Previous stop: Riga!

But first one more neat piece of a building from Riga.

Our lunch break was in Pärnu.

Estonia’s independence was proclaimed here in 1918, here’s the monument to prove it.

Cafés and shopping in the old town.

But I didn’t get lunch in the old town; I found a grocery store and bought cookies (the first essential food group).

We continued the rest of the way north to Tallinn, but we didn’t stay in the city; we stayed at a hotel in a town called Viimsi. And let me tell you, this hotel was a little bit crazy. It had the usual pool and gym. It had a spa. It had a waterpark. It had an English pub, a sushi restaurant, a diner called Nom Nom. It had a movie theatre. It had a dentist. It had a plastic surgery centre. How many things does it need!?!?

That evening several people including me walked to the shore to see the sea. The sand was firm and smooth and the water was very clear.

There were a lot of mosquitoes around the shore, but for some reason their bites didn’t itch? At all??

See I wasn’t kidding

The view from my window the next morning, showing foggy fog and also one of the emergency exits. My room was nearly the very furthest away from the elevator (there were only two more after mine) and it was a bit of a jog to get there. I felt like a FFXIV character whenever I went back and forth – tap sprint because otherwise it takes forever!

But the buffets were pretty good, including having ice cream available at breakfast.

The weather never really cleared up, making this the only real cloudy day on the entire trip (that I remember).

Going downtown to see some sights, but I don’t know what this is.

*ethereal music* The fog was fabulous for taking pictures of what’s left of the medieval part of Tallinn Castle. This tower is called Tall Hermann.

The Russian Orthodox church across from the front of the castle/palace/parliament.

The front of the castle/palace/parliament. Tall Herman would be behind it to the left of this picture.

On the door of a souvenir shop. An… attempt was made, I suppose.

The Canadian embassy, just because it’s here.

St. Mary’s Cathedral

Apparently the white is for snow, black is for earth, and blue is for sky.

We were taken to several lookout points to take pictures of the lower old town.

They’ve added a walkway to allow the Vikings easy access when they invade. Except the Vikings are all gone so it’s just tourists now.

I’m not sure what these statues represent but they’re spoopy.

The ‘Long Leg’ street (there is also a ‘Short Leg’ street)

It was steep.

Market square! More tourist stuff, but still the good stuff.

City hall

St. Catherine’s Passage, one of my favourite bits of the city.

More stalls set up inside the old city wall; lots of woven products to look at. Was tempted to splurge on €100+ knitted shawls that wouldn’t go with anything else in my closet. Reminded me of Norwegian shopping. XD

Old city gate! Love it

Looking up from the city gate towards Town Hall. On this street while I was souvenir hunting I bought a teeny-tiny little leather-bound book – with such buttery leather – for my brother.

Walking along the outside of the wall

From a distance, it almost looks like two different cities, the old and the new.

That evening we had our final performance, about 45 minutes worth of music. Did not get to play the big organ.

Did get to play this organ!

It was very challenging as my rear-view mirror was about the size of my palm and the choir was so far away.

Afterwards we went to the English pub, which had great food and I even had an alcohol. I think I had the chicken burger, but the sweet potato fries were some of the best I’ve ever had. I can’t believe I finished it all!

The next day, I had no responsibilities whatsoever (no more rehearsals of course) so I got a lemon ice cream and wandered around the neighbourhood of the hotel and found this dragon. It’s one of those monsters that you have to defeat in order to have it fight for you (Viking Pokémon?) and it’s supposedly sleeping somewhere in the region.

It’s pretty chub.

I climbed this cool stairway, but it just took me to the top of the ridge and there wasn’t really anything to look at up there.

The stones were neat.

The view downwards was neat.

Then I took advantage of the fact that we were staying at a spa, and got a back massage. Never had one before. Was nice, except my lower back is still ticklish as hell so I kept flinching whenever the masseuse got to that part.

Driving back into the city in the evening, we saw this memorial to the Russalka, a ship that sank in the bay. Or rather, we’d seen it each time we drove in, but the weather was much better today.

We were going on a cruise dinner.

Turns out I really like herring, which is good because the Estonians and Finns LOVE herring. There were about five different kinds of herring at the dinner, as well as potatoes and salads and… well, I don’t really remember because there was so much herring. XD

Fun fact: the Danish flag was raised for the first time 800 years ago that day in Tallinn, which was a Danish settlement at the time, so the Danish Queen came out to participate in ceremonies and celebrations. This is her ship.

Duckies

A Memorial to the Victims of Communism

Every time we drove past this ruined abbey, I’d try to get a picture of it, and almost every time I would fail, and then I’d swear in my head and wait for next time. Well, I got a pretty decent shot from the boat.

Sweeping sandy forested coastline broken here only by this clearly luxury hotel.

Old and new cities again

More wildlife

I believe the tour map said this was a failed communist oil rig. It had a funny name but I can’t find it on Google.

The radio tower sure stands out.

You can see the castle, and the cathedral, and the Russian Orthodox church very clearly.

Dang that sky was blue

I FINALLY GOT A PICTURE OF THAT STUPID MONASTERY

 

Final stop: Helsinki!