Visit to Budapest
Alina started to work in Romania not so long time ago. To see each other, we agreed to meet for a weekend on the half-way, in Budapest.
The weather there was very sunny with blue sky, so we could enjoy walking in
the streets like in the summer time. We followed the same approach like in the
other cities we had visited: we took a map with sight „tags“ at the
information office and walked about the city to see everything important 
. We also had lunch at the Danube river. We stuffed
ourselves pretty well with Goulash soup and grilled meat specialities.
Parliament n Budapest
Our hotel was in another city district, but it was relatively easy to get there by a tram and a city train. We were happy that we had a pool there we could enjoy to dive in after the long day. Generally, the hotel had been a good choice, even with considering the distance from the city centre.
On Sunday we walked in the other part of the city to see the rest of the
important sights. We also did some shopping, Alina bought clothes, I bought a
full backpack of wine bottles and palinka 
.
I liked the city and I think I will return there to see more of it some day.
Bremen, Soltau and Hamburg
Just before I was leaving Lithuania me and Alina decided to take advantage of cheap Ryanair flights and flew to visit Germany (concretely Bremen, Soltau and Hamburg) for a few days.
St. Peter's Cathedral in Bremen
We were flying from Kaunas to Bremen, so we started the sightseeing there.
The city centre was very nice, lot of historical buildings to see, fast food
each five meters 
and crowds of tourists everywhere.
From Bremen we took a train to Soltau, where we had planned to visit an amusement park. The accommodation was situated just next to the park, it was very comfortable. Together with the accommodation we bought two-day tickets to the park.
Rollercoaster in Heide-Park
The park was simply amazing, especially themes of the park's parts and the
nature there. On the first we tried more than a half of attractions and left
everything for the next day. Unfortunately the whole day on the shining Sun
caused me sunstroke and bad Kebab and centrifuge were a no-go for my stomach.
During the next day I was feeling so sick, that we left the park sooner
(missing a lot of attractions 
) and went to Hamburg. I was so glad when I laid
down to the bed in hostel.
In the morning I felt a little better so we hit the streets. Our first stop was the famous district Reeperbahn and the Beatles museum there. From there we moved to Hamburg Zoo and Aquarium. It was the best zoo I have ever seen.
Town Hall in Hamburg
Sadly, we did not have so much time to see Hamburg thoroughly, maybe next time…
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.
Time is running short
My stay in Denmark is slowly coming to an end. Tomorrow is the day I need to hand over the room in a perfect state. It means I have to pack my stuff and totally clean this place. There are rumours, that somebody has paid 300 kr (~40 euro) for not clean mirror. What to say, it is just Danish system to do things.
The rest of my stay I will spend in place of my Czech friend Jan. During the week I have to pass two more exams and then I am going home.
Back to Lithuania (for a while)
I finally found some time to write another blog entry. I wanted to make another trip before I finish my studies in Denmark, so two weeks ago me and Alina went to Lithuania together.
We flew from Copenhagen to Riga, where we stayed couple hours. We just walked
around the city, but deliberately avoided the old town, because we are planning
to visit it again during the summer. Then we took a bus to Vilnius. Our first
action there was visiting Čili Pica, where I tasted a good meal again
(really exceptional comparing to Danish „food“) .
Vilnius
The time I was there was working time, I needed to prepare for my exams and Alina was finishing her thesis. But it did not mean we could not have fun. We went to play bowling, visit the cinema (see my Caroline blog entry). We also visited Visaginas, Alina's home town, for two days. I also walked a lot around the Vilnius city centre and surroundings. You can take a look at the pictures (first few are from Riga).
I did not want to go back to Denmark so much, but I had to finish my exams.
Movie: Coraline (3D)
During my stay in Lithuania we went to the cinema to see the film Coraline in 3D. I had not read about the movie much before we went, just a small introduction on introduction on csfd.cz that put the film into Animated / Adventure / Family / Fantasy fairytale genre.
In the first half of the film it was true, but after that everything changed
into very dark and quite scary (amplified by the 3D projection) show . The humour is mostly black, the film carries slight
resemblance to the older film from the director Henry Selick, Nightmare Before
Christmas.
I cannot do anything else than recommend this film, especially if you will
go and see it in 3D. Do not worry, it really is not film just for children .