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.

Helsinki, Tallinn, and Riga...oh my!

The five days I was in Eastern Europe definitely flew by. We spent one full day and a night in Helsinki, a 1.5 days and 2 nights in Tallinn, and 1 day in Riga. As I said several times that week, we definitely "maximized our time".

I'll start with Helsinki...

Anna and I started out by flying from Copenhagen to Helsinki on Wednesday morning. I left my place around 7:45am and met her at the airport's metro stop at 8:15am, give or take a few minutes since I don't have a phone and couldn't call her when I got there.

We took off at 9:40am and our flight was practically empty, we each had our own row which allowed us to stretch our legs...too bad the flight wasn't longer than an hour.

Our spacious rows

We arrived at the Helsinki airport around 10:30am. We bought a 24 hour public transit pass (that we used for the bus, tram, and ferry rides) took a bus to the city center and then went straight to Tourist Information where we picked up maps and guides. Then, we took a tram to Eurohostel, where we would be sleeping for the night.

Helsinki city center

We dropped our things off at the hostel and then went to lunch at an Italian chain restaurant called Vapiano. Weeks before, Anna was raving about this place. It was started in Germany and Anna always eats there when she was at school and home. She found out that there was one in Helsinki and she wanted to take me there so I could try it. It's unlike any chain restaurant I've been to at home for countless reasons:

• When you first enter, you get a card (that looks like a gift card) which you scan when you've ordered and then you pay the hostess the amount shown on the card when you're leaving.
• There are different stations where you order food. There are pizza, pasta, and salads/antipasti stations. They also have a dessert cafe where you can order coffee, tea, and cake.
• They make their own pasta in house
• They have basil in potted plants at all of the family style tables that you can help yourself to and put in your dishes.

After we ate, we followed the "Enjoy the Smell of the See" self-guided walking tour that we found in one of the brochures we picked up at the tourist information. We only got through half of the 6km walk because it started raining cats and dogs. We saw the most important sites during that first half though.

Here are some of the highlights of the tour:

At the harbor

Tsarina's Stone, Helsinki's first public monument

Helsinki City Hall

Havis Amanda Statue, each year on 4/30, university students place their student cap on top of the statue

Old Market Hall, which houses 30 delis as well as restaurants and cafes.

Helsinki Cathedral, City Hall, and Old Market Hall

German Church

Uspenski Cathedral, the largest Orthodox cathedral in Western Europe.

After our tour, Anna and I took the tram to a coffee shop where we dried off and warmed up with a tea. We picked up some food at a grocery store and headed back to the hostel to eat.

Downtown Helsinki

We called it an early night because we planned on waking up early the next morning to take the ferry to the Sea Fortress, Suomenlinna.

We woke up at 7am to catch the 8:20am ferry to the island. Luckily, while we were there, it wasn't crowded at all and it didn't rain. Double bonus! Anna and I even got filmed by a Google Earth guy riding his bike with the equipment on the back. It's pretty neat that Google acquires images of small islands such as Suomenlinna, that only have 850 residents.

The view of Helsinki from Suomenlinna

Where soldiers and their families used to live

Suomenlinna Church

Noah's ark: The first multi-story building in Finland

No, we did not go down there

The sand banks and the guns of Kustaanmiekka: constructed by the Russians at the end of the 19th century

King's Gate, the symbol of Suomenlinna built between 1753 and 1754

We left the island a few hours later and it was just in time, because it really started to rain hard on the ferry ride back. Once we docked, Anna and I took the tram back to the downtown area, had a warm drink and then decided we would take the 2:30 boat to Tallinn. By this time, it was about 11:30am. We quickly went to check out Helsinki Cathedral.

Helsinki Cathedral (the outside looks better than the inside)

Senate square

We took the tram back to the hostel, picked up our things in 3 minutes flat and then headed back on the tram to the downtown area where we had lunch at...Vapiano. The food is good and cheap, so why not?

Afterwards, we walked to a bus stop near the train station and took a bus to the port where we would be boarding the cruise ship to Tallinn. It would take us only 2 hours to get there and we were on this really nice, comfortable ship with everything you can imagine. And we weren't even staying the night on it. Anna and I napped most of the time and were refreshed when we landed in Tallinn around 4:30pm.

The cruise ship that brought us from Helsinki to Tallinn (sorry it's so hard to see, took this as we were leaving)

Next entry: Tallinn!

Amazing weather!

This past week has been such a surprise for all of my friends (myself included) because the weather has been beautiful. Since I returned on Sunday, everyday has been cloudless, sunny, warm, and without a spell of rain! The weather hasn't been this nice since the first week I arrived in Copenhagen. It feels out of the ordinary but is completely refreshing to not have to wear my rain gear, warm sweaters or a beanie, all of which protect me from this city's cold air, intense wind, and pouring rain. I'm enjoying this unexpected summer weather, but I refuse to get used to it. Soon enough, the rain will be back and the cold will arrive...I probably jinxed it, watch it'll storm tomorrow.

