Tallinn on Tuesday
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2008
1
13
37
Trip End
Oct 05, 2008
Tallinn,
Estonia
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
About half the local residents used umbrellas and about half just had rain coats and hats or hoods. Mostly I was glad to have my fold-out umbrella, but a few times when it was really windy and my umbrella kept blowing inside out - I just had to put my umbrella down and get wet.
I regret not having brought my hiking boots. I don't think I'd have had the same sore feet and there would have been more ankle support. This is particularly a problem on cobblestones - which Tallinn certainly has, as did Helsinki, Rauma ..
Road works unearth medieval town
. Because it was so wet today we walked somewhat less, and when we did, we tried to walk on paths or roads that were more even than cobbles. Our feet & shoes became very wet, and David hadn't noticed that his shoes had a crack across the soles, so his feet became very wet.
This afternoon we stopped at "our" local shopping centre (we walk through it to and from the Old Town - it's just the route we found on the first day) and there is a stretch of about 4 or 5 shoe shops in a row, and David bought a new pair of shoes. They're called "safety joggers" - I hope they are that.
I think I've already mentioned that just outside the town walls there is a stretch of half a dozen flower shops in a row. Things just seem to have "their own place" here.
Oh one thing I keep meaning to mention is the clever system they have on major pedestrian crossings. When the green "walk" symbol appears, there is another area which counts down - you get 22 seconds initially to cross the road - 22, 21, 20 ... And when it gets down to 0 the cars go
Tallinn Town Hall - first and later
! So if you walk up to the side of the road and there are only 5 seconds of green left, you know not to start.There is also a red count-down for the "don't walk" - no reason to run across the road as soon as the lights go red you can see that the lights will go green again in another 54 seconds.
This isn't at every crossing, but I've seen it at a few.
After breakfast, first place we headed today was the cellar museum in the basement of the Town Hall in the central plaza in the middle of the old town. There was evidence of Tallinn in the 10th century, but I think I remember that this building began in the 12th century. And wasn't replaced - they just kept adding height or extra rooms as needed, until about the 16th century.
The museum about the town hall was of course also a museum about the various (groups of) people who lived in the town. There was another of the "Old Thomas" weather vanes, this one from the 15th century.
I've forgotten the exact story, but it was something like Thomas was a poor boy of the town
Old Tomasz, Weather vane 15th century
. There were a group of noblemen trying to shoot down (a bird) & they kept missing & Thomas fired an arrow up & shot down the bird. Initially they weren't happy with Thomas for spoiling their fun but for some reason they decided to reward him with an education, and to make him a town guard. And after that Old Thomas became the symbol of the town on top of the weather vane of the Town Hall. The story lacks something in translation, and also by (loss of) memory. First I noticed it was a metal statue of somebody in armour, with a very prominent "protuberance" & I found the story after that, and since then I've come across a couple more copies.
We also looked at one of the souvenir shops near the plaza. The town is also famous for its amber & I bought a piece to put onto a pendant.
We also looked in a 2nd hand bookshop - I was looking for something in English written by an Estonian writer, but I only found either children's stories or else books about Estonian literature. Mind, there was more in German or Russian than English, although English tends to be the 2nd language on signs here (if there IS a 2nd language).
Next place we went was the Occupation Museum. Bearing in mind that Estonia was only declared as a country in 1918, since then they've had 2 Soviet occupations (one of 1 year, and 1 of 60 years) plus 3 years of German occupation.
It was miserable weather walking to this museum and so we were happy to linger
Leftover Soviet statues, now in basement
. There were 7 different films, each of around 30 mins, and each representing a couple of years or more. Each film could be in Estonian, English or German. We didn't always wait to the end of a film, and we skipped number 6 altogether (1980-1986) but especially the first and the last were fascinating.The German-Russian non-Aggression Pact of 1939 "gave" the Baltic countries to USSR. The 1 year of Russian occupation was very cruel & many died, and thousands were also deported to Siberia.
So a year later, when Germany invaded, some Estonians wanted to fight against Russia & so actually volunteered to join Germany, who promised them independence. Then of course the Germans didn't exactly treat them well, and then the Russians moved in again in 1944 - and punished severely whole families of those who had collaborated with the Germans. Half of those deported to Siberia were children.
