I love Tallinn!

After our ride on the cruise ship, Anna and I walked to The Monk's Bunk hostel in Old Town Tallinn, where we would be staying for three nights (technically two nights of sleeping though, since we had to be at the airport at 3:30am on Sunday morning for our flight back to Copenhagen). Anna Google mapped how to get there on her phone, which was a brilliant idea because without it we easily would've gotten lost.

The walk took about 20 minutes, we went through the downtown area to get to Old Town. Immediately, Anna and I concluded that Tallinn was a more lively city than Helsinki. There were more people out on the streets and cars on the road. Everything seemed to be a lot more in motion. On our way to the hostel, we passed another Vapiano...I bet you know where this is going. Haha. But I'll get there later.

Our hostel was inside the Old Town, which was really beautiful. It reminded me of the smaller towns in Italy.

Entering Old Town

After we dropped our stuff off at the hostel (we would be staying in a 10 person room with some Italians and Brits), Anna and I headed to tourist information to pick up some maps and brochures of the city. We wandered along the streets in the rain and then bought some food at a supermarket called Rimi. The Monk's Bunk had a communal kitchen that everyone could use, so Anna and I bought fruits, veggies, cheese, cereal, yogurt, and snacks for breakfast and lunch.

We headed back to the hostel and made ourselves some dinner. That night, Anna and I, along with several of the other young travelers we met (who were also staying at Monk's Bunk and it's sister hostel, Tallinn Backpackers) went to the Backpackers' Bar and Embassy Club. We had a lot of fun playing a life-sized version of Jenga, Super Mario on a vintage video game console, dancing, and getting to know people from all over the world (I met people from the UK, Chile, Dublin, Australia, and Tallinn).

The next morning, Anna and I went on a walking tour around Old Town. I forgot to mention in the last post that Anna was the "tour guide" in Helsinki. She led me to all of the significant locations and read all of the descriptions. While we were in Tallinn, it was my turn to read the map and take us to all of the must-see sights. I think I did a pretty good job. Here are some of the pictures from our walking tour:

Kiek in de Kok: means "peep into the kitchen" because guards could see down the chimneys into the houses below (38m tall). It currently houses a museum on the town's defenses.  One of Tallinn's many towers

Maiden's Tower: used to house a prison for prostitutes

Tallinn Parliament

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral: A Russian Church established in 1900 as a symbol of Tsarist power over the Estonians. It is now the main church where Estonia's Russian Orthodox worship.

Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin: more commonly known as "Toomkirik" or Dome Church, it is the main Lutheran church in Estonia. It was established in 1233 for the elite, German nobility. Inside there are their coats of arms and tombs. It has been rebuilt several times.

The view from Kohtu Street viewing platform

View from one of the two platforms

View from Patkuli platform

Town Hall

In the Town Hall Square

This guy was giving the crowd a more than convincing monologue in an attempt to get us to eat at this restaurant

After the first part of our tour, Anna and I headed back to the hostel for lunch. We met up with another traveler from Chile during our walk, so he ate with us too. We took a rest and then Sarah, our friend from Copenhagen who had just arrived in Tallinn joined us on the final leg of our tour.

A knitted bike covering...so neat!

St. Catherine's Passage, considered the most photogenic of Old Town's lanes, it has a bunch of crafts shops where hats, quilts, and ceramics are sold.

After the tour, we headed back to the hostel to drop off our stuff and then headed to dinner. Since Sarah hadn't experienced Vapiano, we decided to go there. It was no more than a ten minute walk from the hostel. We ate and then sat in the cafe area and drank tea (mine was a yummy vanilla flavored one) and sampled the chocolate cake and cheesecake. We sat and talked for awhile. It was nice to just relax since we were all pretty tired. Afterwards, we walked back to the hostel. By this time, it was dark and it looked as if the rain might be approaching...so we got a little extra exercise and power-walked/jogged. Look at that sky:

As we were walking from the downtown area, we saw these storm clouds over Old Town

Anna, Sarah, and I went to bed pretty early that night, partly because we had a very long day and eventful evening the night before and partly because we would need to wake up at 5:45am to catch our bus for the day trip to Riga. Anna and I purchased ear plugs when we arrived in Tallinn knowing perfectly well that we may not be getting much sleep if our roommates were stumbling in late at night or if there was noise outside...let's just say those were our best investment of the trip.