Tallinn, Monday
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2008
1
12
37
Trip End
Oct 05, 2008
Tallinn,
Estonia
Monday, September 8, 2008
Today was an old town day and one that we, but not our feet, enjoyed.
We slept fairly well. Kerry found it still a little warm, but we are progressively learning to adapt to the Nordic tendency to want to keep internal temperatures warmer than we would.
In this case we have to set the (ineffective) air conditioning thermostat to 5°C, and even then we now have the window open as a supplement after the room was closed up during the day.
We had intended to do our laundry in our two days in Tallinn, but of course the laundromat was not as close as we hoped
painting marzipan
. So we washed in the room what we needed. Hopefully my denim jeans will dry before we leave.Breakfast was good - the main differences to the Finnish breakfasts of last week were less options in the cereals/muesli area and the breads were not as fresh.
We wandered to the Old City via the Viru shopping centre where we picked up a 6hr Tallinn Card.
We then found ourselves in a park where peaceful protesters were shot by Russian czarist troops in 1905. Photos were taken.
Across the road on the edge of the old town we visited an apotheke to finally have success in buying some cotton tips - apparently this great invention hasn't made the supermarkets here yet. (Success was finally achieved by the same method Kerry used yesterday to buy more elastoplast for blisters - producing one & raising eyebrows. There is significantly less English here than in Finland.)
Some of the museums and sites were closed today Monday (some also tomorrow) and some were only open in summer ie July & August. Nonetheless there were plenty to keep us busy, along with simply enjoying the beautiful buildings and street scenes.
We started our Tallinn Card in a 14th century church with sequences of paintings along the upstairs balconies. Photos were taken
painted marzipan
.Next door we visited a marzipan factory/shop with some amazing art and a free marzipan bar for Tallinn Card holders. Tallinn claims to have invented marzipan - another Hanseatic town makes the same claim. Photos were taken and bars were eaten.
From Kerry now:
We then visited the Tallinn City Museum which provided a good history of Tallinn through its various periods. Tallinn was originally called Reval and is mentioned in documents in the 10th century. It has been progressively occupied by the Danes, Germans, Sweden, Russia, Germans, Russia again ...
The museum not only had exhibits to see but also a film showing things like the receding coastline. Initially the Old Town was touching the Baltic Sea, now there are some hundreds of metres between. One good thing about the film was that it allowed us to sit down to watch it.
The exhibits were good & interesting, but sore feet & a lot of museums affected how much we want to see. I decided to go up to the top floor (of 3), planning to have a quick look & then find somewhere to sit & wait for David
Tallinn city museum
. However the top floor was 20th century. I started looking & then noticed I could hear some English commentary - broken English, but understandable. A very elderly volunteer in the museum was explaining what happened to Estonia in WW2 to a young English female tourist. I edged over & asked could I join them.That was an excellent move! The old man had a sort of understatement in all he said, but then would sort of pause & let the sadness ring on. In 1941, when Russia was occupying Estonia, they conscripted 36,000 Estonians into the Red Army. Later that same year Germany attacked (Russia) & thus Estonia, and conscripted 38,000 Estonians into the German army. Then these 2 armies fought it out - in Estonia - with Estonians fighting Estonians in their own land.
On one night during the war, 300 Russian planes bombed Tallinn. They destroyed 50% of the area of the city, 10% of the Old Town. In one night. This is such a very beautiful city and with buildings dating from the 10th century, how sad it must have been to see it destroyed.
Then there were the 2 main "deportations". The first time 10,000 Estonians were sent to Siberia & all died there. The second time 20,000 (?) were sent, and 3,000 of those died. There were photos of classes in Novosibirsk (sp?) in Siberia especially for Estonian children.
It was incredible to hear this "history" being explained by someone who had lived through it. David appeared upstairs a little while after I had joined the guide & I signalled to him to join me quickly
Raekoja plats (old town square)
. When we reached the displays about 1946, the old man showed a propaganda photo in Russian showing a Russian soldier standing in front of the walls of Tallinn smiling - the poster said "Estonia is free again". The man pointed to the slogan, and to the smiling Russian face & said "do you think this is true? Which part is not true?" He seemed to want us to say it, so I said "Estonia was not really free". He bowed his head and looked sad. I would love to have been able to ask him where he was at the time.The next room showed film archive of a meeting of Estonians in 1989, and various speeches. One said "the question for us in Estonia is not whether to be or not to be, but how to be". It was fascinating.
One of the things we'd read about these Baltic countries and also observed, is that freedom has come at a great price and caused a great divide. Some, generally young & multi-lingual, have done very well out of an international capitalist life. But many others, especially older people, have a much tougher life without everything that a socialist government provided.
