Trip 51: Gauja National Park, Latvia

Trip date: Thursday August 23- Saturday August 24, 2012

Sigulda and Cēsis are towns located in Gauja National Park - Latvia's largest national park. Here we stayed in Sigulda, enjoyed the sights of the park and dodged the presence of a sneaky cat.

All in attendance: Kristen and Eric

We walked to a guest house in a residential neighbourhood from the train station. The adorable old couple only spoke Russian and Latvian but a few hand gestures and a Russian thank you from Eric was all that was needed.

The first night, we arrived late enough that we could do little more than stop at a grocery store. We ate a Cili restaurant - a chain we had seen multiple times throughout our trip. Highlights included impossibly delicious kiploku grauzdini - a sort of fried dark garlic bread covered in garlic goodness.

The walls of the bedroom had a tiger-carpet-print and we had access to 100+ channels on satellite TV but the only English channels were radical-evangelical-american broadcasts. We comfortably settled for martial art movies dubbed in Italian all the while trying to coerce the landlady's cat to come cuddle with us.

The next morning we started our day before any sort of tourist information center open and began our hike with only a cartoony-billboard map for reference. We had to walk along a highway for most of the time but ended up by the Erglu (Eagel's) Cliff where we had a quick lunch on a giant brötchen.

We continued on the mossy path through the park. Never in my life had I seen so many different type of  mushrooms! A lot of elderly people were at the beginning of the trail mushroom picking. I went on a personal mushroom safari and Eric was patient enough to wait for me to take unnecessary amounts of photos.

We saw the red Turaida castle at a distance and saw the Gutmanis Cave. The sandstone walls of the cave are very soft and it's easy to make inscriptions on it.

We continued through the park and stop to see the Sigulda New Castle at the end of the day. We stopped by a wasp infested cafe and rested our feet.

We stayed an extra night at the guesthouse where a cat, who wouldn't give us the time of day the previous day, mewed adorably at our door to come cuddle. Although Eric and I don't typically have cat allergies, there was something suspiciously off about this particular cat!

Trip 49: Soomaa National Park, Estonia

Trip date: Sunday August 19 - Tuesday August 21, 2012

Eric and I had gone canoeing while we were in Copenhagen and we found it to be such a pleasant activity to do together. So, during our Baltic trip, we decided to take a 3 day canoe/camping trip through Estonia's Soomaa National Park.

All in attendance: Kristen and Eric

For 60 euros, we booked a 3 day/2 night self guided canoe trip through the national park. On Sunday morning we took a train from the very minimal and dated looking main station towards the Estonian town of Pärnu and got off at Tori. I spent the whole ride sleeping across the bench and missed the part where the whole train stopped just so a group of people could go to the bathroom behind a few bushes. Eric found this so incredulous that he couldn't stop talking about it.

In Tori, we waited for to be picked up by Aivar. He gave us three waterproof bins to put our stuff into and we separated our items into categories of food, clothes and equipment. The bins made it look like we were transporting illegal chemicals or biological warfare nuclear weapons. He promised us that the rest of our stuff can be returned once we finish the 70km canoe trip. Another young couple - A German couple, naturally - was also doing the same three day trip so it was nice to have company with us each night.

The day started out with a downpour of rain where buckets of the wet stuff kept falling from the skies and on our spirits. We waited out a bit of the rain from a spider-webby gazebo but when it looked like there was going to be no change in the weather in a while, Eric and I set off for a wet adventure. Cue: jealousy of Eric's rain pants.

I was eaten alive by horseflies and we had to do a couple of portages across places where people had built low bridges over the Halliste river. Fallen trees and piles of logs provided challenging hurdles that could be overcome only by the correct amount of awkward paddling and upper body strength. Granola bars and chocolate definitely taste better when your clothes are soaked through and the path is difficult.

