Thursday, June 26, 2025

European Adventure 2025: Days (9)-(10) The Black Forrest

 The flight to Warsaw Poland was a short one, only one hour, so before long I was on the ground and looking for the airport exit, which was not easy this time !!! The signs in this airport were very confusing that I ended up at the wrong end of the airport where passengers check in not leave!! It was rather embarrassing but I quickly went back around and found the right exit finally… First time this ever happened, oh well I said there has to be a first somewhere…. Might as well be Poland. The weather was not great so no reason to rush anywhere… especially that the destination is the black forrest so !! My ride eventually showed up and took me out of warsaw to a region called Zabiele Vielke (a dense pine and burch tree forrest northeast of Warsaw). This is where I will spend the next couple days searching for mushrooms and blueberries ! At first I did not know why it was called black forrest but eventually I figure it out!! It is a very dense forrest of pine and burch trees! The tronc of the pines can be dark or red and that of the burch is white !! The colors are quiet interesting and when the wind blows the trees whistle in the wind …. Here are some pictures from the black forrest… no luck with blueberries but mushrooms plenty but small and some  just showing up …


Burch and pine trees together

Burch trees with white trunks 

and pine trees with red trunks


Mushroom hunt .. some are barely showing up


Others are out…

Multi colors too… this one yellow

This one tiny and more colorful 





European Adventure 2025: Day (8) TALLINN

 My stay in Tallinn is coming to end, but I have a feeling I will be back! I really enjoyed my stay here!! The people are nice and the place is awesome so see you soon Tallinn! This could become my summer spot together with Spain or Portugal !! The more choices the better… Astonia is part of the Changan group of countries so I can stay up to 90 days no questions asked!! 90 days is a whole season and summer is what I am thinking about!! Since today is my last full day, I tried going where I have not been yet and in doing that I ended in the boonies, sort off!! After an hour of walking, I realized I was getting farther and farther from civilization so I decided to go back the same way I came … oh well, I said blame it on my maps that showed something !! In any case, I went downtown and walked in all the small alleys and wide boulevards ! I came to realize how beautiful of a mix Tallinn has between the old and the new.. really awesome to see that… may be our American cities should learn from Tallinn!! Refurbish the old and the new to go along with it … another observation is people walk in these European cities.. not so  in our southern cities in the US… every one wants to be very close to the final destination so we drive instead of walking!! These are all adjustments we need to make … in addition to the big gorilla in the closet: the need for an efficient mass transit system! Tramways, subways, buses … all these are needed to push cars out into the suburbs .. I can think of many ideas for the area where I live …

As I prepare to move on to my next stop .. I have to say that Tallinn has been a pleasant surprise … and… I will be back soon!! God willing .. 


….Another beautiful church

…. And One more

A residential building downtown

A snake 🐍 statue with kids watching in owe

A nice little square downtown full of people

More statues in another square

A less busy alley downtown

Smoke stack symbol of the bygone days

A less crowded street downtown 

A nearly empty parking lot

Bikers everywhere

Skyline of the old city from an abandoned Soviet era building

This used to be a very busy site in the communist days

Crumbling old commercial hub in communist days