Nevertheless the Russians told the Estonians that they were "liberating" them from the Germans.
Various films talked about the various stages of Russian occupation, but the last one, as I say, was fascinating - 1987-1991
Kadriorg Palace (on a wet day)
. We'd seen films showing Russian savage response to Hungary's attempted independence, and also to that of Czechoslovakia. So what courage it must have taken for anywhere else to try it.One historian told the story of a public meeting in Tallinn in 1987 or 1988 (there was one significant meeting in each of those years, but I think I'm talking about the 1988 one). 300,000 people came to this meeting in Tallinn - out of a total population of around 1 million.
The story went that there was someone in radio contact to Moscow. Supposedly his words were "One calling five, there seems to be a public meeting going on here." (5 minutes pass) "One calling five, people are coming from everywhere". (10 minutes) "One calling five, Soviet power is down the toilet."
Can you think of the courage it took for all those people to turn up at that meeting? A year or so later, 2 million people joined hands all the way from Tallinn to Vilnius, as a sign demanding independence.
A large group of Estonian soldiers had entered the museum & were walking around us for a while, and then sat down in an open theatre near us, where they were addressed by (a woman)
Kadriorg Palace
. Anyway all this is to partly explain why we had trouble following some of the end of this story. The film was quiet, the translation wasn't perfect & a few times we had to ask each other "did that mean ..." Anyway my understanding was that in the end the Estonian leaders were still trying to maintain their leadership, and were uncertain whether to try to stay within the Soviet Union & move for change from within, or whether to break away. Having seen Soviet responses to past independent attempts, it's probably not surprising that they were anxious about demanding too much or pushing too hard.
This historian's version (or as I understood it) was that in the end change did not result from independence leaders in Estonia or even really a strong movement of Estonian people, but rather that USSR had its own problems & just didn't have the energy to fight back against what seemed inevitable.
We'd spent hours at this museum & our feet were probably grateful for the breaks. Also it was so very wet outside.
Earlier today we'd bought tram tickets - they are cheaper if pre-bought from kiosks rather than on the tram
Kadriorg Loss
. However we couldn't work out how to get them punched, but fellow passengers helped us.We took a tram out to Kadriorg palace - named Kadriorg for Catherine, the wife of Peter the Great - who built a summer palace in Tallinn. These days the palace is primarily an art museum, although it was used as a temporary residence for the Swedish king's visit in 1930 and as a residence for the Estonian president in the 1930s. When the intelligentsia objected to the art museum being closed for a royal, the Estonian government response was "we can't afford to keep a place just as a museum". The Estonian government also added one extra large room (in the style of surrounding rooms) for state banquets.
Peter the Great modelled Kadriorg as a smaller version of Versailles. The rooms were lovely & the art was good. At the end of our visit, I wanted to walk in the formal gardens in order to photograph the palace from outside - poor David had wet feet & was not at all in favour of this, but he tolerated it.
After that we caught the tram back into town. We hadn't got around to lunch today, and it was now nearing 6 o'clock. I wasn't keen for another dinner of fruit & pastries but wanted something a bit more substantial
Porcelain piece at Kadriorg
. So we took the tram to the edge of the Old Town & went in to look for a restaurant or café. (There are lots.)Restaurants here tend to be open from 12 (or 11) am for around 12 hours continually. We went into a Georgian (or Caucasian) restaurant called Must Lammas. David had a "spicy lamb soup", with Turkish bread, followed by a main meal of an Azerbaijani lamb mince mixture, made into sort of large rissoles. I had a plate of "mixed grilled things" - that was the translation I was given when I asked. There was marinated & grilled beef, chicken, pork & one of David's Azerbaijani lamb things. David's soup was very good, but my main course was the highlight. There was a sort of tomato/garlic/spices mix for dipping the meat - David described it as a cross between gazpacho soup & salsa. There were also some potatoes & pickled vegetables.
After that we walked back, via "our" shopping centre (where David bought his shoes) & to our hotel. We pick up our next hire car tomorrow, and move south. I've just seen a weather report. Today was apparently 16C in Tallinn (didn't feel that warm! I had my gloves on for a while today). Tomorrow is forecast is to be not quite as wet as today (1 drip rather than 2) but only 12C max. Perhaps a warmer jumper day.
From Kerry & David
