| Tallinn was our last port of call, unless you count Copenhagen
two days later. Tallinn was an unknown quantity to me. All I knew was that
it was a medieval city but other than that I had no idea what to expect.
Well, that isn't entirely true; I knew to expect RAIN! |
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Our tour started in Town Hall Square. The center of Tallinn is called
Toompea, a steep hill on which the Danes built a castle in the 13th century.
Some of the original towers still stand and this one is the oldest. |
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I am sure we were told this was the Town Hall but the picture I found
of the Town Hall looks nothing like this. Maybe what I found was the original
town hill and this one is in use. The Estonian flag is flying and the crest
shows the country's coat of arms, three lions. (Why else would I have taken
the picture!) |
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This is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which looked very out of place
in its surroundings!
We didn't see very many Russian things in Tallinn. It was part of the
USSR until it became independent in 1991. Our tour guide pointed out a
couple of things in passing but did not stop at anything Russian. She
might have thought we had our fill in St. Petersburg.
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The bulding on the right looks like a store of some kind but I took
this picture because it was a neat shot of the top of the Nevsky Cathedral. |
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This is a statue carved into the side of a building. Unfortunately
time ran out on my little comment with the picture so I don't know who this
is, other than he was a famous Estonian musician. I also managed not to
get all of his name (I guess that's his name) in the picture, but I thought
it was neat-looking anyway. |
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This is St. Mary's Church, also called the Dome Church.
This is the country's oldest cathedral, with parts dating back to the 14th
century, though the scaffolding is probably not of that vintage. It is a
Lutheran church, and is still in use. The walls are lined with coats of
arms of Estonian families. We took a few photos in here because it was one
of the few buildings we went inside- and because it was interesting! |
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This is a view of the old city from above. There were a few places
to take such pictures and I bet on a clear day the view is amazing. |
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A church steeple shot from the same location |
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Here's another view from above. Sticking up in the middle is the spire
of St. Olaf's Church. It was the tallest building in Europe until the 16th
century. |
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In this picture you can see the some of the original towers surrounding
the Hanseatic City. When the fortress was built there were over 50 of these
towers. |
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Here's the same church steeple, this time viewed from below. This
picture was taken inside the Hannseatic City, which was a pretty surreal
place. We had to descend several flights of stairs to get there- and our
tour guide told us we took the shortcut instead of the route that involved
going down several HUNDRED steps! Between the high walls and the narrow
streets, it felt like another world. |
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This picture is nowhere near as interesting as the route we took to
get into this room! I thought it was the Domnimican Monastery but maybe
not...anyway, this is the ceiling, and the room was pitch dark and empty
except for some light from a small window. I remember climbing up several
flights of wooden stairs, hearing music playing, and then descending some
old, old, old, narrow stone steps (not unlike the ones in the Tower
of London) to get to this spot, where, our tour guide said, we could feel
the energy of the monks who used to occupy the building. |
| Unfortunately we didn't have much time in Tallinn.
Our tour was about four hours, and we didn't stay to walk around afterwards
because it was too wet and we weren't sure how easily we'd be able to find
transportation back to the ship, which was sailing earlier than usual.
I wish I could have taken more (and better) pictures. I'd love to go
back to Tallinn, on a nice day, and for more than a few hours! But, Tallinn
does have a homepage- www.tallinn.ee/english/-
and there are some nice photos at www.tallinn.ee/album/index.html.
With all the ports of call behind us and nothing to do but sail to Copenhagen,
we found a little more time to enjoy life aboard ship. This was our last
night for fun, frolic, and formality, and my last chance to make up for
the lack of tomfoolery on the last few pages of this web site.
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Here's Rory relaxing with a before-dinner cocktail (it's WATER) in
the Ocean Bar. |
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This is another ritual of cruising...the parade of kitchen and wait
staff presenting a flaming dessert- on this trip it was Baked Alaska. Rumor
has it that Holland America serves Baked Tallinn on their voyages to Alaska. |
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They've done this cruising thing before. |
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Rory is posing like the mermaid. I am making a fool of myself. |
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Rory, Mom and Dad on their way down to our cabins to put away the
lacquer boxes Rory's carrying |
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Mom and Dad posing for another picture |
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Rory writing an E-mail in the Internet Cafe. The lady in purple is
Charlene, who runs it. (I wouldn't mind having her job.) |
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Rory, Dad and Mom in the Queen's Lounge waiting for the show to start |
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Here I am in the Crow's Nest. |