To Europe in June

Hello

We are going to East Europe on June... we will leave 16th or 17th, and will go by our car. http://davesgarden.com/showforumphoto.php?imageid=8919

Our route will be Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Czech, Germany, Denmark (we might visit Deblynn ;), Sweden and back to Finland. Has any of you ever travelled with car in these countries? (we have been in Germany, Austria, Sweden and Denmark before with out old car). I found a nice hotel in Czech, and would like to know any hotels in these countries which have a secure parking place, and possibly breakfast. We would not like to visit very big Cities (except Wien and maybe Budapest and Berlin).

So if you have any experiences about Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Czech, let me know.. :)

And which country do you want a card from? LOL

hi Evert

right now there are 3 girls from Slovakia, Hungary, and Czech Rep doing Au Pair work here in a town near to me. My friends son is dating the Slovakian. I'll see what I can find out for you.

Mark

I love any card which it have beautiful card. =)

Evert,

My husband and I stayed in a wonderful Gasthaus just outside of Innsbruck. It had a charming restaurant inside the building, too. I'm not sure about breakfast, but we did eat dinner there. Unterperfuss is the town's name. Here is a link that might help:
http://www.tiscover.at/guide/5,en,SCH1/objectId,RGN780at,curr,EUR,season,at2/home.html

You're surrounded by the Alps and it's absolutely breathtaking.

Good Luck on your tour. But who will water the plants for you?

Thanks Mark =)

Redrose, will find you a nice card.

Smiln, first we thought to go to Innsbruck, but I think we can't as there might not be a good way to motorway to Czech then.. not sure. Anyway, we were in Söll, Austria (western part). It was a wonderfull place. So warm and lots of mountains =)

Dinu, I don't know yet -- maybe some of my friends, hehe :p

EVERT,

don't spend too much time in Berlin. It's too big, dirty, overcrowded, and not the same atmosphere as before. If you have to go there, just drive through and you'll see what I mean.

Spend preferably a day or two in Hamburg. It's much nicer, cleaner and greener, maybe we can meet for a beer or three.

All the best

Wintermoor

p.s. : I notice you haven't travelled the fjörds in Norway, nor have you seen the rolling hills of England, the beautiful Scottish Highlands, the ruggedness of Wales, nor the forty shades of green of Ireland. They are all very much worth a visit.

This message was edited Wednesday, Apr 17th 5:17 AM

I have visited Berlin before, and you're right, it is big. There was much more space todrive that in Helsinki though.. We didn't stop there I think. :} I remember when we were in the old DDR at the countryside. It was a little hotel and the hotel area was so nice.
Yeh, we could come to Hamburg =) Anyway, I prefer coke, hehe ;)

Yes, I haven't visited Norway, GB, or Eire yet, but sure would like to. But maybe later, when I get older and can travel with my friends-- :>

Wintermoor, Evert is 14, don't let him talk you into a beer, unless that's done there.

Hahhah :)

last weekend I past a valley that showed 40+ shades of green and I didnt have my camera with me. someday I will take a photo and post it for everyone to see what scenery we have.

Mark

Ireland must be green...

Evert, if you skip Budapest then you might as well not even leave your house. It's the most interesting place I've ever been.

Innsbruck, Austria is the most beautiful place I've ever been, and it's just a bit south of Salzburg. You could go through Germany, down through Munich, into Salzburg, south into Innsbruck, then east through Wien and then Budapest.

Then, you could probably turn north to get to Prague and the rest of E. Europe.

dave

But that would be a pretty long trip to travel around Germany and Austria.. and we will go by Via Baltica.. Maybe we will drive through Budapest if it is possible. I would like to see Hungarian countryside. Prague I will not want to go, it is such a 'dangerous' place. Anyway we will possibly stay in Svitavy.

Time's runing out, we are leaving next sunday morning... And we haven't even changed any money. Good that they use same currency as here in Austria and Germany..!

We will take Silja Super Sea Cat on Sunday morning from Helsinki, and go to Tallin. Takes 1,5 hours. Then we'll drive down south and stop at least in Pärnu, to eat ice cream. Then we will drive to Saulkrasti, Latvia and stay there over night.
Next day we are driving to Poland, and we will go through Lithuania. I want to stop in Kaunas, old city. When we at last come to Suwalki, Poland we will stay in Motel Private.
Next day we will make a grazy long drive from Northern Poland to south in Slovakia! Gosh... not wanting to see or visit any concentration camps in Poland. My dad wanted to go to Auschwitz but it is a little too much in west and I mde our route from east so..
In Slovakia, we are not sure about the hotel. :/ Anyway, if/when we find one, we will next day drive in Slovakia, and maybe stay another night there, or in Hungary. After that we aare spending Juhannus - Finns' midsummer party in Vienna/Wien, Austria. It is also my mother's birthday, she will be 50.
We spend 2 days in Vienna and I will take lots of Finnish Euro coins. Wanting the austrians to have some. Afterthat we drive to Czech and stay in Hotel Fontana, in Svitavy. There is a PC connected to internet where I can surf and say hello from there, I hope..
Then we will drive in East Germany, then going to Denmark and driving by the new long bridge to Sweden. Then killing boring Swedish countryside and weird language I don't even want to understand, hahaha :) few hours that and we are in Stockholm. Will propapbly visit zetas garden shop near outer Stockholm, they have lots of interesting plants. I hope they still do have the Davidias, I wanna buy one =)
Then back to Finland by a ferry.

:D

Anyone wanting to come pack with me?

Have lot of fun your trip and don't forget the card. =) Have a safe trip to go and back home safety!

