TravelStream™ news feed for member mkubik on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mkubik en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:56:21 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191252600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191252600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191252600/tpod.html Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:56:21 -0400 Follow along as we travel through the vacation hot spot of....Estonia.

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Viljandi, Estonia

Today, we began our 4 hour trip to the Island of Saaremaa, stopping in the historic village of Viljandi.

Viljandi is the site
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191196800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191196800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191196800/tpod.html Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:46:17 -0400 Follow along as we travel through the vacation hot spot of....Estonia.

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Tartu, Estonia

We kind of took things easy today. My wife was starting to resent me because I wasn't able to take her to the Indian restaurant yesterday, so I took her along with the Spencer's from Sweden and my parents.

I know many of you might be wondering why I haven't shown any typical "Estonian" food and the simple fact is that we really haven't had much Estonian food. Their food is basically meat and potatoes mixed with creamed fish, etc. While I love herring, they've had it had the Hotel free breakfast -- so I've had my fill.

The other ethnic food I've had here has been fantastic, especially this Indian place. I know some of you were interested in what this meals look like, so I've included a few pictures.


We had curried chicken, rice, chili cheese naan, and lamb in a creamy mint sauce.


The only thing that really was odd was seeing our Belorussian waitress wear a tradition Sari having forehead jewelery. I've been to many Indian places in my life and you just don't expect that accent coming from that outfit.




My Dad recently purchased a Slingbox which is a device that allows you to watch your TV at home over your lap-top (along as you have a broadband connection). So, we had a bunch of Chicago fans over to watch the game. To show you how exiting the game was, check out the picture of the main Bear fan.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191117900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191117900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191117900/tpod.html Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:31:11 -0400 Follow along as we travel through the vacation hot spot of....Estonia.

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Tartu, Estonia

My wife was feeling a little ill today, so she spent most of the time inside the hotel room. Our eldest daughter, Alyssa has been staying with my parents and we have had Elena. So today, I pretty much took the kids around town and she rested.

After our morning service, we found ourselves walking around town again today. It is really amazing how much walking you do during the day in a European city. In America, it sometimes seems that everything is geared to avoid walking. Unless we plan for it, we can spend the whole day without really moving. I imagine a future world that will have us moving strictly by conveyer belts. We will have conveyer belts take us from our bed to the shower, to the kitchen, then garage, then from our car into our cubicle.

Around noon I went to the University of Tartu. It was quite an enjoyable visit, the fall colors were in full bloom as Tartu is roughly at the same parallel as Alaska. . The campus has an old cathedral that is in the process of restoration and a ballet group was practicing nearby. They are practicing for a visit by the Queen of Sweden who will be visiting in a couple weeks to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the university. I attached some video of their performance.
After I came back home, we went to our second service (we have two services on the Sabbath during this festival). Afterwards, I went to a great Indian restaurant with some of our friends from New York and Texas. I had a lamb dish with a creamy mint sauce; a few others had tandoori chicken (which was served on a sizzling platter, somewhat similar to fajitas). We had several different types of naan -- garlic, marsala, and chili-cheese flavored.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190937600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190937600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190937600/tpod.html Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:39:22 -0400 Follow along as we travel through the vacation hot spot of....Estonia.

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Tartu, Estonia

After a fairly good night of sleep we had our first full day in Tartu.

Now, I wanted to give a little background why we are here in Estonia since many people have a hard time figuring out why someone with a wife and two small children would trek all the way to a little known Baltic country.

Our church has two Festival seasons, one in the Spring and Fall. We are now keeping the Fall Holy Day period known as the Feast of Tabernacles. We keep the Holy Days that Jesus Christ kept with the disciples during the early part of the church. So, this Holy Day period is essentially a spiritua renewal for our members around the world.

Our church has about 40 different sites ranging in size from 50 people (Estonia) to around 2000 people (several different sites).

So, you may see some pictures of other members, or you might see references to our daily services.

I don't want to get too detailed in this blog, but if you want further information about these days, you can go to http://www.ucg.org/about/tabernacles.htm

During the day we basically took it easy and walked around town. Tartu is very much a college city, so you see many young people and also I noticed that Tartu has many ethnic restaurants. While I was walking, I noticed Middle Eastern, Italian, Indian, Greek, Turkish restaurants. Tartu is also becoming a very modern and economically vibrant city. You can see construction all over town (mainly coming from Finnish and Swedish investment).

