48 Hours in the Baltics...

Just a quick post from Helsinki, where it's currently 1:30 a.m., but I am uncharacteristically hyper... I am staying in the coolest hotel room suite I have ever had the pleasure to spend the night (complete with stuffed tiger and other interesting features).

I usually boast about the fact that MY business trips are not of the variety where you see little more than airport, hotel and conference room. The past two days, however, where more or less exactly like that due to the fact it was dark when I arrived in both Riga and Tallinn and that I was at events all day on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had a great time with my colleagues anyway and here are a few impressions. Riga by night:

Interesting presentation of the complimentary starters on the paper placemats at a restaurant in Riga...The hand belongs to the waiter:

Street in the old town of Riga (where our hotel was) in the morning:

View of Tallinn from the 6th floor of Swissotel, where I was from 8:30-18:00 on Wednesday:

And finally a picture taken while waiting to board the ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki on Wednesday night. Buying cheap booze both in Tallinn and on the ferry (dubbed the "booze cruise") is the main purpose for most Fins taking the trip. I assume the puke in the toilets on board was not only due to the rough sea...

More about Helsinki coming up.