Toronto, Canada

We've been back home for a few days after our trip from Helsinki south to Kiev, and the Azores. We flew into Helsinki, and then went by land / water through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Our visa for Belarus required us to fly in and out of Minsk, so we flew from Vilnius to Minsk, and then onto Kiev. From Kiev we flew towards home, staying in the Azores for almost two weeks cause it broke up the long flights home.

Highlights included:

Finland and Baltic states
- Menu tastings at restaurants
- Historical old towns of the Baltic capitals (all UNESCO sites)
- Traveller Tour excursions between Tallinn & Riga and Riga & Vilnius

Minsk
- Seeing all the Soviet architecture
- Attending the ballet
- Drinking kvass from a street stall
- Overall traveling in Minsk, it's very untouristed

Ukraine
- UNESCO sites in Kiev (Kiev Pechersk Lavra, St. Sophia's Cathedral)
- Day trip to Chernobyl Exclusion Zone from Kiev

The Azores
- Eating (the fish and meat were excellent)
- Lunch at Bar da Poca on Pico Island
- Driving around Faial Island

We booked and planned out this trip in less than a week. Overall we planned the right amount of time for us in each city, although I would have added a day to Kiev to make up for the day trip to Chernobyl. Luckily we just caught the start of the heat waves when we were in Kiev. We did get more rain than we usually have on a trip, probably because we're going more off-season than in the past. Another change I would make is to book places with a/c in the Azores. It doesn't get that hot (maybe 23C) but it's very humid. I don't think our laundry ever dried in the rooms!

Overall it was a trip more about experiences, and less about major sites. There were only two additions to my Top 100, both in Kiev: Kiev Pechersk Lavra (#55) and St. Sophia's Cathedral (#79). Both were also unexpected as I knew very little about Kiev prior to the trip.

As far as country counts, Ukraine was #90 for me, getting closer to my goal of 100! Heather and I have now been through 42 countries together. Our next trip is to the Balkans over Christmas.