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(almost) the Baltics - jenkuya part 2

 
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2015 10:07 pm    Post subject: (almost) the Baltics - jenkuya part 2 Reply with quote

After we got back from Auschwitz it was late afternoon, all of us were tired but we mustered the energy to rush to the aviation museum. It closed at 1800 but last ticket was 1730 and we got there at 1700. Anyway we made it (and paid half price because we just had one hour) we just rushed thru the place. Obviously I would have liked some more time there.

There had a bunch of hangars full of planes.






The Indian Air Force had these


Junkers


Most of the big military a/c were outside on the grass.








Most of the aircraft had little info boards but we didn't have time to take our time and read etc, we literally ran thru the museum.


MiG 21 alley Razz


F-22 Piaggio Avanti?


They had a lot of anti aircraft weaponry, a lot more than this one pic


They had a Messerschmitt as well, different hangar maybe


Day 5 we planned to take an afternoon train to Warsaw, so just about had time to do a morning tour of Nowa Huta the communist district built for the steel works factory. The commies destroyed villages/farms to set up this district and the locals had to work in the steel factories. It looked like a well planned city very Soviet with lots of schools & hospitals, big roads, tree lined wide pavements + buildings etc.



We took a tour in this to set the Soviet mood.


Later that afternoon we took the express train to Warsaw, it was expensive tho 150 zloty (almost 40 Euro) but only 2.5 hours and the normal train was almost 6 hours. The train was roomy, comfortable quick and on time. No complains except the cost. I know it was an 'express' train but I thought it was a bit expensive.






Warsaw
Didn't do a whole lot, went on a city tour and just roamed around, ate. We had been eating pierogi and other Polish food/meat for 4 days so .... we had some more. We had a yum Vietnamese meal tho.











The Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum (Marie Curie)




After 2 days it was off to Lithuania capital, Vilnius.

Lithuania adopted the Euro Jan 1st this year, so prices in the shops had both currencies until people get used to the switch.


Took a bus to Vilnius. It left at 0605 from the central station which was just a 5 mins cab ride from the hotel. Took a while to figure out where the bus was departing from anyway we factored that in our time and got there :30 mins early. The bus didn't stop for the first 6 hours we weren't expecting that! It had lavs on board and we had to make do with nuts-chips-chocolate because that's all we were carrying. After 1200 we stopped for :15 mins (finally) and we grabbed some hot dogs + a few sandwiches.


Arrived by 1600 and got to the apartment. Roamed around the city that evening, had a good meal.


Walking tour was fun, interesting city but the guide was just OK. Some random spots in the city had new buildings, after WW2 the soviets didn't rebuild everything so odd buildings were scattered thought the city.

The Republic of Užupis, the art district.


City sights




View of the city from Gediminas tower.







Trakai Island Castle.




Didn't have enough time to roam around the castle as much as we would have liked because we wasted an hour with archery and crossbows Cool




Lithuania was the last European country to convert to Christianity end of the 14 century. The priests (or whoever) managed to baptise most of the country within a year = the locals were pagans but this meant less invaders.

Assorted swine flesh Razz Pigs ears on the right, didn't like it much.


Sausage everywhere ..... wont get tired of it!



Took another bus to Riga, shorter trip less than 4 hours I think?

Riga
We chilled out most of the time in the Latvian capital (Riga is the largest of the Baltic capitals) and had the best night life, we were there over a weekend but we heard from others as well. We went out for drinks and got home after 3 and the bars under our apartment was still going strong. Soundproof windows thankfully 😜
Latvia changed to the Euro recently as well, a year before Lithuania in January 2014.

There was free wifi everywhere (in all these countries). Restaurants/malls/shops even the buses.


[







They had pay to use public lavatories everywhere ..... 30 cents at the station but not well maintained apparently the girls weren't happy. The access part door/lock was the fancy bit but on the inside no lights not clean etc. Surprising.

The main market - back in WW2 the building used to house Zeppelins when the Nazis were here.
Latvians love hockey .... and watch games with beer and dried fish. They sell dried fish in buckets






Latvian cuisine had more seafood than the other places, and we seemed to get more veggies as well.


The square near our apartment


One of the best things about Europe, evening coffee/hot chocolate with pastries. The breads were nice but not as super as I hoped, guess you cant compare it to western Europe.


Latvian meal


Mackerel and mascarpone soufflé of some sort.


Another fishy


It was a great trip and the perfect length, but I was ready to get back home.
It was pretty easy planning our way back to DXB. Air Baltic from Riga to somewhere then EK from somewhere to DXB. There were a few options of 'somewhere', CPH, OSL, ARN, WAW, BUD, FRA, VIE, MUC. Apart from OSL the other Emirates flights were not full. Now given a choice I would chose a 380 over a 777, so MUC it was. As (bad) luck would have it (again) Air Baltic flew the 737 to MUC and the Dash 8 to other cities Evil or Very Mad


RIX-MUC
(0745-0900)
BT-221
YL-BBE
735


Riga airport




Flight time 2 hours. I slept 1:45. All I can say is TO was fun, flaps wwrrrnnned and whined like a rickety old thing. Cabin crew has nice uniforms. No picture sorry, google it Smile


Had to endure a 6:45 transit in MUC. Almost got lost walking around downstairs looking for a breakfast spot in the airport centre.
Got fleeced with breakfast, airport prices! R had eggs and bacon and I had a German meal = pork with potatoes and sauerkraut.


