World Tour 2005 - Poland & Beyond
Poland 
06-16 Krakow (Poland) 9:15AM Just arrived after 11 hours of bus. Really tired. I'm going to sleep a few hours before visiting the city... . Rynek Glowny Square is a nice place to hangout. I like this city.
06-17 Warsaw. Only 3 hrs by express train. Got 1 hr too soon at the train station (Krakow). After 24 hrs in Poland I just noticed that Poland has 1 hr difference with the rest of Eastern Europe. Fake Old Town. Everything was rebuilt after WWII. Not much to see. Just checked the cultural events. Not much. Umh..... I should have stayed an extra day in Krakow. Moving to Lithuania tomorrow morning.
Lithuania 
06-18 Vilnius(Lithuania). Warsaw-Vilnius 10 hrs by train. I'm staying at the Youth Hostel.
06-19 Vilnius - Small but nice city. Laundry & cooking. Yes cooking ! At YHs you can cook. And in this one you can bring your wine. Went to see Star Wars III. When I'l go back to Japan I have to watch them all from 1 to 6.
06-20 Vilnius - The Chinese consulate here asks for a letter of invitation to get a visa. So, I'll get it in Finland or Russia. Wow! $150 US for the Russian visa with the letter of invitation. I'll get it tomorrow afternoon. Hair cut. Cooked a nice trout. About $1 + Wine + Camembert
06-21 Vilnius - Got my visa for Russia. Went to see "Batman begins"
Latvia 
06-22 Train to Riga (Latvia). Nice little old town and luckily there was a festival today. Lot of smiling people dancing and playing music. Very colourful.
Estonia 
06-23 Bus to Tallinn(Estonia) - It's a holiday. Eeeeverything is closed. A few pictures.
Finland 
06-24 Ferry to Helsinki (Finland). Nice cruise. Wow! Finland is really expensive. And it's a holiday here too. All the Finnish are out of town for at least 3 days. Only tourists here. Shops, markets, bars & cafes are closed. Only one market is open. The one under the central train station. Wander across the city.
06-25 Helsinki - Only one place where I've found Finnish people. At the amusement park. And it's a nice one. Stay a few hours there. Buy my train ticket for St-Petersburg.
Russia 
06-26 St-Petersburg No problems getting into Russia. I'm at the YH. Found a Kodak shop to transfer my pictures on a CD.
06-27 St-Petersburg - I'm not taking my Chinese visa here. Same problem as in Vilnius, plus the delay is a full week. Visit the city. Nice buildings. No main cultural events today or tomorrow.
06-28 St-Petersburg - The Hermitage museum is huge and in the same class as The Louvre or the British Museum. Take a loooot of pictures. Don't miss them. You could spend days and weeks here if you want to see everything.
06-29 Moscow - Night train. Went to the Chinese embassy. Bureaucracy. They open from 9:00 to 12:00. They let enter one person every 15~20 minutes. In the guide book they say to get there at 7:00 and if there are already more than 20 people in front of you, forget about getting in. I believe it. So, no China and Mongolia for this trip. I'm taking the train to Vladivostok with a day stop in Irkutz.
06-30 Moscow under the rain - Visited Red Square and everything around. Ate at the famous McDonald. When it opened in 1990 it was an expensive restaurant for the average Russian. Now it's one of the cheap joints in town. Got a good job offer from a friend in Japan for the summer. So after Vladivostok I'll be crossing to Japan and the loop will be closed for the World Tour 2005.
07-01 Moscow - Last day - Visited a few places in the suburb.
07-02/04 TransSiberian Train - Enjoying the ride. Play chess a lot. Listen music on my iPod. Every stop the train does everyone rushes out to be first at the different stalls to buy food or drinks or just to stretch. Or you can buy the train's meal. Not bad.
07-05 Irkutsk - A nice shower and a nice bed.
07-06/09 In the train again. THIS is the famous Baikal lake! Click! Met a nice Russian family in the train. It's a pity we couldn't communicate much.
07-09 Vladivostok - Finally ! The ferry I wanted to take this evening to Japan is full. The next one is in 2 weeks. The ferry to Korea is in a week. Monday's plane to Niigata is full. Everyone is going to Japan for the Expo in Nagoya. And not much to see here and Russia is really expensive. So, I'm flying tomorrow to Seoul (Korea) from where it is easy to go back home (Japan).
07-10 Made it to Seoul (Korea)! - Good to be out of Russia. I'm going out now shopping for a plane ticket for Japan for tomorrow. No! They aren't open on Sundays.
07-11 Seoul - Got my ticket to Tokyo. I'll be in Japan this evening. Sushi tomorrow ^_^
07-12 Tokyo - I confirm : EARTH IS ROUND .
The highlights : Going down the French channels especially the Canal du Midi and stopping for lunch to eat pâté, cheese & bread and delicious pastries. Wine in the evening. Further down the road going to the concert, ballet & opera. The nice cities of Yalta and St-Petersburg. Without forgetting the strielka. And finally the long trip on the TransSiberian train.
For the ones who asked me "Where are the most beautiful women in the world?" Now I can answer that they are in Ukraine. If you like the superwoman type.
On the road from Romania to Irkutsk I met 5 times the same Canadian guy by coincidence. World can be small sometimes.
The main problems:
- The bad weather in France.
- Not being able to get the visa for China and so not visiting Mongolia.
- My problem with two fingers. They took about two months to fully recuperate.
What about the bicycle idea? It was my first trip by bike. I did it but I wouldn't do it again. At least I wouldn't carry the weight of a tent & a sleeping bag and all the accessories. No flat tires. A great bike.
The most useful piece of equipment : the iPod to store the pictures & to listen to music.
Where would I go again? : Cap d'Agde, Sommières (during the Medieval Festival), Bucharest & Odessa for the concerts, opera & ballet (really cheap & of great quality), Yalta, visit my friends in Ukraine, Riga during the festival, and finally the nice city of St-Petersbourg.
Thing I should have prepared better before departure : Study Russian.
Took over 4000 pictures and a few short videos. Kept about 1200 of them on a first screening. 649 on the final. The 222 best ones are here on my web site.