Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Czech Rep., Poland and Austria! Whew!

Well, I think I left off two weeks ago with us being in Latvia, on our way to Lithuania. From Lithuania we went to Estonia, then on to Finland before heading back to Budapest on Oct. 1. Since returning to Budapest, we've gone on another trip! We recently returned from Ebenezer in Prague (Czech Republic)that included a day trip into Poland and a short shopping trip into Austria on our way home! But let me start back in Lithuania!


The leaves were gorgeous!

At this time in Georgia we would have been making our annual trek up to the north Georgia mountians to see the leaves and to "pick" apples. ("Pick" as in pick a bag off the floor of the country store!" I was so glad to be able to see the leaves changing colors as we've done all this traveling!


Milton and Lara

We spent two nights in Lithuania with Milton and Lara and their two incredibly talented children. The children attend a local Lithuanian public school for children gifted in the performing arts, and their facility and course work is probably university level!!


Really cute couple!

They took us to see a castle on the edge of a huge lake. The water looked so beautiful, but it was definitely cold!!!


Downtown street

Lithuania was a mixture of modern and old on every street corner. In this picture, you can see the old building in the foreground and the modern skyscraper in the distance. Even though it was a little of the old and new architecture, it was very tastefully done!


Lots of apartment buildings, but spread out

This is how I keep up with which pictures on my camera from one country to the next! I try to find the name of the country written somewhere when I first arrive in the country, but if I can't find it, I write the name on a piece of paper and photograph it!

The wall around the "Old Town"

When we arrived in Estonia, the family we were to stay with had just spent a week passing around a virus so rather than risk giving it to us they put us up in local hotel, and then the husband and wife took turns showing us their city and telling us about their work.

Tom and one of his three daughters

Jennifer took us "shopping" in Old Town :)

The Baptist church!

This was formerly a Lutheran church but when communism fell and properties were being returned to original owners or being distributed, the local Baptist group was given this magnificent building! I have NEVER seen a Baptist church like this in America. In fact, nowhere have I seen such a stately Baptist church as this one!

Street market shop selling wool clothing

I had to be careful not to drool over the wool sweaters, hats, gloves, mitten, and shawls for sale on the streets. I tried on MANY in hopes of finding something that was in my color and price range, but no such luck. One of these days, I hope to be back and have better luck!

Quaint underpasses

Tall tower!

Hot chocolate a l'Estonia!

While out walking through the Old Town, we stopped for coffee at one of the many small cafes to look like one of the locals. Since I don't like coffee, I decided to order a hot chocolate. I was expecting hot chocolate like we have in America; you know, with milk, cocoa powder, sugar etc. I promise you, what she gave me in my cup WITH A SPOON was nothing more than warm chocolate sauce like you pour over ice cream!!! It was too thick to pour and sip, hence, why she gave me a spoon. It was very rich and sooooooo good, that not even I could finish the cup!!

Again- the cute couple

Dr. Pepper in the stores

In every country that I visit, I like the grocery stores best. I enjoy seeing the various American products that each country has and often wonder why on earth, of all the American products available, would that particular store carry that particular item!?! Did the store owner go to America and try pancakes and decide he was going to try to sell it in Estonia? Or did an American who lives in the neighborhood talk the manager into purchasing peanut butter made in another country to sell in his little store? I just wonder sometimes...

Ferry to Finland

After 2 nights in Estonia we boarded a ferry that took us across the Gulf of Finland where we were met by Mikko and Heidi and their three children. Mikko himself is Finnish so he was a wonderful tour guide who could tell us all sorts of interesting tidbits about life in Finland.

The ferry ride was awesome! It took about two hours, and the ferry was really more like a cruise ship. It had several different levels with restaurants and bars on each one, and chairs for sunning out on the decks. The water was very deep blue and would have been very refreshing had it been a hot day. It was partly overcast though, so it just looked cold!

Mikko and Heidi and children

Their church meets in a school

Candy canes in Finland. How random!

Let's see, a dozen candy canes for 5 euros. That comes to about $6.75! I think I will buy some in America when I go next month!!!

One of the many squares in town

One day Mikko had some things he had to do in town and so he dropped Glenn and me off in the center and came back for us about four hours later. During those four hours we wandered the city on our own and had a great time finding all sorts of interesting things to see and do!

This was a little strange to see in the heart of Finland!

My favorite fountain! Seals!!

