Last 9 days in Europe

As we sit in the BA Lounge (and search for non-existant lemonade) at Heathrow about to fly to Thailand for our unofficial "honeymoon", I have some time to reflect upon our last 9 days in Europe. Its been a strange 9 days as our last post coincided with the London bombing and our movements over the last 4 days have been greatly affected by that event.

Latvia

Riga is an interesting city. Its a place that has a downtown area registered by UNESCO as a heritage area, yet it keeps developing that area to the point where it may in fact lose its protected status. It has the most extraordinary women in Europe (generally dressed in the highest of high heels, a micro mini and a G-String on the beach) yet its over 40 population are almost always obese monsters, seemingly Russian remnants from the Soviet era.

Fortunately Riga does have some other great sites, other than the people watching (which again is some of the best in Europe for Freaks, Babes and Horrors).

1. Latvia has the best beach in Europe. On a 28 degree day, a 30 kilometre beach played host to the sights and sounds of Jurmala. This beach plays host to a number of lovely towns and about 30,000 Latvians. Each Latvian fits in to one of two categories. Young Men or Women show off washboard stomach or pert breasts while playing beach volleyball OR Old Men and Women wear similar sized bathing outfit to young people with significant fatty abdominal aprons and/or hail damage. It was a great day of people watching indeed.

2. Riga's beach has sand, which is more than can be said for the beaches of France or Croatia.

3. Riga has an amazing cinema where you can pick your own seats and pay a different price depending on the length of the movie and the time of day that you attend. The Finnish owned cinema was fantastic and we attended each day seeing Batman Begins, Madagascar and Mr and Mrs Smith. The former was fabulous, the latter was good humoured fun and the middle one was not a patch on other animation that we have seen over the years.

Estonia

Tallinn may be well be the best old town in Europe (apologies to Dubrovnik). It is simply amazing and its charm belies the fact that it only retained its beauty as the Estonians did not have enough money to tear it down. Its a Northern Brugges (Belgium's number one spot) and it does not let you down.

Unfortunately the English have discovered Tallinn and the prices have risen accordingly. We were there mid week and we only saw one bucks group which was a pleasant change.

Estonia has the most extraordinary jetstreams and it was magic looking at the trails while the sun sets at around midnight each night. 3 hours later, it rises again ready for another 21 hour day.

Helsinki

We spent a day in Helsinki and enjoyed the reindeer and "white fish" served in the market overlooking the harbour. The scenes were hilarious as Finns struggled with the 30 degree day. Obviously they are more accustomed to -30 in that part of the world.

London

Wow, they drive on the left here. It was very difficult working out which way to look as we crossed the road. Fortunately they write "look left" and "look right" on the road here. Thanks England.

After the events of 7/7 we felt the stares as we rode the tube with our backpacks and tried to get from point A to B via C, D, E and F due to closures on the Circle, Victoria, Northern, Picadilly, Metropolitan and other lines.

OK, everyone's been to London, so we won't bore you. Off to RealEstate.com.au to check out the housing scene in Melbourne.