Ambling in Tallinn

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Early this morning we were woken up by the most tremendous thunderstorm I ever heard in my life. The whole building shook with the thunder and the lightening was so bright and frequent. I was rather scared as the storm was right above and it was so loud. When we woke up again (Rob woke me up) it was rather bright so Rob got up and checked the time. It was just before nine and we had planned to sleep in till eleven.

We got up leisurely and had a mixed breakfast of bread, cheese, yoghurt and fruit. We then slapped on the sun cream, as it was the hottest day so far, and went and caught the bus into town. We got off where everyone else seemed to, in the modern shopping area of the town. Turns out we’d got off in a random area that appeared to be nowhere near the centre. We walked for a while and went in one shopping centre but didn’t find a main shopping centre or high street. We did stumble across a tourist information that informed us that we were in the main shopping area which I was rather disappointed with.

Cutting our losses we walked into the old town and spent a few hours walking around that area. It sounds a bit dull but I really enjoyed just walking around watching people and stumbling across little back streets that weren’t packed with hoards of tourists. Around four we found a little café that wasn’t extortionate even though it was near the old square so we stopped and had a little snack and drink.

We left the café after having planned a route around the walls of the city. We found some beautiful cobbled streets and many hidden churches and spires etc. We decided to go into the maritime museum that was situated in the Fat Margaret’s Cannon Tower. We wanted mostly to see the view from the top, but the museum was quite interesting (though slightly lacking in English). At the top the view of the docks was rather good but we were too low to see much of the old town.

After that we walked to a nearby supermarket and bought a chilled bottle of Saku. We went to the park between the old and new towns and sat on a wall and drank it. This sounds like a bit of a scally idea but there were two reasons. Firstly, Saku seems like the national lager of Estonia and appears to sponsor every pub, activity, bus etc. Secondly it seems like a normal activity for younger Estonians to sit somewhere with a rather good view or location and watch the sunset with a drink.

After our drink we headed to a restaurant recommended by Eero. It was called Old Hansa and was rather superb. We had walked past it a few times and thought it looked rather good, but Eero had told us to find a seat inside which we did and enjoyed immensely. I had some great bread that was recommended and Rob had salmon and herring as a starter. We had a 75cl jug of spiced red wine, which Rob drank and enjoyed after some persuasion. For our main I had a selection of the veg that they did which sounds dull but it was fantastic and unusual. I had barley cooked with nuts, Pineapple and turnip with saffron, sauerkraut, lentils and so many more unusual things. (I tried a bit of everything dad, are you proud?) Rob had wild boar with vegetables as a side and he really enjoyed that. We were both absolutely stuffed after the meal and had to sit a while with a glass of wine. We left the restaurant after a quick nosey upstairs at the other floors.

We mooched around the city, soaking up the atmosphere and stopping off at a public garden to appreciate the sun loungers. After that we caught the bus back home rather like professionals now.

Whilst I am writing this, Rob is sitting watching Hannibal in English with Estonian subtitles and we are soon off to bed.
Night night everyone.
Stob
xXx

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