3 cities, 5 days

I just got back this morning from a five day trip. Anna and I did a tour of cities in Eastern Europe. We started off in Helsinki and then went to Tallinn, where Sarah met us. Yesterday, we took a day trip to Riga. Now I'm back in Copenhagen. The days went by quickly since we did a lot of sightseeing. I have lots of pictures, so I will be sure to post them and blog about the trip within the next few days.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!


Nat

A wardrobe without shelves? Only in Copenhagen

Yesterday, I learned that my wardrobe will remain shelve-less for the remaining three months that I am in Copenhagen. For two months now, I have been patiently waiting for a way to neatly sort my clothes, emails back in forth with the Housing Department in regards to if I am supposed to have shelves and when I will finally receive them (after they told me they ordered them), and an always endless hunt for shirts, pants, and underwear in a disastrous mess.

I went into the Housing office yesterday to pick up my new laundry card and since I hadn't heard back via email about my shelves, I asked. To my chagrin, one of the employees told me that I would have to pay to get them. Are you serious?! I kindly declined and walked out disappointed, thinking about how I'm going to have to constantly reorganize the long "closet" since I'm always throwing clothes in there. It's so much work to have to fold and stack everyday (I know what you're thinking, Mom...sorry!)

Who would've known that you have to pay to put shelves in your wardrobe? Only in this city, where you have to pay for everything...and none of it is really cheap. I guess I'll just wait until I get home to a well-organized and clean closet/dresser where everything is organized. Thanks Mom!

In the meantime, I'll just keep throwing my clothes in the wardrboe with the hopes of finding it again one day...which may end up being the day I pack up to go back home.

A taste of home

Last night at Keops kollegium, I borrowed my friend's wok to stir-fry garlic, onions, broccoli, and the tofu and black bean and garlic sauce...I made it just like my dad cooks it at home (except with broccoli instead of green beans, since we used those for our curry).

It was just a small taste of home (literally), but it was a huge hit with my friends Ned (who is from Australia), Anna, and Sarah! Katrin (from Switzerland) and Matthias (from Austria) came later and tried some too. Anna loved it so much she wants to go with me again next time to the Asian market to see what other foods (sauces, noodles, tofu, etc) I buy. That way, she can use them in her dishes when she cooks too!  Thanks Papa, your cooking skills are rubbing off on me and your dishes are going global!

I finally found tofu!

After a month and a half of hopeless searching, I have finally found tofu!

Friday afternoon, Anna and I were riding to see the Cycling Championships in the city center, while we were riding, she told me she went to Fotex (it's like a Target) and saw tofu. She's been giving me a hard time because I always say I can't find tofu, she always responds saying "I'm going with you next time to show you where it is". I asked what section she found it in, and she said the international section. It's in a jar though, not refrigerated. I thought that was a little odd.

Anyway,  as soon as we got to the city center (right in front of Tivoli) we saw that the event was clearly not taking place until Sunday...even though all the barricades were up and cars couldn't drive on H.C. Andersen Boulevard (the main street)  So we rode back to our neighborhood because we were meeting the other girls in the Keops common room at 3:30pm to get ready for the Black Diamond (library) party that night.

On our way back, Anna had to stop at a hair salon at Norreport to pick up a product she needed. We parked our bikes and coincidentally I parked mine right in front of a Chinese market! I told Anna I'd go in to see if they had tofu, but she wanted me to wait for her. As I waited outside, I started getting excited because I knew they would have the yummy soy goodness.

Anna came out of the salon a few minutes later and we walked into the Chinese market together. In the back of the market, in the refrigerated section, were those familiar square plastic packages containing a block of tofu. I was so excited! I took two packages of firm tofu, because one is just not enough. We proceeded to look around the small shop, both entranced by the assortment of Asian foods. It was as though I had never been in a Pacific Super back at home.

There was almost everything you can imagine, I was so delighted. I now know where to go if I crave udon noodles, good rice, or those little plum wafer candies that come in a paper roll.

In addition to the tofu, I also bought black bean and garlic sauce to add to my tofu and vegetable dishes. (It's the exact same brand we buy at home, Papa, yum!). I bought my goodies and then we got back on our bikes.

Sorry it's backwards!

We were riding for no more than 5 minutes when we passed the new market next to Norreport. Neither Anna nor I had seen it yet, and we had no where to be at the moment so we decided to park our bikes and take a look around. There are two brand new buildings that house delis, produce stands, fresh cheeses, sweets, food stands, an oven exhibition etc. It was like the one we went to in Goteburg, but more pleasant since there were floor to ceiling windows that allowed light to come in.

It was at this market where I again saw tofu at a Chinese grocery stand. Up until Friday, I had not seen tofu at any of the supermarkets I visited, and then...twice in one day! I am still in a bit of disbelief.

After we walked around, salivating and wanting to buy all the delicious and fresh food, Anna and I decided that we would come back here sometime in the near future. I can't wait!

(Now, whenever I need my protein fix, I know exactly where to go!)