Day 16 - Tallinn

The only fly in the oinment was that a/c was not working. It was nice and cool outside but pretty hot inside. And leaving the windows open did not help for some reason. The staff tried resetting the unit and drained it a few times but to no avail.

We woke up at 7:30am and went to Entrecote Restaurant for breakfast. The waitress spoke beautiful Russian and flawless English with the British accent. Breakfast was great. I really liked yogurt which came in several interesting varieties like baked apple and cinnamon and also linden berry and cheesecake.

We decided to start at the top and went to the top of the Toompea hill. The old city is split into two parts - the high city on the hill, and lower city. The top of the hill used to have the houses of the nobles while merchants lived in the lower part closer to the port. There is a heavy door and the gates between the towns to "keep the rif raf out." Tour guides tell stories about weird rules like coffee not be allowed in the lower town. Nowadays the high town houses the parliament,  some state building (with  an awesome micro-helipad off the side of the fortified hill)), different embassies and there are several blocked off houses and courtyards for the people with the means.

Most of the areas were beaufully restored. Next to practically every building there is a glass board with the historical info about the building in Estonian and English.

The only thing that's gone is the restaurant in the wall of the high city. We used to have mulled wine in the beautiful and scenic cellar in our previous visits and fantasized that we would wish our basement to look like that. It is probably good that it is gone.

As we walked around the streets started to fill up with tourists, and with locals dressed in the historical costumes and cheerfully selling various wares in various languages. We especially liked the nut vagon where they sold almonds dipped into a mix of roasted mix of spices. They offered a try too. We examined every little backyard and went into every church and were done in about 1,5 hours.

On the way down we visited a few souvenir shops and galleries. While many of the places had gone the route of generic, there are still places where you can see the unique creativity and craftsmanship.

We spent some time in the lower town. Checked out the oldest pharmacy in Europe. They have an old section which is a kind of a museum. Check out the bottles with a few ingredients on the left. Based on the travel channel they were supposed to be selling love potions. Georgia wanted to get it for one of the boys in her pre-K, Jacob She did not want him to fall in love with her but she wanted him to start being nicer to girls. Disappointingly they sell a piece of marzipan with a few almonds stuck into it as the "love potion." Could have really tried a vial with some syrup instead. We got one anyway, though I suspect its potency.

Next, the supermarket. It was located on the lower level of the Solaris mall. The supermarket is looks like a successful offspring of Wegmans married to the hypermart. We liked everything. I especially liked 20 brands of smoked salmon. We settled on the mix of freshly baked buns.

Next we went to the money museum next door. Dan got him a few things from the shop and then we walked through the small museum. Georgia got a gift - a puzzle in the form of a 100 Euro note. The museum is very well designed. Estonian monetary history with covered well but without obsession. There is stuff in there to catch interest of laymen and experts alike. They also had the wax figures of various historical figures related to money standing in small group throughout the museum. Walking up to them or brushing against them every now and then was a bit disconcerting.

Next we walked to the song and dance grounds 2 miles away where there was supposed to be a carnival. Dan carried Georgia most of the way because it was pretty hot. On the way, we tried to determine which buses/trolleys/trams go there. There seemed to be so many that we very quickly lost track. We got there at 2pm and found out that it opens at 5pm. So we headed back along the beach. It was much cooler there. The water was cooler too than where we were a day before. Geogria had a lot of energy and jumped and splashed around.

Afterwards we caught a bus back to the city center. Both the bus driver and another passenger were really helpful in directing us on how to get back. The passenger also recommended to buy the tickets in the news kiosks because it is at least 50 cents cheaper per ticket.

We dropped off out things and went to the Beer House across the street. They make their own live beer. It was still a minimal improvement over two versions of Estonian saku last night. I don't know what we were thinking but we ordered 3 appetizers and pizza for Georgia. Appetizers were pretty big, but pizza was at least 14inch pie. We tried very hard but could not prevail. We took pizza back to the hotel and finished on our subsequent trips to the room. Incidentally they did manage to fix the A/C after all.

Later we went up to the viewing platform of St. Olav's chuch. The views of the city are great through not all to different than from the high town. We are very proud of Georgia. Don't know too many 4 year olds with the stamina and patience to get up 250 steps in the narrow and cramped staircase.

Cake stop next to retain the strength and calories lost. There were a few girls passing that had the look that said "not a professional, but getting there." We overheard one of them saying in Russian "What does he think, I am a girl?" using the literal implication of the word. Georgia amused herself and us by singing "I am not a girl anymore, I am not a girl anymore."

Final bit of walking closer to the outskirts of the old town. There is a beautiful modern urban rest area behind the parking lot of the Niguliste church. There are little sections with beach chairs and square "pools" made up of blue glass and look like they have water fountains underneath. These areas are separated from each other by neatly cut bushes. The impression is that of being on the beach.

The children's play area is not that bad either. It has the tilted rotating rings. It looks deceptively easy to walk around on the ring, but if you try to walk the ring it starts rotating and pulling you down to the lowest point. Kids can do it without particular difficulty. Georgia managed it pretty soon. But we had a hard time and so did other mommies and daddies who wanted to repeat their kid's feats. Georgia enjoyed beating us at this. Dan and I finally managed it by doing it together and using each other as a counterbalance.

The final note. The paid bathrooms are aplentiful. It is a major plus not to have to worry about searching for the nearest bushes or McDonalds when traveling with the kid.