Open-air market

We stumbled on an open air market and bought some of the best pastries we've tasted in Europe. This is the kind of thing Glenn and I enjoy the most. I've seen all the churches, cathedrales, statues, and museums I care to see. We prefer to wander the streets, eat some of the local specialties and people watch.

Selling fish fresh out of the water

A church

The President's Palace

Love the hairdoo? Haven't seen much of this, fortunately.

Found this in Finland!

We used to be able to buy Multi-Grain Cheerios in Budapest, and we would often buy a couple of boxes for Kari and Jonathan since they like them but can't get them in France, but about 6 months ago they disappeared off the shelves here in Hungary!!! Like I said earlier, I love to visit in grocery stores in the different countries to see what treasures I can find.

Tuckered out and tired feet after 4 hours!

Home, sweet home!

We returned home on Oct. 1, answered emails, did 6 loads of laundry and called family to say HI! and BYE! again before we headed out on Oct. 4 for another Ebenezer conference in Prague, Czech Republic.

Welcome to Czech Republic!

Praying for one another

In case you forgot, Ebenezer is where we gather all our personnel who have been on the field for about a year for five days of sharing about their first year. It helps them recognize that even though some things have been pretty rough, God has helped them "thus far". Often it is a time of tears mixed with laughter as they share their struggles such as with learning a foreign language and some of their language bloopers.

Favorite thing? Just getting caught up on the news!

Catching up with the Doyles

During Ebenezer everyone meets with either Glenn and me or the Doyles for a Member Care visit. It is just a time for them to talk about anything they need to talk about. If it has been a pretty smooth year for them, we rejoice and pray with them. If they have struggled, we listen, encourage and then pray for them. It was a pretty busy time for us as we had a couple of folks that wanted a little more time to talk. We did, however, have one evening free so we walked into the Old Town (I guess every European country has an Old Town?) and ate at Bohemia Bagel!

Polish Pottery

After Ebenezer Glenn and I went with the Doyles and another one of our ladies 3 hours across the border to a town in Poland where they manufacture the well-known "Polish pottery". Polish pottery has its own unique look and many of our ladies "collect" it. I love it, but I gave away so many dishes before coming over here that I just can't see starting all over again! I did, however, buy just a few pieces!

Too many choices!

There are three main factories in this town with about 50-60 stores that sell pottery. We made it to ten of them. A few years ago the pottery was a real bargain but with the drop in the value of the dollar and the rise in inflation, it is getting pretty expensive.

All of the pottery is HAND PAINTED!

I want this one!

I hope they mean chicken spit!

Glenn found this sign in one of the stores and we just about died laughing! What should we have done? Tell the owner that it should be chicken spit or just let it go? It is because of language bloopers like these that Glenn and I have begun our own collection of translation mistakes to share when we come home! (By the way, in case you don't understand, the pottery piece is a "spit" on which you place a whole chicken and place in the oven to roast. You put the chicken on the spit; not the spit on the chicken.)

Apple pickin' in Poland

On the drive back to Prague before heading back to Budapest we stopped to pick apples that were falling off trees laden with apples that lined the back road for several kilometers. I would say there were probably a hundred apple trees full of fruit! Glenn figured out the locals must know something about the apples that we didn't know or else they would have picked them themselves. As it turned out, they were small apples and not very pretty (which means a lot of work to peel them) and they were very, very tart! Oh well, I can say I picked apples in Poland instead of the north Georgia mountains!

We're almost to the end of this blog entry!

Outlet Mall in Austria!

On our way home to Budapest we took a short detour into Austria to do some shopping! No joke. Mary and Alvin know the best secrets! They knew of a store where we could buy Pillsbury Poppin' Fresh biscuits and croissants, applesauce (no applesauce in Hungary so I've been making my own), breakfast sausage links and a few other impossible-to-find-in-Budapest things.

But the BEST THING I found was a type of candy I used to eat when I was in middle school and living in Germany. It was called "sour sticks". It comes in little "sticks" about the size of a finger and is tart like a Sweetart. I loved them as a child and have looked for them in every grocery store I've entered here in Europe (hence why I love grocery stores!) Anyway, I bought a couple of small boxes to share with my kids (since they've heard me talk about them all these years) and my Dad, brothers and sisters (in case they have fond memories of them too).

Suitcases, pottery and groceries! Will it all fit?

So, now we're back in Budapest and unpacked for 10 days before heading out again. Sorry this is so long! Will write more next week, but a lot less!