from finland to estonia and back again

After arriving in Finland a walk was in order.  My friends live in the Kallio neighborhood of Helsinki.  At first glance, it is a residential neighborhood, full of apartment buildings, small parks, and nice views toward downtown.  We went to dinner at FaFa's, a falafel place.  I was a bit out of sorts after my long day of travel but eating something relatively nutritious was a big help.  The guys working there were from El Salvador and Cuba.  Upon hearing we were from the US, the Salvadorian said "Yeah!  This is good, you guys (us and the Cuban guy) can be friends now, since relations between your countries are being restored!".  Jay Z and Kanye were playing in the background.  Finnish college student dined at a couple of the other tables.

 

 

The following morning, Brad had a meeting near Hakanieme Market.  While he was in his meeting, I first wandered along the bank of the harbor there.  Winter was on its way out and there weren't too many boats in the water.  But there was no doubt this is a city very proud of its proximity to the sea.  As I walked slowly through rain and snow showers, I started to see the beauty of this strange place.  I went to the Market to warm up, finding tons to eat and smell on the first floor and stalls in which to shop for fabrics and antiques upstairs, including one of the ubiquitous Merimekko stores. Brad was soon finished with his meeting and we were headed home to pack overnight bags for our trip to Estonia.

Katy joined us for lunch at Silvoplee.  This is a huge vegetarian buffet with amazing salads and dishes, both hot and cold.  You pay by the kilogram, and it is very easy to have eyes larger than your stomach.  Every meal comes with a piece of traditional brown rye-ish bread and pat of butter.  Turns out the Finns like their bread and butter.  Not so bad.  Following lunch, Brad and I said goodbye to Katy and we took the tram to the ferry dock where we hopped a cruise-ship sized ferry for the two and a half hour trip across the Baltic to Tallinn, Estonia.

Tallinn did not disappoint.  We arrived just as the light reached that magic point in the sky, bringing out the many colors of the medieval town.  We found our hotel and ventured out again, catching spectacular views of the setting sun, taking the quick tour of the Old Town, and making our way to our first cafe of the Tallinn portion of my trip - high atop the wall that surrounds the oldest part of the city.  We enjoyed mulled wine and a variety of cheeses, sitting under a heater and warm blankets.  Getting there was a bit sporty, climbing steep, ancient steps through the wall to get to the narrow walkway above.  From there, it was on to dinner at a Russian restaurant.  Estonia was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 and there are hints of this part of their history throughout the city.  Spending part of our evening at Troika was an interesting choice, but when you're that close to Russia it is hard to resist.  We ate dill pickles with honey and sour cream, and shared some bear dumplings.  Yes, bear.  The evening wound up with a couple of beverages at Clayhills Gastropub.

Wednesday morning, following a pretty satisfying continental breakfast at our hotel, we headed back out into the streets and were on a mission to find Kiek en de Kok, which we were calling "Kick in the Cock", because, what would you have called it?  It is one of the large bastions along the wall where munitions were stored and cannons were located to protect the town from whichever flavors of invaders were attacking at that time.  Below the large tower, there is a tunnel (which is actually a structure built out of stones on top of the ground level, covered in ten meters of soil) connecting it to another tower.  Munitions were stored there as well, and the tunnel was used to move things from one tower to another.  We went on a tour of the tunnel, after exploring the museum upstairs, a six-floor history of Tallinn's military.  In the museum we got to play with medieval torture devices.  Loads of fun.  The tunnel tour was a little rough because of the fact it is fairly new - the tunnel opened to visitors in 2010 and they are still working on renovating parts of it.  But, we learned over the years it has been used as a shelter from gas attacks during WWI, air raid shelter in WWII, fallout shelter during the cold war, hiding place for punks and other people disliked by the KGB, and most recently as a homeless shelter after the fall of the Soviet Union and people throughout the city lost their homes.  And all that follows stints as a prison, munitions depot, and protection of the old town (the really old town) of Tallinn.

Following our tunnel tour and lunch at Moose Poodle (ok, actually Must Puddel) - OMG, the peanut butter ice cream topped with chocolate and crushed peanuts was amazing - we strolled around town, looking into some of the small shops, climbing the tower of St. Olaf's church, and we happened upon this tiny courtyard, outside the oldest house in Tallinn.  We were actually thinking it was where some monks lived (live?) but we found treasure in the dark basement.  It smelled a bit like an old church, in a good way.  It was a painter's studio, and he was there working on his craft.  We looked at the art for sale, ranging from postcards for $3 to original prints for $1.500.  Everything was beautiful and it felt like a fantastic find for our time there.  The day had to come to a close and following a brief glass of wine in the town square, and a quick dinner at an Asian restaurant, we hightailed it to the ferry, making a pitstop for wine as we left town - alcohol is much less expensive in Tallinn than in Helsinki.  We settled down in an open lounge where people were watching what I guessed was a Finnish hockey game.  There were people cheering for both teams and after a couple of drinks the otherwise quiet Finns were getting excited about the game.  I went up to the top deck to check out the sunset over the Baltic - it was a beautiful night despite a strong wind and it was pretty amazing watching the sun sink lower until it disappeared into the sea.

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Brad atop St. Olaf's.

It gets so cold here, even the bikes need sweaters.

Yes, that's one word.