Free Ride

I think I have three regular or semi-regular readers of my blog now (RIP Hank) and I think the three of you know ( or semi know) that I am painfully aware of the human experience. These painful observations now have me observing Finland. Here is what John Prine and I could write about so far:

·         98.68 percent of Finnish words have two K’s in them and when they go crazy they     sometimes have 8

·         98.01 percent of Finnish people have tattoos

·         100 percent of stuff and shit here is expensive

With working in Iraq and then Abu Dhabi I was hoping to get a break from the heat and of course the pits of hell are cooler than those places in August but there is still a heat wave here so take that global warming nay-sayers.

No surprises here. It is pretty much what I expected. Organized, clean city with nice smelling locals. The big adventure today was going to Suomenlinna:

Here is how they describe it “The Great Wall of China, the Acropolis in Athens, the Grand Canyon, and Suomenlinna”. That might be a bit grandeur but it is worth a visit and there is a nice boat ride to get there. It is an island fortress to fend off their rowdy neighbors of yesteryear.

You can see the Russian influence on the architecture here as well as the cuisine because they put dill on everything which works well for me because I swear by the two damp balls of John the Baptist I love dill. But I am convinced the national dish is Thai food.

And holy moly some of the people are fair here.

I was talking to one dude and said sorry about the death of your brother but man o man you are an awesome guitar player and he said feck off gringo I am not Edgar Fecking Winter. Not sure why an older Finnish gent called me a gringo but I seem to hear that a lot.

Onward

A nice little place on your own private island. Contact owner direct

This boat was the size of PEI but I was staring into the so I missed half the fecking thing

So I needed a shave and had a few beer. If I cannot dress up as Borat on my offhitch the terrorist have won.

These are everywhere now

When near Rome

Old Town, Corfu

Greek hootch

Yeah MoFo

Can you guess what this is

Exactly

This about as Greek as I saw Corfu

Ancient Fortress

Add caption

S. Albania

Butrint

I was surprised to see this

I met her on E Harmony

Gouvia

That's right ladies, 50 cc of power

Museum in Tirana

Tirana

Triana

Tirana

Tirana

I found this to be a bit creepy

High Speed ferry to Greece

I rented a boat for the day

Old town Corfu

Because I couldn't imagine what the hat would look like without the hair

If Liam Neeson has taught me anything and he has taught me a lot is when dealing with Albanians you should say stuff like:

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you give me a free beer right now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

And by gum it worked. Free beer, hotel and food for the entire trip.

I was in Iraq for two weeks and then out for two weeks so I didn't really want to go too far on this hitch out so I decided on Albanian and a few days in Greece.

Tirana the capital is a city in transition where you can see the old bland architecture and life of the communist days and the new trendy shops, bars and restaurants of most European cities. Cheap as borsch.   4 start hotel rooms of 30 euros, good meals are 10 and a beer is one. Times that  by a factor of 20,000 for Western Europe.

There is not tons to do in Tirana but there is  a main square, church, mosques, and a good museum. I was more or less here to see Sarande and the south. So I hoped on a van without AC or opened windows and went on a 8 hour trip to Sarande.

Sarande is 30 minutes from Corfu, Greece by high speed ferry and very close to Italy. You can see the influences in the language, cuisine and culture in general. I am a bit spoiled for beached but a 4 star hotel on the beach was 28 euros a night and it was of decent quality. Albania is one of the hot spots for investment properties now with beach front really cheap. Property is expected to spike if Albania joins the EU.

Nice people that are looking for new future after so many years of communists dictatorship and being the poorest country in Europe.  I worked a lot on this vacation so I really didn't do much.

I did go to an ancient city called Butrint. A 2500 year old history with various occupiers and rules.

Butrint

I did cross over into Greece a couple of times. The first time there were two cruise ships in so it was really crowded and very expensive and extremely touristy. The second time I went to a smaller town and it was pretty much the same. I did a 1100 cc motorbike for the day so I could tour the rest of the island and break neck speeds. Ok, it was a 50 cc scooter and didn't leave the town.

And yes, I am going back to Iraq. There is trouble there and I was the youngest Master Cadet in Canada in 1982 and I can help and here is how.

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you give me a free beer right now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.