohuke!

Experience Istanbul

Shortly after I arrived, as my shuttle raced down the seaside highway, the breeze hitting my face, the smell of salt air and meat grilled by picnicking families, and Turkish music blasting through the stereo, I realized that you don’t just go to Istanbul…you experience Istanbul. It engages all 5 senses: sight (the mosques with their towering minarets, houses as far as the horizon, the beautiful blue Bosphorus), smell (sea air, body odor on the tram, sweet smoke of the nargile pipe), taste (mezes, fresh watermelon, apricot juice), sound (the 5 daily calls to prayer, the honking of traffic, the babble of the bazaars) and touch (crowded against passengers on the tram, having to throw elbows to get those that push up too close to back off, the warm sunshine).

In Istanbul, at least if you are traveling alone, you will find yourself with (uninvited and of course unofficial) tour guides. I had a tour of the Blue Mosque (was then invited for tea…thanks for the tip, Katherine) and as soon as I got rid of my guide, another gave me a tour of the Hippodrome area. I finally ditched my ‘guides’ and visited the Basilica Cistern, which was my favorite spot…it was cool and peaceful with soft music and gentle movement of the water, which was a striking contrast to the hot, crowded streets above. The Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar were, of course, crazy and exhausting…the haggle is part of the game but I think I got a few decent deals. If they like you after the deal is over, they usually give you something free…I wound up with a few extra trinkets this way. The Bosphorus Cruise was long (1 ½ hours each way with a 3 hour stop in between) but well worth the time investment as it glided by beautiful mosques and palaces of both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul…and the final stop on the Asian side allowed time for a trip up to an old castle remnant with fabulous views of where the Bosphorus meets the Black Sea (and now I can say I have been to Asia).

I definitely was glad I got a hotel with a pool…a quick dip served as a perfect mid-day break when the heat and the crowds got to be too much. My hotel had an excellent view of the Blue Mosque but was actually closer to Suleyman Mosque, so I was able to hear their calls to prayer quite well. I liked the calls as they were very melodic and a good reminder to pray even though I am not Muslim.

As I whiled away my final evening, drinking tea from tulip glasses and smoking the nargile pipe in the courtyard of a mosaic cafe, I knew: this is Istanbul.

Southern Estonia

I don't have many pics from last weekend's adventure but I went to Sooma National Park in Southern Estonia with my friend from the American embassy and some of her friends. It was nice to be around a group of Americans again...we had two cabins (we were the only ones there) at Riisa Rantso, which was a cute rustic little place. The ladies who worked there could not have been more nice (it is true that once you get outside of Tallinn the people tend to be friendlier). In the evening we went on the 'famous' floating sauna. Well, their website claims it is famous but they also claims it will take you down river which we found was not the case...we wound up being docked so technically it was floating but it didn't go anywhere. The next day, we took a bog walk at Sooma National Park. Now I don't know what I was expecting a bog to be, but it was somehow a bit disappointing; the scenery was pretty though.

Heading off to Istanbul this morning.

The countdown is on...

In my first post, the countdown was on ’to’ Estonia and now the countdown is on to leave Estonia. A little over two weeks left! I can’t believe how fast it is going, but I am so ready to get home. It would have been much easier if Tom and the dogs were here with me.

Karmo’s birthday was last week…we got him a kringle but we couldn’t put a ’baby’ in it. I looked for one, but they don’t have craft stores like Michael’s here in Estonia and I was unable to find one. (Picture of Karmo, Julia and Merit)

I wound up staying in Estonia last weekend because the weather was lousy and I didn’t really feel like tromping around Riga in the rain. My friend Terje and I went to lunch and shopping on Saturday and I went to dinner and an outdoor concert (it was so cold!) with Julia on Sunday…this was our last time to get together, as she will be in Canada for 3 weeks.

I went to Pirita area yesterday where the 1980 Olympic Sailing events were held (if it doesn't look familiar, it may be because the U.S. boycotted the Olympics that year). I also took some pictures of the Kadriorg area where Tom and I had visited while he was here in early May. The trees are in bloom now and they have the gardens in at the castle so it is much prettier.

Prague...Czech it out!

(Ok, I came up with this blog title BEFORE I saw the same cheesy logo on a T-shirt!)

Maybe it is just my Czech roots but I felt a deep connection to Prague. It was cold and rainy the whole weekend...I can't imagine how beautiful it must be on a sunny day! It was amazing, even in the gray, rainy weather. Now, to say Prague is amazing is like saying a Renoir is a 'nice painting'; I don't think words (or even pictures) can really do Prague justice. There is so much intricacy and detail that it is hard to know what to point your camera at. My camera broke the second day, but I am kind of glad because it gave me a chance to stop looking through the camera and just absorb the city. I went to Charles Bridge, St Vitus Cathedral (unbelievable), the Loreta (they don't let you take pictures there), Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock (large crowds gather to see the saints come out on the clock on the hour), Powder Gate, St. Wenceslas Square (no pics, camera was broken at this time). I definitely didn't get to see or do all that I wanted...but at least I got to visit a city I have always wanted to see and definitely want to go back to.

The buildings in part of Prague still have their original identifiers (they weren't numbered until much later) so it was fun finding and 'collecting' all the different signs: two suns, the red lamb, the golden key, a golden panther and many others (I never did see the green lobster though).

The food was unbelievable in Prague...not exactly a capital of healthy cuisine though. I ordered a traditional Czech dish, Smažený Sýr (fried cheese), for dinner my first night. Now, lest you think this is just cheese sticks like you would get at your local TGI Friday's let me set the record straight: this is a meal consisting of 3 or 4 different types of big wedges of fried cheeses...and it comes with a side of tartar sauce and french fries. It is meant to be enjoyed without thinking about calorie content or cholesterol! Needless to say, I wanted something a little lighter my second day...but I did get to try a few local pastries...some kind of nut pastry was really good!

I did some souvenir shopping during the heavier bouts of rain and got my Dad a Father's Day present (or two). Also had to buy a new camera because I have one month and a few more trips before I come home. On Sunday morning when getting ready to leave Prague I saw on CNN Interational: Orlando Magic made it to the NBA Finals! It is so cool to see good news about your home town when you are in a foreign country.