Quit Stalin and give us your Marx!
Trip Start
Oct 20, 2010
1
59
79
Trip End
May 03, 2011
Where I stayed
Tallinn, Estonia
Friday, March 4, 2011
I have found that when I go to certain cities I get a vibe from them. Sometimes it's a good vibe, sometimes not so good. Thinking back, Vilnius was one of those places which wasn't so good. Amazing curry aside, the people and the city just weren't that nice. Tallinn, on the other hand, gave off a much nicer vibe, and it didn't disappoint.
The people were much friendlier, the city was much nicer and I enjoyed myself a lot more. The old town was a lot smaller than Vilnius, and a lot easier to just walk around. The buildings were generally more pleasant.
In the town itself I saw the 'castle' that isn't really a castle, and more of a stately home, which is unremarkable except for being painted neon pink. There was also an impressive Orthodox Church up in the same area. I'm not a big fan of churches, as I'm sure I've made clear in the past but the Orthodox Church really knows how to make them look impressive.
I also paid a visit to the Occupation museum, or to give it it's full title, the Museum of Recent Occupations. This was very similar to the Genocide museum in Vilnius, if slightly less thorough, but at least it didn't suffer from overdramatics when it came to the name.
I had an interesting lunch on one of the days, as I read in my guidebook that there was a Pirate themed restaurant. I felt almost obliged to check it out, and upon seeing that the menu was reasonably priced. I had a metre long Cumberland sausage (direct innuendo to my email address) and a nice pint of ale. Sadly, it wasn't that Piratey inside, and there was nary a bottle of grog to be seen, but the waiters and waitresses were dressed as pirates and serving wenches, so it was a bit of a giggle.
The ferry over to Helsinki was interesting, as the sea was pretty much frozen solid. It looked like the ferry was just skidding over the ice for most of the journey. Nothing like anything I've ever seen before! I would apologise for the pun in the title, but I'm sure by now you've come to expect nothing less from me :)
