Hello from Göteborg! It is my last day here, and I am ... relieved, I think. It's been a good trip, but also a bit of a long haul (today is day 25), and I'm looking forward to getting back to London, and most of all to getting back to Toronto and sleeping in my own bed, with my cat and my boyfriend, and relaxing.

On Monday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day), my sister gave birth to a new baby boy, whom they have named Ethan Michael. Both he and his mom are at home now and doing well, and big brother Caleb is getting used to having someone else around to compete for everyone's attention! I hope to see them all very soon.

The other news of the moment is of course that... Jeffrey Buttle won the world championship!!!! I cannot even begin to explain how excited I was. He had a beautiful short program and was in 1st then, and I could barely sleep that night, I don't know how he managed it. And then he skated last in the free, and Brian Joubert had a fantastic skate right before him, but then Jeffrey absolutely aced it. I cried, I cheered, I just felt such incredible happiness for him. I have been a big fan of his since the 2002 Worlds, and I still can't completely believe that it's happened and he actually won. This afternoon is the gala, where he will skate as the gold medallist, and it should be fantastic.

Other than that, the week was really good overall! The Canadian pair of Dubé and Davison won the bronze medal, which was great, and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won silver in dance, which was equally exciting, though the week was disappointing for Tanith & Ben. The women's competition was quite well skated too, and I agreed with most of the results.

I have had two complete strangers congratulate me on Jeff's win today. I guess that's what happens when you've got your country's flag on your backpack. :-)

So anyway! I am flying back to London tonight (bit of a long story - it was supposed to be tomorrow from Stockholm, but I forgot it was Easter today, and the trains to Stockholm are sold out, so I would have had to miss the gala, and I've therefore booked a different flight for tonight from here in Göteborg). I have tomorrow to hang out with Karen and Gill and see the London cast of Jersey Boys (which opened the day after I left), and then on Tuesday I fly home to Toronto. Todd has the day off work on Wednesday, so we are planning to spend a lovely, lazy day just being happy to be together.

There are currently two job postings on the Olympic website that look like viable options for me, so I will apply for them just as soon as I get home. Todd's last exam isn't until early May, so it's looking likely that we'll be in Toronto until the end of May at least. Which means I may have time for one quick trip to New York before we go... Yes, I need help. I am aware.

Anyway, I now have about an hour before I need to get some lunch and head off to the rink for the gala, so I will endeavour to bring you a more complete run-down of my trip - pictures will have to follow later!

Day One - flew from London Luton (have I mentioned how much I dislike Luton airport? I really do) to Warsaw. Took the bus from the airport to my hostel, which proved more difficult to find than you might think, so I had to phone them and they came and found me and took me back with them. :-)

Day Two - walked to the train station, left my bag in a locker and bought my train tickets for that night and the next day. Walked through the city to the Old Town, which was completely destroyed in World War II, but has been completely reconstructed exactly as it was. The result is a lovely Old Town area, but it seems a bit of a cheat to me. Anyway, I spent some time in the Warsaw Historical Museum, which had a good exhibition on the evacuation of the city after the Warsaw Uprising, and then did a tour of the Royal Palace, which is also a reconstruction. Lunch was perogies and a good chicken dish, and then I walked along the Royal Way to the Chopin Museum, which was not very exciting. Then it was time to head back to the train station and take the train to Krakow, a 3-hour trip. After arriving and checking in at my hostel, I took a walk around the Old Town and called it a night.

Day Three - got up early and headed to Wawel Hill in the rain. The Cathedral opened first, so I took a look around there, and then did the tour through the State Apartments in the Castle. Walking back through the old town, I stopped in three different churches and then stopped in a grocery store to buy supplies for the 20-hour train trip to Kiev, which left that afternoon. I was in a 3-bed compartment with two Polish ladies (I think they were mother and daughter, the daughter being around my age), but they got off the train in Lviv, so I had the compartment to myself for the last 10 hours or so.

Day Four - arrived in Kiev around 11, and went to the hostel to check in and leave my bag. Took the subway out to the Monastery of the Caves, which is a place I've wanted to see for quite some time. I didn't realize it was as elaborate as it was though - huge grounds and lots of different buildings you can go in. But I mostly just wanted to see the caves - monks are mummified and in coffins along the corridors of caves built into the hill. You get a candle to carry as you walk around. I had forgotten to bring my headscarf, so I had to buy a new one there to wear into the monastery - the woman gave me a bright red one, which only made me stand out even more! After finishing there, I headed further along to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War (which in the former Soviet Union means World War II), which was at the base of a huge freedom statue. Sadly there was no English in the museum at all, so I didn't spend as long there as I otherwise would have - mostly just wandered and looked at the visual displays. A quick supper and time for bed!

