Country #71: And I chose Tallinn.

The Dome Church






A stadium dedicated to Song Competitions
Alexander Nevsky church
St. Olaf, once the tallest building in the world, in the background
Entrance into the Dominican Monastery


St. Olaf's spire, up close

Town Hall

Russian cars from the Occupation Museum

Not surprisingly, the Estonian Russians are less than thrilled with this display.

Translates to Grandma's Place, this is a restaurant where Hillary Clinton once ate as first lady...I can only assume under a hail of gunfire.

After a month of working in Amsterdam, I finally had a nice stretch of days off and a lot of possibilities. I could go the laid-back beach route and head to the Greek Isles or the southern coast of Spain. I could get all exotic-like and head to Tunisia. I could finally get to Berlin, a city that it feels like I have been trying to get to forever. Instead, I chose Tallinn. As in Tallinn, Estonia. I had heard all kinds of buzz of this spectacular and hip city, that was as of yet, undiscovered. I had seen some really great photos, it was a country I had yet to visit (#71) and I was able to find reasonably priced flights, so my mind was made up. I booked a four day trip, made sure to charge my extra camera batteries and prepared to be dazzled. Then I got to Tallinn. At first glance, it was as charming as promised. Entering the Old Town is entering into a world of wonderfully-restored medieval buildings, cobblestone streets and narrow, winding alleyways. On its own, it is positively enchanting. The problem is you don't get to experience it on its own. You are immediately besieged by a town in period costume. You want to buy some glazed nuts, you can go to one of carts on every street corner manned by women in hooded velvet gowns. Now you are thirsty, find the beverage trolleys/ bikes pedaled by kids wearing burlap sacks. You prefer to sit down and eat, you can choose from a multitude of medieval theme restaurants, all in dark cavernous spaces, staffed by yet more costumed characters and promising live entertainment, which funnily enough, when I relented and visited one, the Peppersack, was a belly dancer. I assume the booking agent somehow confused the Middle Ages and the Middle East when looking for an appropriate act. But there's more, you want to visit the obligatory torture museum, just look for the two teens out front dressed as executioners while merrily passing out flyers. Wanna climb a tower for a better view, just pay the maiden with the Renaissance gown and Hello Kitty earrings. All combined, it gave me the unescapable feeling that I had wandered into Ye Olde Magical Theme Park (the Medieval edition). And I was on a four day pass. Things only got worse on the second day, when I awoke to find that this teeny, tiny, itsy bitty town (seriously, it's not big...you can spend half an afternoon here and see the whole thing, including stopping for a leisurely lunch and maybe a cocktail break) had been overtaken by tour groups on day trips from who knows where. Everywhere I turned, I encountered masses of people following sign-wielding tour guides, one group lined up after the next to walk through one of the now not-so- charming alleyways. I felt like I spent half the day, either standing back to let the groups pass, or grumpily elbowing my way past them. It was enough to make me want to borrow an axe from one of those torture museum kids. Since I had purchased the Tallinn card, which entitled me to free entrance to most of the museum (although not the torture one), I was able to temporarily escape the crowds in a supposedly haunted Dominican monastery, a well-organized City museum, a 258 step climb to the top of St. Olaf's spire and my favorite, the Occupation museum, which chronicles Estonia's time under German and Russian rule. Still, all this activity only kept me busy until day three, when drastic action was called for...action that I will be writing about in my next post.