Have a great trip Evert! If you see any of my relatives in Germany, tell them hi! Just kidding, I wouldn't even recognize them myself. LOL! What a great opportunity to see so much. You will have a great time and you are so smart and have a brain like a sponge and will absorb so much. I'm very happy for you.

Me, Me, Me. I wanta come with you all....What fun you are going to have...Please use that sponge (brain) and soak it all into that head...and bring back great things to remember...Tell us all about it...Should have sent a Journal, in the last mail....you could write it all down...
So nice that you are going to have a great trip.....drive safe...(Tell your dad)...Enjoy your trip.....Happy days ahead I am sure.....Diana

:D I will take somekind of journal with me, but will write it in Finnish, much easier, heh. So, which country do ya want card from? *LOL* Just finishing my card addresslist...

And oh yes, here is our car: http://davesgarden.com/showforumphoto.php?imageid=8919

Either one which the most beautiful card. =D

Hey what ever is easier for you on what languages you use....and your car is nice..even in the light snow...is that cleats, or studs in the tires??? Geeze, would be nice in winter...Not winter now.....have a great trip...Lets see you smile....Diana

Evert, you still have snow on your ground?! I know you're gone by now, but have a wonderful trip! Can't wait to read your journal :)

Yeah, of course we have still nosw in ground, our iglu just melted and we had to move inside again. Wonder where I could keep my polar bear and penquin now as it starts to be too hot for them, it was in the +5 yesterday! Gosh..


ROTFL

Of course we don't have snow anymore. The photo is posted March 12th.. :D

Yes wantabe, they are studs. It is illegal to drive here in winter with 'summer tyres', you must have either stud tyres or 'friction tyres'.

Have a good trip Evert
Look forward to hearing about your adventures when you get back - or before if you manage to find an internet cafe!

When do you get back to Finland? You may have said, but if so i've missed it.

I am not sure and don't care... in 2,5 weeks I hope.

that's an awful lot of countries for 2.5wks LOL

Evert, I am so envious of your travels! You have a lovely safe trip and we will all be waiting to hear from you when you return. Be safe and take many photos!!
Hugs,
Michele

Yes, Badseed, I'm jealous, too!! Have a safe trip, Evert! I know you'll take lots of pictures and will show us when you get back ~ I'm looking forward to it!

I had an interesting stay in Dresden and Leipzig back in '89. That wasn't long after the wall came down. Dresden looked so depressing but had so much potential to be so beautiful as it once was before the war and the neglect by the Soviets. It was a very interesting place.

Oh, that wasn't fair, Evert :) How was I to know when you took a picture of your car ~ LOL... At least I know now that Finland is not that far North! You've a good sense of humor :)

:) Hmm... Finland still is far north but the climate isn't so cold as in the same latitudes for example in Russia (Siberia), Greenland or North Canada. :) Thanks to Gulf-stream and all the lakes ;)

Evert,
you said earlier that Prague was dangerous....... I've been there many times, it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, it is also called 'The Golden City'. It is NOT a dangerous place, I don't know where you heard that from, but it is not true, and as for Poland.......they'll steal the wheels from your car while it's moving. Try to get through Poland WITHOUT stopping!!
I've been there lots of times on tour with some artists, and one evening a wheel got STOLEN!!!! from a 32 Ton truck during the show.

Keep moving and give it the hammer through Poland, and head straight for Prague.

Happy trip M8!!

Wintermoor

Many Finns have been stolen in Prague, but I think it is problem in every city. Anyway, we wil lnot stop there, as with your car it is hard to park anywhere, and if you don't remember anymore where you parkedyour car.. hehe :)

Yes we are going to drive through Poland fast, but we will go to Slovakia, the little brother of Czech, with much less tourists ;)

I am really sad I only have 3 memory sticks to my camera and I cannot take so much photos then... 100 MB. :/ And my camera makes the photos so big in sizes and then the pictures turn out bad. And I cannot use the cheap memory sticks in my camera, I have to use the expensive Sony ones. >:|

Can't you go to a copy-shop or an internet cafe and load them down, either to a cd, or to your eMail adress Evert? You would then be able to have as many photos as you want.

Wintermoor

Try find a good internet cafe in east europe.. I have never burned photos to cd, and it is not always sure they have card readers in internet cafes. And posting them to my email... would take time, the photos are pretty big if let 'untouched'.

Evert, do you have a laptop PC to which you could download your pictures? You need to find a solution to this limitation because you'll want to take sooooooo many pictures!

Yes we have one, but it is not 'fully ours' and I think it isn't insured. :/ Just have to look if I find them selling memory sticks cheaper somewhere.

I've seen non-Sony memory sticks for Sony products in Wal-Mart for much less than the "official" memory sticks. Of course that won't do you much good since you're in Finland and Wal-Mart is over here...but there is an aftermarket memory stick. maybe you can find them on the net. I don't see them on the Wal-Mart website, but they have the 32Mb sony card for $25: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1663514&cat=63988&type=19&dept=5426&path=0%3A5426%3A63985%3A63988

Ah ha!....I knew I saw them somewhere. Here's some at Amazon (not made by Sony, but they are the memory stick nonetheless): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000630TJ/dealnewscom/103-0338584-7218264

This message was edited Friday, Jun 14th 6:05 PM

WOW, 128 MB for 70-80 USD!! Wish I could buy from there - but they only ship to US addresses. Here 128 MB costs about 100-130 EUR... 95 USD.

Just wanted to say last hi/bye in case I don't get to the puter on tomorrow morning.. Better safe than sorry ;) Moips