The first night was a camp out near an old barn in the Tipu village. There was a stork nest perched high up on some power line towers. Birds had taken over the barn and could be seen flowing in and out. Eric and I feasted on couscous and a small bottle of sweet Vana Tallinn. After a horrible moment of all-the-wood-is-wet experience, we even got a cozy fire going. Wet shoes warmed up by the fire and we slept through the fist night easily.

Waking up a bit sore but to sunny weather, we set off for day two. Cue: many relaxing waterside snacks and beautiful electric blue dragon flies. Horseflies population seemed lower on this day, maybe the 30 or so squashed dead ones in the canoe warned them off.

We stayed in Riisa the next night near a guesthouse. We were able to have a hot shower here and warm up by a nice fire. Eric won the boyfriend of the year award when he got on a bike after rowing all day just so he could go into the nearest town and buy us a bottle of wine.

Eric and I even walked to a nearby bog after dinner and got a great view on top of a large watchtower. On the way there, there were all these marks and indicators on the trees, building and bridges to show you how ridiculously high the water line floods to on some of the wettest days all year.

Cue: smelling lovely like a campfire and nearly freezing through the night.

The next day we paddled on and said our good byes to the mirror-clear river and cute water-side houses. At the end point, we met a guy who took our canoes and gave us back the rest of our backpacks. He told us crazy stories about working with biologists who were tranquillizing and studying wolves in the park.

Then we hopped on a bus to Pärnu -  an Estonian beach town. I felt like a big bruise by this night and couldn't leave the guesthouse to explore. Eric and I feasted on hard-boiled eggs the next morning and we took off on a bus the next day towards Latvia.

Things I learned:

• "The middle of nowhere" in Europe is still always very close to something manmade or the highway
• Coucous for all your camping diet needs
• Rainpants are something to be jealous of
• Vana Tallinn is deliciously sweet
• Millions of horsefly bites on your legs is not a good look
• 3-in-one instant coffee is a god send
• Highland cattle are used to cut grass

Things to do next time:

• Explore Estonia's Islands
• Go on a guided mushrooming tour 
• More canoe/kayak trips !

Trip 48: Lahemaa National Park, Estonia

Trip date: Saturday August 18, 2012

Lahemaa National Park (Lahemaa Rahvuspark) is under 100 km east of Tallinn. It is Estonia's first and largest national park. This is my first experience with dreamy hikes through a swampy-boggy place on top of wooden planks which secure your footing.

All in attendance: Kristen and Eric

Eric and I rented a car for a single day from Tallinn and took it to Lahemaa national park. We woke up early the day before to go to Helsinki and arrived back to our CS host's home quite late and continued this no-sleep trend to ensure we got the most we could out of all the hiking we could do in that area.

Hiking through bogs is surprisingly fun because you must walk on top of wooden planks so you don't sink into hidden swamp holes. Sometimes you can see old sunken wooden planks underneath the pathways. I thought we would be attacked by hoards of bugs and mosquito when we went but we survived the hike relatively unbitten and I learn the importance of not being bog-ignorant.

The first and grandest stop was the short hike through the rainbow coloured Viru Raba (raba=bog in Estonian). There's a watchtower where you can get a breath taking birds-eye view of the landscape. There is no way I could describe how beautiful the colours were or how stunning the blue pools are; so instead, I just dumped a bunch of shots.

After the hike, we stumbled upon a creepy old abandon mansion. Perfect place to eat blueberry-white-chocolate-bars and contemplate ghosts. We then took the car to Käsmu, a coastal town located in the park.  Walking along a hiking path along the coast, we found that the water at our time of visit was shallow enough to walk across to a nearby island. We took our shoes off and walked across all the pointy stones towards the island.

On that island we saw nesting baby swans and a half decomposing dead animal (aka the ying and yang of life). We walked through trees and sand and found a nice place on some big rocks to sit and enjoy the shade. What better way to enjoy nature's beauty than to enjoy it with strange cheese snacks that I insisted we buy after the delicious Leipäjuusto cheese we ate in Helsinki.

