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Friday July 2 - Today I left Helsinki behind for Tallinn, Estonia. I got to the ferry early, before 9am and checked in. The boat left at 10:30 and we were allowed to get on at 10am. The thing was more of a cruise ship than a ferry. Enormous. I went straight to the top and pulled up a chair to the railing to watch the world go by. Unfortunately it was cloudy and freezing once the oat got moving, so that only lasted about 30 minutes. Then I moved to a more sheltered area, but still in the sun. About forty minutes into the jouney it became sunny, which improved my mood dramtically. Eventually it felt a bit warmer so I moved again, but not into the biting wind. We arrived and I could see the medieval old town from the ship. I walked over and found my hostel and checked in. It's not as nice as it appeared on the internet. This is the problem with having to book online at high season. The room is ok but with no hooks for towels and one wall is only half finished so you can hear everything in the adjoining common
room. Once I got sorted I walked around the town, snapping pictures like a mad fiend. There are some really beautiful places and it is a very old town. In the town center they take it to an extreme and have middle age themed people walking around, selling things. A little too much for me, but fun to see anyway. The biggest "problem" I noticed was that there are about a million people here walking around a small town. And they all speak English, natively. Then I found out it is all the people from the cruise ships who come to town for a day and then leave again. A bit annoying, really. (Sorry mom!). Oh, and all the little kids here have their heads covered as well....
I signed up for a bike tour of the Lahemaa National Park for tomorrow which was later rescheduled to Sunday, as I was the only one going. I ended up getting some take out pasta and eating at the hostel and then going to the grocery store for some breakfast foods. Although I am enjoying what I am seeing, I am not feeling completely excited about being here yet. Perhaps it
is because the entire journey is less than a week old, or maybe because today is the first day of real travel, compete with dorm life, that I will have to get back into before I can really enjoy it. Hopefully that time comes soon.
Saturday July 3 - Today was a good day. It was beautiful outside, with a perfect blue sky. I started out lazy, talking to a roommate, Morgan from Puerto Rico, and updating my blog with pictures. I didn't leave until after 11am, and then I walked around until 12pm, when I met with a free walking tour. It took 2.5 hours and was really very good. There are several of these tours in Europe and they just ask to tip at the end if you think it is worth it. I did the same in Jerusalem and that was good as well. I heard a lot of the history of the sights as well as several ghost stories. Much of the old town dates back to the 11th century and beyond, so there are good tales for many places. Essentially, Tallinn is haunted. Nearly everyone on he tour was in town for the day
with a cruise line. Smart (free) excursion! I also had it confirmed that this is the country where Skype was created. They even have free wireless internet everywhere, including buses and trains! It is a very IT friendly country.
When the tour was over, I got on the tram and headed to the new town, to Kadriorg park. It is where Peter the Great built a mansion for his wife Catherine. It is now an art museum. I went in and it was very nice. I was also going to lay under the trees and read and relax, but I ran into Morgan there and we took a walk to try to find what he thought was a castle nearby. It was something, but the gates were closed and so we walked back to the park and sat on a bench and watched swams and ducks with their babies. I even watched a duck with babies attack a swam for being too close!
From there, we got a huge pizza to split and then came back to the hostel, where I called it a night.
Sunday July 4th - See Lahemaa National Park day trip entry
Monday July 5 - See Viljandi day trip entry
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