Estonia has the fastest growing economy in Europe mainly due to favorable tax rates and trade restrictions.

That night we had a group dinner at a Chinese restaurant in town. I was a little apprehensive when told we were going here, but the food was excellent.

There were lamb, beef, and chicken dished that differed in taste to what I was used to at our "100 ft." buffets. There were also quite a few curry dishes that seemed to have an Indian flare.

My favorite dish was the "Angry Cow", a very spicy dish.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190804400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190804400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190804400/tpod.html Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:47:34 -0400 Follow along as we travel through the vacation hot spot of....Estonia.

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Helsinki, Finland

My flight to Helsinki was fairly uneventful; I only had two observations. One, our in-flight entertainment included a short-lived sit-com starring Pamela Anderson. I don't understand why we decide to show the rest of the world our worst entertainment. Baywatch is the most popular show in the world and Pamela Anderson is one of the most popular actresses. I imagine the rest of world thinks our chief export is silicone.

My second observation is that this will be the last time I'll see sober Fins. The Finnish love to vacation in Estonia on the weekends taking advantage of a cheaper currency. So, at any pub on a Friday night, you'll see a bunch of drunken Fins getting crazy in Estonia.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191031200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191031200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1191031200/tpod.html Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:31:27 -0400 Follow along as we travel through the vacation hot spot of....Estonia.

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Tartu, Estonia

Today, we had several options. After services, there was a walking tour around Estonia which was my vote and there was also a water park near our hotel (everyone else's vote). So, being out-voted 3-1 (the negative effects of women's suffrage) -- we went to the water park. Spas, water parks, pools, etc. are very important to the Finnish and Estonians. There are nearly everywhere and very much part of their culture.

We all had a great time going down the slides, swimming in the lazy river, etc. The best moment was when my dad decided to go down the water slide and the man behind him decided to follow him immediately. So, I was standing at the bottom watching two grown men coming down a water slide together. I was so mad this was the one time I forgot my camera.

Later that night, we went with some of our Swedish friends to the Restoran Balkin which had cuisine ranging from the more Eastern European areas (Romania, Hungary, Serbia) to dishes that were more Greek and Turkish. My wife had the chicken kebabs, my friend Paul had some sort of steak with a peach on it, I had minced meat balls with Feta.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190822400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190822400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190822400/tpod.html Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:21:54 -0400 Follow along as we travel through the vacation hot spot of....Estonia.

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Tartu, Estonia

After 11 hours in flight, 5 hours in airports, a cab and 2 hour bus ride - I finally made it to Tartu.

I didn't sleep at all during any of this, so I was quite delerious when I started the final 2 hour bus ride from the airport in Tallinn, Estonia to Tartu. After being wedged in between people for 11 hours of flight, I was looking forward to spreading out in the bus.

Well, I sat down and just before we left, this Estonian women decided to sit next to me instead of the other 200 open spaces. I was going to say something, but decided against it.

I hope she didn't mind when I nodded off 3 times on her shoulder. Estonians aren't very affectionate, so I must have imagines she was going through the same torture as myself.

I got to the Hotel Pallas in Tartu and crashed in the room until my family came back.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190692800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190692800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mkubik/estonia-2007/1190692800/tpod.html Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:20:04 -0400 Follow along as we travel through the vacation hot spot of....Estonia.

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Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Well, everyone but me left on Monday. I was stuck working for another day while the rest of the family went ahead of me. I was sort of lamenting my decision to stay another day until they called me from the airport after I dropped them off.

My wife still carries a passport with her maiden name on it (still can't make the committment), and Homeland Security is now cracking down on this type of threat (I guess it's easier to tackle than the borders).

So, we weren't sure whether she could get past New York, and more imporantly, back from Estonia. All kinds of scenarios were flying around such as having her stay another day in NYC until I got there on Tuesday. Anyway, back at the ranch, I was trying to break into our home safe to get our marriage certificate. I guess we'll be able to get this handled at the Amercian embassy in Tallinn, Estonia.

So, it actually worked out great that I stayed back another day to handle the"security breach".

Their other run-in with security forces coinceded with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York. They kept the planes in holding patterns while the "petty, cruel" dictator left today.

So, my family was stuck circling Cleveland for 90 minutes and barely made their Helsinki connecting flight at JFK.

So, while Mahmoud (I call him Ahmy 'cause we have a great vibe)
supplies the insurgents with weapons and threatens global stability, he also almost
made my parents, wife and kids miss their flight. Now....he's made it
personal.
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