Day Five - after a quick stop at the Canadian Embassy, I went to the Golden Gate, and then wandered up to St. Sofia's. Again there were multiple buildings to go into, but the highlight was definitely the main church - the mosaics were absolutely stunning, with original frescos from the 11th century. I also climbed the bell tower for some views over the city. From there it was straight down the street to St. Michael's monastery, where there was another lovely golden-domed church. Further on was St. Andrew's, a beautiful Baroque church by the Russian court architect who designed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. This was at the top of Andreevsky Spusk, one of the oldest streets in the city, which winds down the hill to the lower town. At the bottom of the hill I got some lunch, and then stopped by the Chernobyl museum, which again sadly had no English information. It was then time to head back to the train station for the overnight (12-hour) train to Minsk!

Day Six - arrived in Minsk early in the morning, and took a taxi to my hotel, as I didn't know where it was. The driver pocketed the 50,000 rouble bill I gave him, even though it should have only cost about 15,000. Oh well! After a shower and a bit of a rest, I headed out to wander along the main street, stopping by the apartment where Lee Harvey Oswald lived (just to look at it - you can't go in), and walk through some of the parks. I grabbed some food at a grocery store and spent a quiet evening at the hotel.

Day Seven - after checking out of the hotel, I left my bag at the train station and wandered around the city some more, seeing the government buildings, some churches, the KGB headquarters and a monument to the soldiers of the Soviet-Afghanistan war. A 4-hour trai trip took me to Vilnius, where I checked in at my hostel and took a quick walk around the Old Town there.

Day Eight - starting at the Gates of Dawn, I took a daylight walk through the Old Town, stopping for lunch at a local pizza chain, and then headed to the Museum of Genocide Victims, which is housed in the old KGB headquarters. The basement still has the KGB prison, and had a very informative audio guide. The two upper floors told the story of the Lithuanian resistance and Soviet occupation. It had started to snow heavily, so my walk back was not quite so enjoyable. I stopped at the Cathedral, which was a classical interior quite different from most of the other churches, and then had a hearty meal at a 'traditional' restaurant before calling it a night.

Day Nine - checked out of the hostel and left my bag at the bus station, where I took a bus to the town of Trakai, about 45 minutes out of Vilnius. It was the ancient capital of Lithuania, so there are two castles to see there. One is mostly ruins now, but the other has been completely reconstructed, and it sits on two islands in the middle of a lake, and is really lovely. There was also an interesting exhibit there about the history of the castle and some general Lithuanian history as well. I stopped for tea and cake at a local coffee house, and then headed back to Vilnius, where I caught the bus to Riga (about 5 hours away), and checked in at my hotel there, where I watched Smallville in German and had a nice bathtub!!

Day Ten - I took the bus to Bauska, an hour and a half south of Riga, on my way to see Rundale Palace. Unfortunately I missed the connecting bus at Bauska, so I had to take a taxi from there. The Palace is really out in the middle of nowhere - another creation by Rastrelli, the Winter Palace architect. There were some really lovely rooms, but sadly the exterior was undergoing restoration, so there was scaffolding everywhere. I took a taxi back to Bauska, and the bus back to Riga, where it was raining. I took a quick walk around in the rain, then had supper before heading to the ballet at the National Opera house. A gorgeous theatre, and a really lovely production of a ballet I was unfamiliar with - Shostakovich's Bright Stream. The dancing was fantastic.

Day Eleven - time for a more in-depth walk around Riga's old town, stopping in churches and making an extended stop in the Latvian Occupation Museum, which was very interesting, but mirrored a lot of the information I saw in Vilnius (which is why I decided not to do the similar museum in Tallinn). I took the lift up the tower of St. Peter's Church for some lovely views over the city, in the chilly wind! Another 5-hour bus ride took me to Tallinn, where I had time to do some laundry and watch a movie at the cozy hostel.

