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Tram 1 Driver Nil
Just validated my ticket and then this... So now I'm a bit annoyed. Not by the sights mind, Tallinn is beautiful, but this damn technology business. I spent a good 3/4 of an hour yesterday updating my blog thinking I might save myself a bit of time tonight and this shi##y site didn't save it!!! I swear I pressed save, several times! Grrrrrrr.
Now, I don't really feel like typing for an hour so I'll keep it short(ish). Yesterday, as per normal, I did a whole lot of running around. Tallinn's old town really is exquisite and it is wonderful to get lost in all its little laneways. (Actually, it's better to just decide to get lost than to read the map and try to work out where I am... we all know that that leads to the same thing anyway - lost but without the frustration.) Tallinn's old town's medieval compactness makes it ideal for walking too. But not for riding bikes - unless you happen to like cobblestones and busloads of tourists in which case you're in heaven. If this is not heaving yet, I really am glad I'm not here in peak summer season.
I had planned to visit two museums. The puppet
Estonian Salami Prop
As an Estonian puppeteer might see a salami museum and the applied arts and design museum. The latter was closed so the former it was. Lucky for me a puppet show was just about to start so I bought a ticket for that too. Yay! It was such a wonderful show. I can't remember ever going to see a puppet show as a child. But that's not saying much either because I can't remember things that I've done lately let alone something I may (or not) have done some 35 odd years ago! The storyline was simple, about a cat and dog that fight and make up, with an underlying environmental theme running through it. The kids loved it. I loved it. And afterwards you could meet the puppets too. I passed on that.
The museum was equally impressive. Lots of interactive media. And the workshops where the puppets are made were open for viewing too - what a fantastic space for costume designers, sculptors and engineers to work in. Stuff being an ornithologist, I want to be a puppeteer!
Today was more running around. But lucky for me, today was World Museum Day so entry into all of Tallinn's museums was free. Yay! Tallinn's Applied Arts and Design museum was really impressive. There was an exhaustive display of brilliant ceramics, jewellery, glass and textiles. The Estonians sure are a talented bunch of people. And the museum should be congratulated for displaying the work so sensitively. Not everything was behind glass so it was possible to get close to the objects and study them in more detail. I took a LOT of photos.
Next stop. Fill up on pancakes filled with smoked trout and cottage cheese + beer. Just one of each. Then off to Kumu Art Museum. Wow! What a beautiful walk through Kadriorg Park to get to it, with all the trees showing off their bright young green leaves to get to what is an amazing space. And here I thought the Applied Arts Museum done good. Talk about taking it to another level altogether.
The building itself is an artwork, designed by Pekka Vaapuori, a Finnish architect and only 5 years old. And the work too was impressive. Especially the new work by young artists, a lot, dare I say it, used technology which was really, really amazing. One artist, Julius Popp uses a computerized control system to form words with water. The water falls, sprinkler like, down, forms the word and then disappears as it lands. Very difficult to get the timing right to photograph that one. There was also another installation piece asking you to send little tweet like messages to a plant nearby. The message then became voice activated. Someone had messaged I want to be a rockstar!
So, that's been my Tallinn experience. I'm off tomorrow to start cycling, really. Finally I hear you say. The 3,000 km needs to start sometime and tomorrow's it. Hopefully the weather gods will be kind to me so I can ease into it. Looking at the map looks like it might have to be a free camping couple of nights too. I'll be heading in the direction of the Hiiumaa and Saaremaa islands. All going well I'll reach the first one on Friday.
Not sure how communication will go from now on. Internet cafes seem to be a rarity. I've managed to use the hostel's but out there...everyone has their own phone or laptop making them obsolete so if you don't hear from me... no news is good news.
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