We hiked back across the shallows and continued through the original hiking path. We found large abandon buildings full of debris and great graffiti. We didn't complete a full circuit but we did make good friends with a caterpillar and enjoyed a great view by the water.

On our way home, we stopped by to get a whole bunch of food and supplies at a grocery store in preparation of our long canoe trip we were planning to do. Who knew you could buy a tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag for just $20! Thank goodness for camping sales!

This is our last night with our CS host, who so kindly let us bum at his house for twice as long as we had originally asked. Thanks good friend!

Things I learned:

• You hike on wooden paths through bogs
• Bogs aren't infested with bugs like how I thought

Things to do next time:

• Visit Valaste Waterfall

Trip 39: Faulhorn II and Zermatt

Trip date: June 21 & 22, 2012

Redemption! One of my last weekends in Switzerland - one of my last chances to hike Faulhorn. Unfortunately it was nothing but fog and rain the whole time. Oh well, continue on anyways.

All in attendance: Kristen and Eric


Faulhorn (again)

It just had to rain! Eric came to Baden by ride share on Friday night. All hostels in Interlaken were full so we hopped on to 5:47 am train connections on Saturday morning from Baden to Wilderswil.

Picking up food and looking like sleep deprived zombies, we headed up with the nostalgic train up to Schynige Platte. Fog and clouds were thick but denial was high. We hoped that just maybe we could get above them and get a view. No such luck.

Last time the trail was completely snowed out at the half way point. This time the views were next to nil. It makes you concentrate though on the nearby beauty of flowers and nearby meadows though. It was still a bit unfortunate though - remember, this is one of the most beautiful hikes in Switzerland!

I think the most disheartening part were instances where we would come across a bench which overlooked nothing but a view of bright white fog. I can only imagine the serene mountain views which can usually be seen.

We arrived at the mountain hut and went in for some much needed warmth and overpriced tea. Then it was back up up up in the wet and the fog while wearing gender appropriate rain coats.

We reached the peak of Faulhorn! Celebration included eating some of this Rote Hexe (Red Witch) cheese we had brought.

Anticipated view vs. Actual view

A Canadian lesson is that we can never win all our weather battles. It was still a good day nonetheless. On our decent to First, the fog did lift just enough for us to catch a glimpse of Brienzersee. Cue 147829 well deserved photographs.

Then it was a snoozy exhausted and soggy train ride to Zermatt. We bought a 1 day travel pass (68 CHF with our halbtax) to cover our trains to Interlaken and Zermatt. On the way to Zermatt, they put you in fancy different trains with large windows so you can see all the beautiful small Swiss towns as you zip by.

We stayed in Täsch, a small town a single train stop away from Zermatt in a guesthouse (30 CHF each). Highlights include a warm shower, a balcony with a clear night of stars and a wall with animal pattern carpet.

Zermatt

The next day we took the train from Täsch to Zermatt. We began our hike from there towards Sunegga. There is an underground funicular which runs from Zermatt to Sunegga but the steeper/more challenging parts of the hike were definitely between these two points. Once you reach Sunegga, things are mostly very level.

We were lucky for it to be a clear day (in majority). We hiked along the 5-Seeweg to see the 5 lakes in the region. I made vegetarian salad rolls and we ate delicious German spreads and flat peaches for lunch. Cue: beautiful views of the Matterhorn - supposedly the most photographed mountain in the world!

Clouds came in and we decided that it wouldn't be worth the hike up to Riffelberg. On our hike down I encountered curious coloured goats which I looked at for an unnecessary tourist amount of time.

An exhausted train ride home to Baden. A well deserved sleep.

Thing I will do next time:

• Go to Faulhorn on a clear day!
• Go to the rope parks in Zermatt

Thing I loved:

• Hiking!
• The crazy blue water in Zermatt