Day Twelve - I started to walk around Tallinn's Old Town on my own, but noticed signs on some of the buildings with little audio guide symbols on them, so I sought out the tourist information centre, and sure enough, they had audio guides for the city. So I got one of those, and did a lovely 2-hour tour through the city, stopping at the Alexander Nevsky cathedral and the Church of the Holy Ghost along the way. The Old Town is so compact that I walked pretty much every street, so decided to spend the rest of the day doing bus tours outside the Old Town - I did two different routes, which were both very interesting. Tallinn was probably my favourite new city on this trip. I had supper in a restaurant right on the main square in the Old Town.

Day Thirteen - absolutely nothing exciting happened this day! It was a 9-hour bus ride to St. Petersburg, which involved crossing the Russian border at Narva - I was able to glimpse the fortresses, but only briefly. When we arrived in St. Petersburg I checked in at my hostel and then wandered along Nevsky Prospekt for a while, having a very yummy blini supper.

Day Fourteen - as I'd done all the main touristy stuff in St. Petersburg the first time around, this day was spent further out from the centre, stopping at the Smolny Cathedral and the Alexander Nevsky monastery, where there is a cemetery filled with Russian luminaries like Tchaikovsky, Dostoyevsky, Rimsky-Korsikov and more. I wandered by the Winter Palace and St. Isaac's, just because, and then spent some time at the Yusupov Palace, which is really lovely.

Day Fifteen - it was raining this day, so after checking out of the hostel, I just did some catching up online (including my last entry on here), and then headed to the train station to catch the 6-hour train to Helsinki

Day Sixteen - after getting breakfast at the old market, I took an early ferry from Helsinki harbour to the island fortress of Suomenlinna. There was an interesting museum and film there, and then you can just wander around the old fortifications. I also had a good buffet lunch on the island! Back in the city, I went to the Cathedral on Cathedral Square, wandered along the Street Museum, and then took a look around the City Museum.

Day Seventeen - I took one of the tram routes (which they called the sightseeing route) for the full circuit, and then got off at the Finnish National Museum, which was really interesting. I spent a couple of hours there, before heading to an art gallery of mostly Finnish works. The gallery was packed, while the National Museum was practically deserted, I guess proving that I am in the minority who would much rather spend my afternoon at a historical museum than an art gallery. Anyway, from there it was time to check in for the ferry to Stockholm! I had my own cabin (an interior one sadly, so no window, but it was still fun!), and there was a fantastic buffet dinner. I played a bit on the slot machines, and took in one of the performances at the club before heading to bed.

Day Eighteen - the ferry arrived in Stockholm at about 10 am, so I went to check in at my hostel and then headed out to Drottningholm Castle, the residence of the Swedish royal family. On my way out there I met a British woman who was also heading that way, so we ended up visiting the palace and the grounds together. We also travelled back to the Old Town together and had a nice lunch at a cafe there. From there we went our separate ways, and I wandered around the Old Town, and across the bridge into the main shopping area.

Day Nineteen - after checking of the hostel and leaving my bag at the train station, I took a bus to the island of Djurgården, which has lots of different attractions. I spent a few hours first at Skansen, which is a huge open-air museum with different types of Swedish homes, farms, a town section, and a mini-zoo! The bears were hibernating, of course, but there were otters and seals and lynx and wolves ... and reindeer! The reindeer were looking pretty sad though. From there I went over to the Vasa ship museum, which was absolutely fascinating. It is an early 17th century ship that sank in Stockholm harbour on its maiden voyage, and they found it and pulled it up in the 1960s. It's been completely reconstructed, with 95% original material (there are no shipworms in the Baltic sea, so the wood is still intact). Along with the actual ship, which must be seen to be believed, there's a film and several interesting exhibits about the ship, Sweden at the time, and warfare at sea. I highly recommend it! I also had a good lunch there of Swedish meatballs. :-) Then it was time to head back to the train station and take the train to Göteborg.

Day Twenty - I stopped at the Göteborg Historical Museum, which has a Viking ship and some Viking displays, as well as information on Göteborg's history. Then it was time to head to the arena, Scandivium, where I spent the rest of the week!

Days Twenty-One to Twenty-Four - pretty much just watching the skating!

So that's been my trip! I've been quite restrained on pictures - I think I only have just over 500, which for 25 days is not bad at all. I will post some when I get home. It has been a very interesting trip, and I would definitely recommend Tallinn and Stockholm as vacation destinations - I think a Baltic cruise would be the way to go! Now I should think about getting some lunch, and head back to the rink for the gala. Next time I post, it will be from Canada!!