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After an amazing six months together the group has now broken up into three (or possibly four) separate trips. K-Nine were last heard of in the Czech republic heading for Italy, OJ and Imp are in Poland heading for Hungary and Mog is in Belgium heading for France and the UK.

The group spent three nights in Tallinn (Estonia). The main attraction of Tallinn is the medieval old town with its jumble of turrets, spires and winding cobbled streets. The main reason that 14th and 15th century Tallinn survived intact was that the city was so impoverished in the 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries that they did not even have enough money to knock the old stuff down.

They now have a UNESCO listed, tourist gold mine that attracts the cruise ships and long weekend visitors from all over Europe. In spite of this popularity the city still has a wonderful atmosphere that makes wandering around, even late at night, very relaxing.

For where to park in Tallinn see here.

We also spent three nights in Riga (Latvia). Riga like Tallinn has many good restaurants, lots of museums and an attractive old city centre. But whereas nearly everybody in Tallinn seemed to have attended "customer relations" courses that promoted cooperation and smiling, there remains in Riga some fine examples of Soviet Service, for example the museum attendants who check your tickets in each room in the museum.

For where to park in Riga see here.

Mog was the first to leave the group in Riga and sad farewells were said on the quay side where we parked.

K-Nine, OJ and Imp decided to use their, still valid multiple entry Russian visas to enter the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad by driving down the Curonian Spit.

(Mog had driven down the beautiful Lithuanian half of the spit in 2003). The Russian half proved far less attractive.

Mog returned to the UK via Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic.

The two highlights of the Czech Republic were the sandstone rock formations at Dolní Adrspach and the city of Prague.

In Prague we were able to park (free of charge at a parking meter) over the weekend in the heart of the city without any problems.

2004-10-20: Mog and OJ are now back in the UK. K-Nine is in Italy and Imp is thought to be Hungary.