In Hilvarenbeek, and from the Helsinki Airport

Here's two updates in one, since I wrote one in the Helsinki airport while we were waiting there:

(Sept. 15th, 2008; Helsinki Airport)

Coming from Russia, Mongolia, China, and South Korea, Finland by comparison seems like the most clean, safe and functional place in the whole world (which actually probably isn't too far from the truth). It makes me contemplate what was going through the minds of my great-grand parents when they left this place (although I know things were much different then... pre-independence and all). The only problem is that everything here is really expensive. But the Finns don't seem to mind. After all, they don't have to worry so much about retirement or what might happen to them financially if they get in a car accident or get cancer. Their tax money ensures that their government will actually take care of all that for them. The hotel we stayed at even offered subsidized vacations for low-income Finns! Add all this to the fact that people get paid by the government to stay home and take care of their kids, income-based traffic fines (because why should poorer people pay a higher percentage of their income for the same traffic violation?), and one of the most progressive and effective penal systems in the world. This is basically my idea of a welfare state utopia - now how do I convince my fellow Americans?

Of course, Finland also has it's share of social ills; not least of which is alcoholism, but it's still a lot better than what we've got going back home. At least in my opinion... and next we're off to the Netherlands which I am sure will provide another illuminating case study in how a country should be run.

(Sept. 20th, 2008; Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands, Noor's parent's house)

After a few days of sleeping on the floor in a shipping container cum student housing apartment in Amsterdam (thanks to Noor's brother) we've found ourselves in the cozy comfort of Hilvarenbeek. Lying only 8 kilometers north of the Belgian border, we were able to ride bikes to a little Belgian village this afternoon to purchase some lovely Trappist ales, and enjoy a real Belgian waffle. You really can't help but fall in love with the combination of the hip, progressive capital of Amsterdam and the lovely, bright green, windmill-dotted and bike friendly countryside of the Netherlands.

Noor's parents live in half of a 180 year old house that used to be owned by the minister of the nearby catholic church (with it's giant, ancient and charming tower) hence it's name "'t Vaticaan." The other half of the house holds Noor's aunt and uncle, as well as their bed and breakfast and huge costume shop. Apparently her family used to put on community plays, and therefore collected a bunch of costumes and props, which they now rent out for parties and plays at nominal costs. We spent about 2 hours today acting like kids, trying on outfits and taking pictures of ourselves. It was a lot of fun and made me wish I had been able to grow up with an awesome costume shop in my house!

Next, we plan to eat our way through Belgium in our spiffy new Mercedes rental car (we asked for a Peugeot, but got this!) to meet up with Kimmie at a campground outside of Paris. We're kind of sick of trains at this point (if you can imagine). But at least our car gets 35-50 mpg, so we can feel a little less crappy about driving, and hopefully save a little money. Trains in Europe are a lot more expensive that the ones in Russia, Mongolia and China!

From HM Hostel 1905 in Moscow:

After our first days in Irkutsk, we spent three days on Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal at Solnetchnaya Guest House. We stayed in a cozy 3 bed cabin room and were fed three hearty Russian country meals a day. It was really nice and relaxing and the food was delicious. We managed a few dips into the cold lake (+25 years for us!), but it really wasn’t as bad as we had expected it to be. The water was clear and fresh, the sky was sunny and the air was clean and beautiful. I wish we could have hiked to the other side of the island to see the real vastness of the lake, but it was 20 kilometers one way, which we couldn’t really manage on a day hike (and we didn’t want to miss too much of the food). We also had wanted to take a ferry from the island to the north end of the lake and take the train on to Moscow from there, but the summer ferry had stopped running the previous week. I guess that’s one of the downsides of coming after the tourist season.

So we had no choice but to return to Irkutsk, which wasn’t a very pleasant idea since when we had been buying our bus tickets a really sketchy guy had come up and tried to grab stuff out of Bevin’s bag. When she knocked his hand away, we ran across the street and went into a restaurant, only for him to follow us and try it again. It left us with a pretty creepy, unsettled feeling about Irkutsk in general, especially since we had been warned by several people about the apparent dangers of being a tourist in Irkutsk. But we made it back (in a super crowded death trap minibus) and stayed another night without incident, enjoying the benefits of running water and hot showers for another day before our long train trip.

We thought we bought way too much food for the train ride, but when we ran out of decent things to eat after the first 24 hours, it got pretty tedious. The train technically had a dining car, but the guy who ran it acted like any customers trying to buy food were unseemly intruders on his personal universe. So we survived on the kiosk peroshkis, hotdogs and soda for several meals. Not a good diet for a healthy intestinal tract. But we made it to Moscow, where we’ve graduated to street shwarma and microwave street calzones (budget minded as always). We did have a nice pricey meal to commemorate our last travel day with Bevin though.

We had a nice death themed day today, starting with a visit to Lenin’s tomb (much more lifelike, or rather deathlike, than Mao). It was pretty creepy descending into the chilly tomb down a dark black staircase, hushed into silence by humorless guards, greeted by Lenin’s eerily lit face and curiously curled, decrepit hands. After walking by the line of buried Russian leaders (including Stalin) by the Kremlin wall, we took the metro out to Novodevichy Convent and Necropolis. The convent was impressive with its onion domes, intricate murals and old tombs. Then we walked over to the cemetery, which holds some of the most famous Russians in history, including Tolstoy, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Gogol, and many others, as indicated by the rows upon rows of towering, self-important statues and busts.

If you’re wondering where we stand in relation to the original itinerary, basically we’ve decided to take it slower across Scandinavia, so we’re not planning to meet up with Kimmie until the weekend of the 21st in Paris or thereabouts. Also our plans fell through with Nora because her mom is sick, although we may still stay a night in Hilvarenbeek. Tomorrow night we’re taking a sleeper to St. Petersberg, where we’ll be staying at Cuba Hostel for two nights, then off to Helsinki.

By Katie