Long Trip part 1: Tallinn, Estonia

I went out on my long solo trip with my first destination as Tallinn, however, the adventure started before I even left Switzerland.

When I got to Basel I found out that my flight was delayed for a little over an hour, being in no hurry (I was sleeping in Berlin that night anyways) I didn't really mind. I sat down to organize my stuff (and write all my travel info in my black book just incase I lost some stuff later) and reliazed that my flight from Gothenburg, Sweden, to Frankfurt, Germany later in my trip was booked wrong. Apparently, I booked it for Feb 21st instead of may21st, thus pulling my first "Tommy" of my travels. In a panic, I go to the pay internet kiosk and hammer away at the thing. Then, over the PA system, it's time to board my flight, crap! I managed to finish all the booking and boarded the flight (gonna cost me an extra 60-70 bucks, crappy). Luckily I found out in time and had a cheap solution around it. Upon arriving in Berlin, I found that my favorite sleeping spot was already taken (damn Easyjet delay) so I had to find another one, which wasn't too hard).

The next day I flew to Estonia and all was well, after dropping off my stuff in the hostel (the most solitary place I have ever been in, not only was I the only one in my room, but the only guest in the whole hostel) I went to walk around. The first day I just randomly walked around taking pictures and the second day, I took the audio tour to see what everything was, so i'll kinda combine those days together.

some general info of the city. The old city consists of 2 parts, Toompea, on a hill where Estonia was run, and lower city "all-inn" where merchants and stuff were. These were 2 seperate cities for a long time.

Some of the sites of the city:

Kiek in de Kok
This is the canon tower used to defend the city. The old city was walled up and heavily fortified. The walls were around 16m high and 3m thick. This one was the biggest tower, 36m tall and beat the crap outta the Russians many times. The name is low german for "peek in the kitchen" since it was so tall the soldiers could see into the peasents kitchens through the chimeny.

Danish King's Garden
On this spot, the Danish had just took over Tallinn, the Estonians started fighting back to take it back by tricking the Danes by giving them free booze (works everytime). The Danish king looked to the Heavens to find a sign for confidence, a red flag with a write cross fell from the sky. The Danes pushed the Estonian's back and this flag eventually become the flag of Denmark. It's also on Estonia's small coat of arms.

Toopea Fort and Tall Hermann
The fort was the old castle here. It eventually got remodelled to be more of a palace but has some fort elements till. The most noticible is the tallest tower, Tall Hermann. It's 45.6m tall. The Estonian flag first flew on top of the tower in 1918 but 1940 the Soviets swept in and put their flag up, in 1941 the Germans removed the Soviets and the Estonian flag was restored, but this lasted only 1 day, as the next day, the German's put up their own. After WW2, the soviets came back and put theirs up. This lasted till 1989 when the country gain independence. Every night the flag is lowered to the national anthem. An interesting fact is that the anthem has the same melody as Finlands.

Aleksander Nevski Cathedral
Orthadox church, part of the Russification of Estonia. 11 bells with the biggest being 15 tons.

Luhike jalg and Pikk jalg
"Why does Tallinn walk with a limp? Because it has 1 long leg and 1 short leg". This a joke commonly told (so I read) and the 2 streets, Luhike jalg (short leg) and Pikk jalg (long leg) are named. These 2 streets are the only steet connecting the 2 former cities (Toompea and Lower city). Interestly the 2 cities didn't always get along and there are large gates to block off the path (with shooting holes and everything).

St. Nicholas Church
This church was up before the city walls and this doubled as a defence fortress. The floor is a little below the ground outside to provide cover and the windows were originally small. After the wall was put up it was converted into a more conventional church.
One interesting thing about the church is the mummy inside. The Swedes were attacking the Russians. Tsar Peter 1 pannicked and left, leaving the foreign Duke Carl Eugen de Croy in charge. The russians were beaten bad and the soliders blaimed the foreign leaders and started killing them. de Croy turned himself into the Swedes, and they let him live in Tallinn freely. He accumulated a lot of debt, but always said his rich relatives would pay if off. 1 day he suddenly died and they refused to bury his body until his relatives came to claim the body in which they would get the money he owed back. No one ever came and they threw his body in the crypt. About 100 yrs later he discovered that his body had mummified (due to high alcohol in the blood). He was put on display in the church and the church charged admission to see him. This went on for 80 yrs until he was buried.
Inside St. Nicholas's is the painting "Dance of death" which I touched on in my Edinburg entry.

St. Olaf's Church
At on point this was the tallest building in the world at 159m. It is now 36m shorter after it was struck by lightning and burned. The legend of this church is that they were having a tough time trying to find a builder but some one eventually stepped up but asked for a lot of money. He later had a counter offer, if anyone could guess his name before the church was done, it would be free. The church was built fast and no one could get his name. The night before it was to be complete, someone followed him home and heard his wife singing to their child "tomorrow, Tuuletallaja will bring home gold for you". The next day, as the builder was placing the cross on the top, a villager yelled " Hey Tuuletallaja, it's a little crooked". The builder was stunned and fell to his death. When the villagers ran to the body, a frog and a snake came out which proved he was actually the devil (why would the devil build a church? I hear stories for the devil building churches also, most notibly in Munich as well).

Guild houses
Lots of those here.

Another interesting story. Every year, on an Autumn night, a small gray man will come out from the lake and ask the guard "Is everything done building?" Like most cities, something is always being constructed or built, but if everything is ever done and he asks, you must say no or from that moment, the water in the lake will rise and destroy the city. The legend probably originated since Tallinn used to be lower and thus the water could reach the town.

Another interesting note, motorcycles drive on the side walk here (also in Riga).

I also checked out the new city a bit and they have a nice beach. The sand is white and very fine. That night I went to the bar to watch the hockey game, but they showed the fin/czech game instead of the can/usa game, o well, it was pretty good and damn cheap. On the topic of food, I left my extra euro's at home so don't have much spending money (closed my swiss account, said it would take a couple weeks to get the money transfered to canada.) so I have to watch my budget. The first night's ratio consisted of 1.30 cdn (as did the last night).

My final day I took the bus from Tallinn, to Riga. The trip was 5.5 hours long and was fairly comfortable. The border check was pretty neat and I got my latvia stamp now (score!). Hopefully I can get my canada/latvia hockey tickets. I'll write about Latvia next time, cheers.