Short stop in Tampere
Thanks to a cheap flight from Ryanair we could extend our holiday in Riga
with a short trip to Tampere. We arrived quite late, so we went directly to
hotel. I was puzzled when they did not have any reservation for us, but then it
came to me, that we are in a different one 
! It was another we checked while searching for
accommodation. I felt quite stupid for the rest of the day because of that
mistake.
The Mango hotel was not so far from the centre. The room was
furnished with an antique furniture, it looked very good. Early morning we went
for a breakfast. The food was really good, we spend there almost an hour (I had
to try everything 
.
We walked in the city in the same way like we had done in Riga before –
using map with points of interest. We also stopped in the souvenirs shop. I was
very surprised that in the Christmas souvenir shop in the middle of Tampere
there was a collection of merchandise with Czech „Krteček“ .
Hämeenkatu, Tampere's main street
We came to Tampere not only to see the city, but also to visit the
Särkänniemi amusement park. Just to see some of the roller coasters made my
stomach sick. We tried some of them, but not the „Vertigo“, it was too
crazy. Look at the pictures, it is the one, where the people are mostly upside
down . We visited also some easier attractions and ate
lunch. I also had to buy candy cane 
, because I had not had it for a long time.
Dolphinarium in Särkänniemi amusement park
In the evening we went to catch a bus back to the airport. To catch,
literally. Buses in Finland do not stop on the stations unless you stay on the
edge of the side walk waving. Our bus was going behind the another one and
almost did not bother to stop, maybe because the driver thought everybody wants
to the first one. But thanks to Alina (and her running and waving) the bus
picked us up .
The rest of the trip was quite tiring, we had to wait for several hours in Riga for the bus back to Vilnius. We arrived in the morning. At home we fell asleep and slept almost till the evening.
Holiday in Riga and Jurmala
Last week we went for a short holiday. Our first destination was Riga, the capital of Latvia and Jurmala, the seaside town nearby. We took an early morning „Eurolines Lux“ bus. It was very comfortable with lot of space, I could sleep relatively fine during the journey.
Freedom monument in Riga
In Riga we took a map of sightseeing trip and decided to walk around and
visit all points of interest that were picked there. It took us couple hours to
see everything. I liked the parks the most, because it was a lot of shade in
them providing us a shelter from the burning Sun .
When we had enough of Riga, we proceeded by train to our accommodation in Jurmala. The train, despite its look from the distance, was renovated nicely with comfortable seats (Czech Railways, take an example, please). It started to rain heavily just when we were arriving to our destination. I am glad Alina had had an idea to buy new raincoats for the trip, they came very handy. We came to the camp, checked in, had dinner and fell asleep early, because it was an exhausting day.
Sunset in Jurmala
Next day we decided to take an 8 km walk on the beach to Majori, Jurmala's city centre. The weather was again very warm, but wind and sea was cooling us a little. In the centre we found a not so expensive restaurant (although the prices were high everywhere) where we had a lunch and beer. We walked in the centre for some time and then took a bus back to the camp.
From Jurmala we continued to Tampere in Finland, but about that later…
Photos from Vilnius
I have finally got some time to write posts about recent events, they will follow after this one. But first I would like to share some pictures from Vilnius. Most of them I took while I was walking in to the city centre and back.
Friday in Trakai
On Friday we decided to relax and visit Trakai, a small town not far from Vilnius. We took a bus and in less than 45 minutes we were there. The weather was beautiful, just the temperature could be lower. 28 degrees in shade was too much for me.
Trakai castle
The town is almost entirely surrounded by large lakes. In the northern part
there is a large castle on an island. We did not go inside, but we took a boat
trip around the lake. The funny thing was, that as soon as we entered the boat,
it started raining heavily. Everywhere you could see sunshine, but our boat was
almost the whole way under the small rain cloud .
Although the weather was too hot and tiring, it was a very nice spent Friday. It was the first of many trips we plan to make in the Baltic region.
Recent amount of traveling
I have not written anything here for quite some time, because I was quite
busy. First I had to pass all my exams. I did not put so much effort into
studying, but in the end, everything went all right. The only „glitch“ was
the big project team exam. The teachers were really slow, we spent there over
6 and half hours. After that, we were so tired we could not resist the mark we
got. Maybe it was the point . My parents came for me directly after my last exam.
We packed all my stuff and my bike to the car and headed back to Czech Republic.
It was a very long journey.
I planned to stay in the Czech Republic for one week. I was working during
the day and meeting my friends in the evening. It was exhausting , but I finally could taste good Czech beer. When
the week was over, I packed my things again and took a bus to Lithuania.
So now I am relaxing here in Vilnius, working a little, trying to study and having fun.