"1/06: Crazies on a Crazy VT Road T ..." a Europe Travel Page by poons

7 Countries in 7 days!! Phew... some mean task but we took the challenge - full of energy! (only 6 countries for me, if I include back to London as I missed out on Helsinki, which now I regret after seeing the bare flesh that I missed out on - hahaha. See Johnthefin's Helsinki pages if you want a peak).

The Crazies were: back from LtoR
Bodx (Paul from Australia); Rusket (Marit from Norway); Razmatac (Rasmus from Denmark); Poons (me, June from the UK); Balashi (Brad from the US); and in front Cachaseiro (Claus from Denmark) - Oh Backpackermouse & Munga were tucked warmly in there somewhere too.

Yes I had the pleasure of having 4 days by myself in this wonderful City.
Just to get a bit of culture and sightseeing before the onslaught.

Had chance to see the Old Town, have a fantastic massage (by a woman though) - damn :) So I didn't request any extras - hehe.

I also got chance to see a play (Kevade) at the oldest Theatre in Tallinn (Eesti Draamateatre) cost 180 Kroons. I didn't understand a word but enjoyed it and laughed along with all the others as the comedy in the play was very visual.

The medieval town hall WAS the most well-preserved in Northern Europe, until it caught fire... hahaha. Wasn't me honestly.

JUST KIDDING - this picture was just an effect of the night scene setting on my camera!!!

Bodx was the first to join me. Out of all the internet cafes in all of Tallinn he just happened to come into mine.
2 people in the whole of the cafe, I logged on to VT to see of his arrival time only to receive an e-mail stating "I'm right behind you"...

Then we were met by Tartu2005 (from Tartu) in the Old Hansa.

Closely followed up with meeting the rest of the gang outside of the Old Town Hall. Hugs and kisses exchanged, we then ventured to the Old Hansa for some very nice spiced wine and a bite to eat.

Claus made me laugh by ordering dried Elk Meat - he was very hungry and only received a little sack cloth full of the dried stuff, then proceeded to attempt to eat it with a knife and fork... I took pity on him though and shared my hot cheese and bread with him.

Was a nice surprise to be accompanied on the Tallinn day by Janlarsen (a new VT member and a friend of Claus and Raz from Denmark - he was a sweet chap)!

Then on to the Hells Hunt to the meet.

After a great fun evening, and a bit of a bar crawl, we ended up at the above.

Was a great venue, lots of bookcases, comfy leather chairs.
Bubbly, tequila and huge cigars were enjoyed by all !!!

Gladly the morning after this was the only time I suffered a hangover on the whole trip - I blame the one Tequila Brad - thats what did it, not the cocktail of other things that we sampled this night... :) haha

Happily for us all Tartu2005 agreed to stay the night with us at The City Guest House in our 7 bed dorm.
In the morning, after breakfast, we then picked up the "VT mobile", and proceeded to make an unscheduled trip to Tartu, after an invitation to have lunch at Tartu2005's wonderful Irish Bar called Oscar Wilde. Was a great place, cafe downstairs with the bar upstairs - really nice atmosphere too if you can ever visit and great food!

We then met Tartu's lovely husband, and happily received a short tour of the City by the lady herself.

After lunch we were on the road. Marit, Brad and I shared the driving initially (phew was nerve racking having the lives of much loved VT'ers in my hands), but we arrived safe and sound at the Lido Centre (after a lost souls tour of the city before we finally found the place... hehe).

We were met there by the wonderful LanafromRiga, Inguuna and Atvars.

Lots of the Lido brewed beer (which was fabulous and so cheap - around 4.75 Lat for a round for all - "and was good stuff eh guys!").

The beer was accompanied by all the food we could eat (which I must say was one of my favourite meals of the trip), hot buffet style so you can take little bits of everything which is the way I love to do it.

We ventured out onto the outdoor skating rink.
After sampling the local brew, that was not probably a wise idea!!!
Or maybe it was, as falling wouldn't hurt so much - or so I have heard.

Back row: LanafromRiga, Cachaseiro, Razmatac
Front row: Bodx, Poons, Inguuna & Balashi.
Photo stolen from Inguuna/Atvars - hope you don't mind guys :)

This was a pure delight. Marit kindly stayed in the warm to plan the next overnight leg of the journey to Vilnius, Lithuania - which ended up being a fantastic idea as the rest of us were in no fit state to be of any use to her whatsoever.
Except Bodx that is, who took it steady in order to take the part of Navigator.

Razmatac opted out of the skating (the whimp... hehe) saying he was too old... hahaha and he was the the baby of the group!

Anyway, was fun... Claus demonstrated some fantastic figure skating moves, and Brad was as fast as lightning.

Inguuna was an absolute natural, even though it was only her 2nd time on skates - (give her an hour and she would surely have been whizzing around!)

The Lido Centre was a great place....
After the skating Marit had to endure us all "playing the fool" in the grotto parts of the Centre.