Day 9-Sightseeing in Tallinn

Today was our day to get acquainted with Tallinn, Estonia, and since Steve decided that he was not feeling up to joining us for our city, I agreed to write the blog. We began the morning with a sightseeing bus tour of the city and learned a bit of information about Estonia and Tallinn. Estonia is the smallest of the Baltic countries with a total population of 1.3 million, of which 430,000 people live in Tallinn. The Estonian language is Fino-Hungarian. Estonia was founded in the 10th century and its strategic waterfront location has made it very attractive to other nations over the centuries. It was conquered by the Danes and the Swedes, in the 13th and 15th centuries respectively, and was then ruled by the Russians from the 18th century until 1920 when it became an independent nation for 20 years. At that point it was occupied by the Russians in 1939, then the Germans in 1941 and then the Russians occupied it once more at the end of WWII. Estonia did not achieve its independence again until 1991 when the Soviet Union crumbled. We began the morning with a walking tour of the Medieval town of Tallinn which still has some of the original fortified walls, medieval churches and cobblestone streets. Several of the passengers from the major cruise lines that stop in Tallinn were also touring the city this morning so the narrow cobblestone streets and churches were packed with people. But we were told that by afternoon they would be gone so the old town would be much easier navigate, which it was! From there we went by bus to the Estonian Open Air Museum which is an enormous village made up of historical rural buildings that have been transported to the site from around the country. There are a wide variety of structures depicting rural life in different areas of the country in the 18th to early 20th century. Some of the thatched roofed farmhouses looked like they were right out of Fiddler on the Roof. Steve joined me for lunch with our friends Laurie and Art at a roof top restaurant across the street from our hotel. We all had Caesar salads with either grilled shrimp or smoked salmon, all of which were delicious. Laurie and I then went back to the Old Town to visit the outdoor market crafts market which is there on Wednesdays and spent a girls day out shopping. Tonight we are turning in early because we are taking the hydrofoil tomorrow to Helsinki for the day.

Ann

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