Blogs from Tallinn, Estonia, Europe - page 5

July 7 – Tallinn This morning we docked in Tallinn Estonia – the home of SKYPE – AND I might add the first country to electronically connect all it’s citizens to government services. Each person has a single identity card which serves as their health card/drivers license and everything else – they also have electronic voting. I recall studying this aspect of Estonia when I was involved in designing electronic services for Ontario. Anyhow….. we had booked a food tour of Tallinn and were met by our guide and joined by 7 others also taking the tour. This was a walking tour and I fail to understand why someone who uses a wheelchair and is barely mobile would figure this was appropriate but we did have one elderly person on the tour who had to be ... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! Even though Martin set me up with a key we left together this morning, him to work and me to Viru Hotel where I picked up the Tallinn Card and I was ready to make it count! There was just a slight problem with my plan, everything here has really crappy opening hours! I had to wait for about and hour before the earliest attraction opened up, Niguliste Kirik, which is a museum housed inside a former church dedicated to saint Nicholas, built between 1230 to 1275. It's a museum of ecclesiastical art and it has some really interesting pieces, especially the Danse Macabre from the 15th century, by Bernt Notke. Unfortunately it's displayed behind glass which reflected the light a lot so it was hard to really enjoy it or take ... read more

I first became interested in visiting the Baltic states when I heard about the Baltic Chain. This was the longest ever chain of people holding hands, stretching 600 km between Tallinn in Estonia to Vilnius in Lithuania, passing through Riga in Latvia and numerous other towns and villages on the way. This peaceful protest by over a million people in August 1989 was against the continuing Soviet occupation of the region and garnered worldwide attention to the cause of Baltic independence. This was towards the end of the era of Mikhail Gorbachev’s presidency of the Soviet Union, but it was Boris Yeltsin’s rise to Presidency of the Russian Federation in 1991 that was more influential in the break up of the Soviet Union. Russian troops finally withdrew from each country late in 1991. My research indicated ... read more

It has been a busy few days! But I must back up to the time spent in Oslo first. The early morning of our flight to Helsinki, Colin and I were walking to the train station and there was absolutely no one around. I mean no cars, not a single homeless person or beggar, local drunk - no one. We were laughing saying that we were the new Adam and Eve. The end of the world had happened in the night and forgot to tell us. It was pretty funny, just had to share that. Helsinki is a beautiful city with cheaper beer. Once we found the apartment we were staying in, we settled in and began our touring. Rick Steves book has come in very handy as we do his walking tours. That combined with ... read more

Sometime during your childhood, probably on a family trip to a not too far from home beach destination, you saw your first one. You had finished your day at the beach. You had finished your ice cream cone or cotton candy. Someone mentioned the need to purchase something to bring home as a remembrance of your time spent together. You searched out a curio shop whose window had “souvenir” written in 4 languages. You entered through the shell strands that hung in the doorway. You made your way past the postcards, magnets and T-shirts. Along the back wall, alongside the polished rocks, nautical themed statuettes and aprons with silly puns, you found your first one. You hesitated to pick it up because it looked so fragile. It was round and made from thick glass. Inside was ... read more