The Church

Kiek in de Kok

The sign says, “Kiek” not “Knee” – I can never get these things right!

We were told that “Kiek in de Kok” translates into “Peek in the Kitchen” and there was a museum of the same name to visit. No matter – Rob refused to go in there!

Tallinn Rooftops

After coffee and pastry from the shop at the bottom of the hill, we decided to climb to the top and check out the view.

The view was spectacular! We weren’t the only one’s who thought so…

The laneway from this look-out led to a souvenir shop where Rob and I purchased a pillow cover as a momento of our trip to Tallin.

Here it is… Oops! Cut off Rob’s head!

Sorry about that Darling!

The Monastery

We stopped for an ice cream (I had green apple, can’t remember what Rob ordered…) and wandered about town. Turned a corner and stumbled upon this monastery. It was lit by candles on the floor and run by an elderly gentleman who explained the turbulent history to us.  

Check out the ceiling in this room!

The ‘Fool’s Head’ keeps people wondering….. was it a UFO, the devil… neither – just a ‘Fool’s Head’  The curator laughed as he tried to explain it to us, but his English was very broken and hard to understand.

Cars and Cobblestone

Rob wanted a picture of a Lada – said it would put the history of Estonia into perspective. (Salwa took both of the following pictures. I took some pictures too, but mine did not turn out so well.)

While we were in Tallin, the “1907- 2007 Peking to Paris” event for old car affectionado’s was also taking place and many owners were cruising through in their war-time vehicles. This guy had just stopped for some roasted nuts in the town square…

… sold by this lady at the ‘Olde Hansa Shop’

Ofcourse there were also modern cars – Audi’s were especially popular.

The Tower

The tower was very impressive. We were thrilled to hear that we could go inside.

There were 6 or 7 stories to climb, each with little rooms. There was also a wall you could walk out on.  We were lucky enough to be the only people inside at the time.

The history of the tower was all in Russian. Estonia was a conquered country and 26% of the population today is Russian.

We were trying to decide what this hole was for: was it a toilet for the soldiers in the tower? Or was it used to raise and lower supplies? You decide.

The passage ways were very narrow. 

We thought the views from the tower were great. We didn’t know yet that it just never ends in this town! Wait until you see the churches!

Typical Breakfast in Not-So-Typical Tallin

We finally decided to stop at a “take-away” and eat outside. We ate in a park across from a hill with stone wall supports, a staircase and a great view overlooking the city. The view from where I sat was pretty good too.

More flaky food!

This guy was sitting across from me and I really wanted to take his picture without him noticing, but I didn’t have the nerve to aim my camera directly at him.  I waited until we were walking away, so I didn’t get a really good shot, but I tried (those “qualms” got in the way again.)

Hey Barry, is there something wrong with your pastry?

 

Inside the walls and on our way to the tower…

Hey, why don’t we eat here…

This is nice, why don’t we eat here… what’s wrong with this place? No? Too fancy? Okay, let’s keep going…

How does the saying go, “No rest for the wicked.”

Can we eat before going in….?

Arrival in Estonia

Good Morning Tallin! Tallin is a medieval city in Estonia. You can see it in the background of the port.  We took a cab to our hotel, put our bags away and headed into town.

Old Town Tallin was quite a surprise – we had not even heard of it before! It was simply gorgeous. By day, tourists walk the walled city, although people do live there as well. At night it turns into Estonia’s hotspot, filled with nightclubs tucked into out-of-the-way places. Apparently, Tallin has it’s share of famous visitors too and someone is usually spotted at one of the clubs.

Cruise to Tallin, Estonia

After playing tourist for a day in Stockholm, we grabbed a cab and headed to our cruiseship – or so we thought! The driver took us to the wrong ship…. Once we realized the error, we hailed another cab to the correct dock and after some confusion with the bookings, we finally boarded the “Romantika.”

We outran the rain as we headed to Tallin, Estonia.  Our room was small but functional, with 2 small beds. By the way, what is up with that? We had twin beds everywhere we went.

 

The view from the deck was awesome. We kept waiting for the sun to set and darkness to set in, but it never quite happened.  It looked like it was going to go down, then it started to come up again!

Cracking up from lack of sleep in the midnight sun…

That was enough for us – we were jet lagged as it was and needed to try to sleep.

Did I tell you we saw a rainbow?

Morning arrival in Estonia.

Night Cruise to Estonia – Slide Show

First Stop: Stockholm, Sweden

While on vacation, it ocurred to me that I should be taking pictures of  “beautiful coffee”  for a coffee website I am working on.  Did you know that Swedish people love coffee and drink an average of 9 cups per day?   Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to me that I should be taking pictures of coffee until after we left Stockholm - I was on vacation afterall!  So sorry, no pictures of coffee in Stockholm…  While there, we sat outdoors at Robert’s Coffee, a chain much like Starbucks here, where we passed the time “people watching.”  *By the way, we did not see a Starbuck’s Coffee in Stockholm or our other destinations, Tallin and Helsinki.

Street Food: The Hotdog!

The Swedes love their hotdogs! You can buy one on any street corner. The buns are much smaller than the dogs and the vendor puts the condiments on from what looks like a cow’s udder (or worse!) You can even get your hotdog with 2 scoops of mashed potatoes on top, if you like.  This is not nearly as strange as how the Finnish people like their hotdogs and burgers and that would be with the works – including a fried egg and pineapple ring!

Check out my Slide Show of Stockholm!