Tag: tallinn

On A Ferry To Tallinn

There are a lot of first-times on that trip. Believe it or not, but out of my dozens of visits to Tallinn throughout my entire life, that’s the first time I have stayed there overnight. And because of that, it’s the first time I am not taking the early morning ferry and have not a breakfast buffet, but a lunch/dinner buffet. We boarded early enough to be able to secure a table by a front window, but since these tables are in the form of segments, it is inconvenient to sit by the window together – we would be too far from each other. Boris strategically put our belongings at the sharp end of a segment, and that way, nobody tried to sit at the same table – hurray!

FYI – the caviar is artificial

So we ate and talked and booked our trip to Athens. I decided that I would go to Athens regardless of whether my talk would be accepted. If not, it will be a vacation. I still have at least ten unused vacation days!

Day 5 – Tallinn

On Friday, we went to Tallinn. That was the only part of my June trip that I posted a lot about, so I do not have much to add.

The journey was smooth. The children’s playroom on board was great. In the city, Boris adapted the route so that Kira could do a lot on her own. We ended up not climbing any of the towers (and we will have to return to do that!). Girls had tons of fun in the Marzipan museum making their own marzipan figurines and painting them.

Also, the Maritime Museum was open, and since it was rainy in the morning, we spent almost two hours there. What I didn’t notice before was that they had models for kids to play on each of the floors, which made it especially entertaining.

Anna and I on the ferry
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Tallinn At Midsummer – The Rest Of The Pictures

Once we discovered the oldest cafe in Tallinn, we stop there each time we visit.

Two kinds of Rhubarb pies and sea buckthorn pie
Vana Tallinn coffe
Round two – Chocalate to go
Marzipan Museum
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Tallinn At Midsummer – More Pictures

I started to put this post together yesterday, and today is very different. I am on the plane back to Chicago, and since early morning, the only thing I can do is to scroll the new and to hope that Ukraine will use this time the best possible way. I didn’t see any confirmation of recapturing Donetsk, but I hope that it was not somebody’s joke.

At first I wanted to conserve this post for a while, but then I though that there is nothing wrong in celebrating the beauty and the spirit of freedom of the country that so far gave the greatest portion of it’s budget to support Ukraine. So let it shine!

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Tallinn At Midsummer

Today was the first day of this trip when I was really happy that Anna’s family trip was rebooked. Today, we all would go to Tallinn, assuming “there was no holiday n Estonia,” and it was! Somehow we missed when Midsummer became the same everybody’s time-off in Estonia as in Finland, and today almost everything was closed! Olevista, most of the museums, and even many smaller boutiques, believe it or not! Even finding public restrooms was a problem!

We tested the routes for our August trip, and I took pictures of all opening hours, located the restaurants which allow people from the street to use their bathrooms for one euro fee; took notes of all places which are not child-proof (a lot!) and almost counted the steps 🙂

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Russian Embassy In Tallinn

A Little Bit Of Tallinn

We had about three and a half hours in Tallinn. In contrast to our visit in October, the weather was sunny, and I was so glad to have one more opportunity to see the Old Town. On our way there, we passed this building:

It was erected in 1952 and probably symbolized the submission of Estonia to Russian occupation. However, it looks so grotesque with these tiny balconies, which do not go together with the imperial spear with the star on top, that it looks more like a caricature of the Soviet architecture.

It used to be a sububurb..
I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how they attached the trees to the streetlight poles 🙂
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Estonian Maritime Museum

I just realized that I forgot to blog about one more museum in Tallinn – the Estonian Maritime Museum. The museum is relatively new, and its centerpiece is an old cog – a Medieval merchant ship. 

It was built at the end of the 13th century, and it sailed for quite a long time until it sank in the mid-14th century. The ship was discovered and lifted from the sea in 2015. Now, the cog, along with hundreds of artifacts discovered on the wreck, occupy the museum’s first floor.

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Tallinn: Getting Inside

The rain started shortly after 11 AM, as forecasted. At first, we could ignore the random drops, but later, the rain became more substantial, and we switched to numerous museums and cafes.

The first cafe we landed in was Maiasmokk, the oldest in Tallinn (in business from 1864). That was the first public space we entered in Tallinn, and there we learned that by city ordinance, proof of COVD vaccination is required to enter any place. Masks are still required.  

Tallinn depends heavily on tourism, and I was very happy to observe that this requirement didn’t impact tourism negatively and that the business owners were happy to comply with the city ordinance. 

This round pastry with cinnamon was heavenly good!!!
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Chocolates

I came home last night – a flight was a little bit delayed, but otherwise nice an comfortable, and there were very few people on the aircraft. I am on the CTA on my way to the office, and I have a detail appointment after work, and somehow I need to squizz in a conference call on a non-work-related topic.

I still want to post another hundred pictures from Tallinn, which I hope to accomplish in the next couple of days. Life goes on.

And here is… well, I had an “economy light” fare, which meant no luggage… but I know how to use my carry-on wisely 🙂