Thoughts at the end of our second leg.
As we planned our trip we did it in stages as that seemed to make it easier and we said that once we reached Hungary that would be the turning point as we started to come back home.
One of the things that has been consistent apart from all the kindness and generosity of every one we have encountered in all 11 countries, have been Storks!
We first came across a field of them in Holland and then on all our travelling we have seen them grazing fields, soaring on thermals, nesting on top of chimneys, man made nesting poles and tops of telephone posts. The only other time I've seen them before was when we were on holiday in Portugal. To me they seemed such an exotic bird and I have enjoyed watching them in different aspects of their lives. The Australian couple we met outside of Riga commented on the lack of bird life through out their travels but as Colin pointed out, if they were only in cities and larger towns then they wouldn't see a true representative of wildlife.
Coming down through from Estonia, the Ukraine has been by far the least prosperous and least modernised of the countries. It has the worst road conditions (followed closely by the Eastern part of Romania!), the fewest cars but the most horses and carts. Very little Industry and the agriculture looks limited to feeding themselves and the community.
It seems such a juxtaposition that those people who outwardly seem to have the least have the most quantity of highly decorative big churches, we constantly passed elaborately and ornately decorated churches in colours of white, blue, yellow, green and pink: all of which had either a roof of copper which glinted in the sunlight like a beacon for kms before you get to it or beautiful coloured sparkling tiles.
I have been picked up (literally) by a very tall Latvian lad to be able to reach the top of an archway that he had been pretending to hold up (that was Phil's fault)! I have been taken by a Ukranian man and woman to our hotels when we've been lost and we have been welcomed as honorary members of all of the biker gangs in Romanian! Not bad going for 2 northerners.
We have seen so many sights that it will take a long time to really process and recall it all.
People we've met have not only been enthusiastic about our tour but inquisitive to know how we have managed to be on the road for 3 weeks now and not find it repetitive, others appreciate the incredible experiences we are having.