Sat around, walked around, free wifi, bit bored etc. The screens said counters would open at 1215, at 1210 staff started settling down and they opened at 1215, 3.5 hours before departure.






MUC-DXB
(1545-2345)
EK-50
A6-EDG
388








OOOOOoooooooo


OOOOOoooooo times 20!!!! 😍😍😍😍






The best place to be


Quick flight, 50mb free wifi which is great. Enough to check whatsapp check mail etc. Another 500(?) for $1 so practically free wifi.
Spent some time at the bar, hung around chatting and eating the little snacks. Had the deserts and later ice cream (only vanilla)
Landed :40 mins early, was home by midnight.

Thanks for reading guys
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The_Goat
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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2015 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great pics. Looks like you had a really good time. Thanks for sharing.

Read somewhere that Lativia is the country with the highest internet penetration in the world. Almost 100% of its citizens have net access. No wonder, with all that free-wifi available everywhere.


And I wish I could get a 2.5 hour express train ticket for 40 Euros here in France. That is really cheap by Euro standards.
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Optimus.Prime
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PostPosted: Sun May 17, 2015 12:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice one StealthPilot ! In all seriousness, when are you not on vacation?
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The_Goat wrote:

Thanks for reading
All the countries had wifi everywhere (which we kinda expected). All the restaurants, malls even the buses. Some had passcodes but the rest was password free just logon and use.
True about the price- I guess I was expecting Polish prices Smile Everything was so cheap, hotels + food most things as you can imagine so I expected trains to be cheaper.

Optimus.Prime wrote:

Evil or Very Mad Laughing
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PNQIAD
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PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2015 1:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome TRs NiT - just read both of them.....Also hoping for a TR from Seat 0A sometime soon Smile
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Sat May 23, 2015 7:41 pm    Post subject: Re: (almost) the Baltics - jenkuya part 2 Reply with quote

...and what an aviation treat. It is just so unfortunate that you
had to rush through the museum: it really reminds me of most of
my outings, since I rarely get a vacation. In most cases, I have
to manufacture one out of an official trip, look up my AI/9W FFP
points kitty to check if I can take The Wife and Junior along,
rush through most places, seeing them from behind a camera lens,
and then rush back to work. I find it amazing how you can pull
off even hurried trips, to really exotic locations, with family and friends!

A trip to a good air museum is always a treat. Thanks to your trip report,
I will always look forward to a visit to Krakow. I thought I had seen some
rather exotic aviation museums before, The Smithsonian National Air and
Space Museum and the Udvar-Hazy Centre in Washington DC and Dulles,
The Museum of the Armed Forces and the one-and-only one at Monino,
Datangshan near Beijing, The USS Midway at San Diego, the Intrepid Museum at New York City,
the USAF Museum at Dayton, Ohio, and our very
own tiny ones: HAL Bengaluru and the IAF museum, Palam, Delhi.
The Polish Aviation museum has a rather eclectic collection, with a great
collection of aircraft from all corners of the globe!
Lt me try a few of my favourites, I will shamelessly reproduce your pictures here. The low light would have been a considerable dampener for you, and readers alike!


Hmm...the IAF colours on this bird look a bit surprising to me, or are my eyes
playing tricks? These cannot be the IAF roundels, or are clearly a mistake.
The plane in question is the beautiful split-tail French trainer,
the Fouga-Magister. Some of my childhood memories have me pouring
over pictures from French Air Force display teams releasing the three colours
of the French flag, in flypasts, and one involving a terrible accident as well.


I like the sleek lines of the L-29 Aero Delfin, a Czech aircraft of the Iron Curtain days, to the left!


Wow, a SEPECAT Jaguar beside a Mig-21, what beautiful aircraft!


The beautiful A-7!


The Divine Delta! The Mig-21 has to be one of the most beautiful planes
ever designed, and built, and that too, in such large numbers! The IAF's
uprated Mig-21 `Bison' model (possibly the most sophisticated Mig-21 variant ever) is still a considerable force to reckon with.

