Thursday morning, we headed to Tallin, Estonia for a nice day visiting Old Town. Tallinn is about a 2.5 hour boat ride from Helsinki. We did not have to show our passports coming or going, thus continuing the trend of not actually needing to show ID while travelling within Europe.
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| We saw the Sapphire Princess in port in Helsinki! That was cool. 2 years ago, we were on it. And the next time it will be in port in Helsinki, Cheryl-Lynn and her family will be on it! |
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| Sapphire Princess |
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| We enjoyed window seats at the breakfast buffet which has lots of yummy food options. |
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| Me, Megan, U, Matthew |
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| View of Old Town as we walk from the port. |
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| U and Megan by Fat Margaret Tower as we enter Old Town. |
We walked up Pikk St, seeing St. Olav's Church and the 3 Sisters buildings. We used the Rick Steves' guide which was great.
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| Fancy door |
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| Nice fresco! |
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| U at the location of the Brotherhood of the Black Heads, a guild that was composed of single German men. |
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| There were a lot of embassies in Old Town. The Russian Embassy had a lot of propaganda protesting the war with Ukraine and had police protection. |
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| We enjoyed listening to the street musicians including this woman with a key harp. |
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| Me loves tea:) |
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| Megan, Matthew and Me walking the streets of Lower Town. |
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| U at the Raeapteek pharmacy which dates from 1422. |
A sampling of some of the items found in the pharmacy.
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| Old Toomas, the weather vane on the old town hall. According to legend, Toomas was a town guard and dedicated his life to protecting the city. He did such a good job that the town decided to have a Toomas-like figure placed on the weather vane so he could continue to watch over the city. |
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| Megan, Me and Matthew with the wheel well. |
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| St. Nicholas Church |
We walked up Liihike Jalg. At the top of the lane is an arched gateway where the mayor and prime minister still meet when there are important agreements between town and country.
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| Statue of a monk in the Garden of the Danish King. |
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| Megan, Me, Matthew, U in the Garden of the Danish King with the city wall behind. |
We visited the Kiek in de Kök museum and tower which was really cool. Kiek in de Kök means "peek in the kitchen" in low German. We climbed all the floors of the towers which all had exhibits on them. One floor had a 3D model of the town that you could walk under that included info about the different towers, etc. One floor had information about fighting ("If you want peace, prepare for war.") where you could put on armor and learn to sword fight. There were a few floors about the Black Heads as they helped protect the city and some information about music.
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| Warrior U |
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| View into the Garden of the Danish King from Kiek in de Kök Tower. |
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| Peek at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. |
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| Small model of the town |
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| Megan with the completed model of Kiek in de Kök Tower. |
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| Warrior U |
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| Warrior Matthew |
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| Matthew fighting while wearing a different helmet. |
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| Me learning how to sword fight. |
Nice views from the tower.
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| Megan reading a Moomin book at the top of the Kiek in de Kök Tower. |
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| We headed down into the bastions. There were stalactites growing from the ceiling. The first part of the bastions had info about how it was used during wars. Megan and U watched a video on a lost cat that was found. Matthew and Me walked to the end where the Carved Stone Museum was located. There were a lot of stone columns as well as tombstones and other stone carvings. |
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| Megan coloring |
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| Matthew building the towers and walls |
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| We had planned on getting food at the café in the Marston Tower. Turns out all they sold was sweets. We each chose something and then ate some of the food we had brought for dinner as well. |
We finished exploring the towers and elevated walkways.
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| Matthew climbing up stairs from a lower part of the tower. |
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| Looking down into the Garden of the Danish King. |
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| Walking along the elevated walkways. |
We explored Upper Town, including the Russian Orthodox Cathedral which was stunning inside! We met a senior missionary couple inside the church which was fun. It meant we saw missionaries in all the countries we visited except Norway.
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| Toompea Castle and Parliament |
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| Tall Hermann Tower. As the USSR was unravelling, Estonians replaces the Soviet flag with their flag and they have proudly displayed it ever since. |
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| Duck rock?!? |
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| U, Matthew, Me, Megan with a view of modern Tallin from Upper Town. |
Couple views of Lower Town from Upper Town.
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| Megan, Me, Matthew, U with Lower Town |
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| Fancy building! |
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| Me, Matthew and Megan walking the streets of Upper Town. |
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| U, Matthew, Me, Megan with the city walls and towers behind us. |
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| We found a duck store in Tallinn and liked this sign. |
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| In our quest for food, we stopped by a Finnish bakery. Turns out they mostly had sweets as well so we bought some of their delicious pulla. |
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| Megan enjoying her pulla while the birds hope for crumbs. |
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Town Hall building with two dragons. There is a restaurant in the lower part of the building that has another dragon and calls itself "3 Dragons."
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| Megan, Matthew and Me with Fat Margaret Tower. |
We rode the ferry back from Tallinn to Helsinki.
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| Trucks waiting to get on the ferry to Estonia. |
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| It started raining as we rushed to the tram and then walked back to the Airbnb. Good thing we had our rain jackets! |
U Step Count: 18.9k