Last night when we walked out of the old town, in blazing lights & with lots of tourists, we walked past half a dozen brightly lit florist shops
lunch in town square
. Standing at the end of the row, in shabby clothes, an old woman stood offering a small bunch of flowers - daisies and others - for sale. On a park bench a woman tried to catch my eye - she seemed to be trying to sell a bucket of plums. As we came out of a church today, an old woman sat on the bottom step with a cup - she was begging. I actually felt guilty, coming out with my camera & good clothes, when she was obviously in need.
But back to the man in the museum - he at least seemed to make the message that it was so much better when the Russians left. Although I was surprised to hear that although technically Estonia regained independence in 1991, the Soviet/ Russian army did not leave until 1994.
Next we walked to an old Dominican church - St Peter & St Paul's, where there was supposed to be beautiful old cloisters as well as a museum - but they were closed from the end of August. We were looking for things we could do as part of our Tallinn card today.
Next we went back to the Tallinn main square. This lovely (& huge) square had LOTS of tour groups as well as individual tourists. Even though prices were about double prices in cafes off the square, the view was worth a lot. We sat at a table at one of the restaurants edging the square - I had a coffee & chicken sandwich (the bread was pretty dry), David had a hot chocolate & an apple pie - much nicer.
Not only our feet are sore (almost continually) but my knees are suffering from all the stairs up & down everywhere
Medieval town walls, Tallinn
. When David asked me did I want to go up the Town Hall Tower with him, 64 metres of narrow spiral stairs, I declined. I thought I could happily spend the time he was doing that visiting shops around the square. We planned a meeting place & fall-back etc and I kept the backpack - and watched him walk off - and find that that tower was closed from the end of August.Next we visited one of the areas of medieval walls where we could go up one of the towers and then walk along covered stairs to another 2 towers. Again, each tower was lots of narrow spiral stone stairs, sometimes with a rope handle, and sometimes with none. I did some of the climbs, but sometimes the stairs were steep & open-sided & I just avoided going up the last floor, asking David to take lots of photos instead. David has to duck a lot in medieval buildings.
Next we went up to Toompea, the original area settled in Tallinn, on the hill above the old town. This was where the lords lived, and kept serfs under a feudal system, while what we now call "the old town" had merchants who had trading rights.
Toompea had more inner fortifications, as well as a couple of old churches and different old buildings
Stairs in medieval tower
. Being quite a hike up from the old town, and out of reach of buses, there were much fewer tourists up there. The Russian orthodox cathedral up there is Aleksander Nevski Katedral - that's where the old lady was begging on the stairs.There were 3 lookouts from Toompea - the first looked mainly at pretty uninspiring Soviet buildings. The second & third lookouts had lovely views over the old town & towards the Baltic Sea.
David still wanted to go up a tower, while my knees were screaming at me even on the flat. So next stop was St Olav's church. The guideboook describes it thus "The 13th-century St Olav's Church once boasted the tallest spire in the whole world. Nowadays the 124-metre steeple still dwarfs Tallinn's buildings and remains an important symbol of the town." David went up the tower while I had a look in the church & then found a chair outside to wait for him.
I'd made a decision today to wear a shirt and coat but (for the firt time) without a jumper. Sometimes it was the right decision today, but gosh it was cold late this afternoon. My coat has a wide V-neck opening, and I kept hearing my grandmother's voice saying "keep your chest covered".
Next stop was Epping Tower (in the old town wall) where they have an interactive museum. Medieval armour & displays about the fortifications. The same master builders who had to find a way to build the town walls & towers, also had to defend them. It was interesting reading - but LOTS more stairs.
Aleksander Nevski Katedral, Toompea
Next we walked to the Art Museum - which we had read was "closed between exhibits". Well we didn't know if there was currently an exhibit or not - but apparently not.
Around this time I found that my camera's SD card was finally full. I had to delete a few of the early photos (which I had saved onto David's computer) & later I have copied them all to the computer & also to a memory stick, so I can delete the photos from the SD card & resume photographing from tomorrow.
After finding the art museum was closed, we were near the Apoteke (pharmacy) we'd visited this morning & bought the cotton buds. This afternoon we went back there to buy some Voltaren cream. My right knee is very swollen so hopefully that will help.
I had had thoughts of returning to look at the shops in the old town, but sore feet & weary bones meant that we decided to cut the day short. We went to Hesburger - which we have seen all over the place. Neither burgers nor the young people who hang out at such places were much different to those we know better from McD.
After that we returned via the supermarket - getting some things for supper later - and returned to our hotel to washing etc. It's currently pouring with rain outside so nice to be inside. We have now been on the ground in Europe a week - gosh it feels even longer than that.
And that is a much longer blog entry than I had intended. I guess it comes of starting earlier.
Love to you from Kerry