And the rest of the trip report was just like a dream...lovely pictures of the
train, the food (but of course Smile), and the places and attractions, with nice explanations, of course adding to the spice. Neat way of putting in the reason, as to why Lithuania was the last European nation to convert to
Christianity! Drooling over pictures of food, while reading this report,
situated in a somewhat pricey hotel, far away from affordable food, is not
good for my tummy! (I am in Indore right now, and...stuck indoors).
When an occupant of a dream front office writes `Oooo...' about a plane,
what would you expect us aviation enthusiasts to react, with? Smile

Keep it up stealthpilot...we simply love your trip reports.
[Edit: those pictures were there when I had started drafting my reply to your TR where have they gone now? Come on stealthpilot: please do not delete
your trip reports, or anything associated with them!]
Cheers, Sumantra.
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 1:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PNQIAD wrote:

Thanks for taking the time PNQIAD ...... unfortunately my airline is pretty weird and wont allow us to take pictures/write TRs from the cockpit unless we get permission etc which honestly is not worth the hassle. Rolling Eyes

sumantra wrote:

It will never cease to amaze me how much time and effort you put into other peoples trip reports, probably more than your own!

The pictures are still there ..... haven't touched them. They are fine on the original post maybe your copy/link is broken?
The aviation museum did have a great collection and it's always better to see the aircraft outdoors (especially when you can walk up and touch them). I'm pretty sure I skipped more than half of what they displayed Crying or Very sad
More food pictures next time I promise .... I thought I had more this time hmmmm.

Where are you staying in Indore?
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

stealthpilot wrote:
.. unfortunately my airline is pretty weird and wont allow us to take pictures/write TRs from the cockpit unless we get permission etc which honestly is not worth the hassle.
Sure, we understand that, but I am really glad you more than compensate, otherwise!
sumantra wrote:
It will never cease to amaze me how much time and effort you put into other peoples trip reports, probably more than your own!
I love to read good trip reports, and love to appreciate the effort writers like you put in!
With regard to the pictures, yes, I guess my not being tech-savvy has its disadvantages. The one picture that looked odd was the following:

This was my comment:
``Hmm...the IAF colours on this bird look a bit surprising to me, or are my eyes playing tricks? These cannot be the IAF roundels, or are clearly a mistake.
The plane in question is the beautiful split-tail French trainer,
the Fouga-Magister. Some of my childhood memories have me pouring
over pictures from French Air Force display teams releasing the three colours
of the French flag, in flypasts, and one involving a terrible accident as well.''
Can you please check up on this one?
I am dead sure about the identity of this plane, and know an Iskra fairly well.
stealthpilot wrote:
Where are you staying in Indore?
We stayed at Hotel Ginger, in an area better known as LIC square/Chhoti Khajrani/Dainik Jagaran/... I am back at Delhi now. Do you, or your relatives have some Indore link? I've explored the Indore-style food quite a bit, and will write more on it Smile
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PNQIAD
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 6:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

stealthpilot wrote:

Thanks for taking the time PNQIAD ...... unfortunately my airline is pretty weird and wont allow us to take pictures/write TRs from the cockpit unless we get permission etc which honestly is not worth the hassle. Rolling Eyes


No worries Smile As long as you write other trip reports regularly Very Happy
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iflytb20
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stealthpilot

I feel sumantraji is correct in this matter. The Iskra was a single tailed plan while the Fouga Magister had the V- Tail. Have a look :



IAF Iskra



Fouga Magister

PS: Sorry for the large sized pics. Couldn't find smaller ones
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:

iflytb20 wrote:


Nothing escapes you sumantra ...... I linked the wrong picture (probably because I don't know anything about those aircrafts Embarassed )
The one I wanted but failed to show was the single tailed Iskra
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 8:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

stealthpilot wrote:
The one I wanted but failed to show was the single tailed Iskra
No stealthpilot: you indeed unearthed a gem. A Fouga Magister wrongly painted with the IAF roundels. Or is it my eyes playing tricks with the colours (also given the bad lighting situation you got in the evening), and the rings are red and blue, and not saffron and green?
By the way, nice comment `F-22 Piaggio Avanti?' that exotic design is a recent Polish(ed?) design, the EM-10 Bielik. A rather unique-looking aircraft.
The following web page (in Polish) gives some details.
http://www.polot.net/?p=a237
Since I'm not Polish(ed) enough, I tried it on Google Translate:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.polot.net%2F%3Fp%3Da237&edit-text=&act=url
Fascinating!
Thank you once again, for sharing a lovely, and thought-provoking TR.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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avbuff
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nikhil .... this too is a visual treat ... good one.

I'm amazed how you could plan and execute such an elaborate itinerary. Well done on that!

Sorry you had to go to MUC, my apologies for that. Having said that, on chota planes 3 or 4 bookings it takes to steer inventory and availibility against the B737s. Which is why I urged you to take a safer option Sad

Hope you liked the EK 380 Razz

In case if you are planning a trip for next year, please visit my desk. I have a list of routes that needs network support and you are free to choose one of those destinations. Twisted Evil
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh wow...those are some great shots of the museum! Its okay you didn't get enough time there...there's always a next time. Wink

But really, a great second part! Pictures of the cities..wow! Food looks yummy too! Food here certainly looks better than the stuff in France. Surprised

Great fun flight on the B735. Superb aircraft, the Boeing 737, don't you think? Razz

And super perspective picture of the 747 (?) chocolate with the A380 in the background!

Regards
Jish
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