More Eastern Europe - I've been to most countries in the Western parts. Romania has a certain fascination for me.
There are so many non European locations to be explored, too. I've never been to Africa (except Morocco), South America or SE Asia.
KP
Re: The beautiful, mysterious Scotland
ailsagirl wrote:
Germany is wonderful-- I lived there a year (in Tubingen) and I found the people to be warm and welcoming. Beautiful sights.
ailsa
ailsagirl, glad you liked it in Tuebingen. We live about 20 minutes south of Tuebingen. What brought you there?
Mile-O-Phile wrote:...I've no interest in most European countries where most Brits like myself would go to. So, for me, Greece, Spain, and Portugal are not of interest. I've been to Denmark, Holland, Germany, France, Belgium, and Poland...
MOP - I take it you're with me in thinking that the average Brit makes the worst tourist in the world? (I'm British, BTW) I'd like to go to the Pyrenees and the Spanish mountains (Granada etc.) but the thought of going to one of the Costa Del Blackpool resorts make me cringe.
I have plans to go cycling through Holland, Denmark and maybe Sweden next year. I like the cooler climate, greenery and big mountains. I'd also like to cycle the west coast of Ireland and west/north Scotland.
I have seen british tourists in Prague - including a bunch of men on a stag night....
<shudder, shiver>
Grand Duke, if you're looking for mountains in Sweden, Denmark or Holland, you'll be disappointed
I've been to Barcelona, and Nice, and Monte Carlo, and Florence and Rome, and Sorrento, and Malta and Athens and Venice...
I'd like to see them all again, and spend some extended time in each.
But next up are the places I haven't been: Dublin, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg.
Some extended time in Spain and Portugal --Lisbon, Madrid -- would be wonderful.
Who was it in Abuzz who used to post about Andorra?
Aimo-FIN wrote:Grand Duke, if you're looking for mountains in Sweden, Denmark or Holland, you'll be disappointed
I knew Holland & Sweden were fairly flat, but thought Sweden has some good hills? Looks like I need a new map... :wink:
Hills maybe but the mountains are farther north.. Around the border of Norway. Of course you can take a ferry from Northern Denmark to Norway. The bad things for driving on flat lands are the srtong winds at times, no hills, and it might be boring at times.
An interesting place to bike is Saaremaa island in Estonia, I've heard. We were there last Summer with our car, and met another Finnish couple. They had been biking a lot, both in Western Estonia and Saaremaa.
Finland is quite nice too
Hills and flatlands combined.
A lot of Finns spend their holiday in Estonia right? I heard it had something to do with beer... :wink:
Not so many spend their holidays there, just a couple of days or a day trip by a ferry from Helsinki. Everything is cheaper there so why not
(Alcohol especially)
Compare it to driving to Luxembourg to buy cheap gas.
"Want to refill? Go to Estonia!" or something like that? :wink:
Where do I want to go in Europe?
Anywhere :wink:
Perhaps
But not with gas
A lot of Finnish companies have their branches in Estonia and the other Baltic countries, but they often have better selection of stuff, at least it feels like it.
What is exactly the bond between Finland and Estonia? The languages of both nations are similar, culture too? I read that there is still a Finnish minority in Estonia (although most speak Estonian and do not really differ from ethnic Estonians). I once read that some Estonians feel they have more a bond with Finland than with the other Baltic countries.
Actually, there weren't a lot in common in history betwenn "Fins" and Estonian, besides, that during the "Roman Iron Age" (A.D. 1-400) evidences are convincing for a Baltic sea-farer culture connecting estuaries at Elbe (west for Jutland) and Vistula (at Gdansk) with Finland, Estonia and Sweden.
Finns with two Ns..
The languages are a bit same, both belong to the Finno-Ugric language family (Hungarian too, but isn't similar in any other way than grammatically I guess). Estonia is close to Finland - but I dont know if we have so many things in common then anyway. I, personally, try to study Estonian and I really like the country. (Been there something like +-25 times.. )
Finns have also supported the Estonians in the fight for their freedom in the past, and the Estonians supported us in the war between Finland and the Soviet Union during the WWII.
I'd like to go to England, Scotland, Wales... generaly Great Britan and also France, Sweden, Holland, Finland, Italy...
On Estonia, one of my pals who has turned out to be a lifelong friend, was born in Estonia and was a dp, as they called people, in Sweden. I met her at UCLA as we were among the few women in the zoology/premed classes in the very early sixties. She was interested in medical illustration (not least because with her background in Sweden she had learned a lot of handcraft) and also interested in paleontology. She went on to do a fair amount of med illustration at the university, but also moved into children's book illustration. Now she is a watercolor painter. I am kicking myself for not ever following through and photographing her house, which itself is a work of art and craft.
I mention this since her family owned a building in downtown Talinn, some time passing. She has seen it for mere minutes, on one of those Scandinavian cruises where they let you out in the city for a few hours. She might be able to get it back for her children, given many legal hoops, but time moves on, and she understands that new lives are lived there.
This is not a comment on Estonia-Finland, I am deeply ignorant on that, but just one instance of Sweden as a landing place for an Estonian child.
