Exploring the island and great news!

Today was a busy day. We got through some of the key attractions: Kaali meteorite site –Angla windmills, Panga cliffs, Odalätsi spring, flounder farm, a bunch of churches. These sites were nice but they are not worth the trip to the island. The nature is beautiful. But locals are selling off their forest. Maybe tomorrow will bring more surprises.

Another other interesting element of contrasts. One of the guides we got at the Information office had an entry about Tehumardi Memorial to commemmorate one of the bloodiest battles between Russian and German soldiers during WWII. Memorial looks like a giant sword with some faces cut in the handle part. Russian guide mentioned that the faces of brave soldiers who lost their lives during the war. Given the exhibits at the castle a day earlier, which brave soldiers were they? This offers some clarity, but does not help to resolve the conflict. Here is a more politically correct version.

One exciting thing about today's travels was that there are insane quantities of wild strawberries and blueberries everywhere. We never had so much in our lives. Even Isabella started to string two words together: “more wild-strawberries.” And when those were not coming fast enough she helped herself. We even found a different kind of wild strawberries – they were just as the other ones but the flavor was more like strawberry preserves – and very sweet. Irina says it is another wild-strawberry variety that grows on the fields. The berries were hard to separate from the stalks. And the stalks were very talk. Berry picking was delightful.

Some more highlights were Dan going for some coins in the Odalätsi spring. The water temperature was slightly above melting. There were not major finds but the hunt was worth it.

Now to the good part. In the evening, while we were at the pool, Georgia started to swim on her own!!! Yesterday she swam with a small arm floater she found at the pool. It should not have held her weight but we decided not to say anything then. And today she forgot to put in on when she jumped in and just kept going. This is soo awesome! This is like her first day walking. She is very excited about it. And she discovered that she can also swim on her back too.

Tomorrow, we will continue our trek South. Not sure about Internet access – will try to connect as we go. Will upload all pictures afterwards. So come back and reread the blogs.

Saaremaa, the island of contrasts

So today we packed everything into a red station wagon given to us by Andres from rent.ee and went to the island Saaremaa. The ride was a long 4 hours. The highlight was being on the ferry from to Virtsu to Muhu – the connection point between the mainland and our destination. The ferry was really cool! Not only about 60 cars fit into it, as it started its 20 minute ride, we went to the upper decks and enjoyed the view. The kids stayed in the covered lower deck that among with multiple food options also had impressively stacked children’s corner.

We were staying on the main city Kuressaare. It is a sleepy little town. Every restaurant option we tried – and we tried most of them in our two days here was great. In general, locals make startling contrast to the mainland folk, in terms of their girth. We particularly recommend the windmill tavern – a real very large windmill. As long as you clear your own table and order at the grill, the service will be fast. And views magnificent.

Fine, while I am on the topic,… restaurant Madhu, looks like a someone wanted to recreate their extended Goa vacation. A full stock of cheesy décor will elephants and glitz. Patrons wear earrings made from the thing on top of a can. And, suitably, Bob Marley provides ambient sound. But the food, and we covered the full ground here, was all different and magnificent. Almost forgot, the waitress who had “I’ve got my Zen, you motherfucker” attitude. Disconcerting, but added to the richness of the experience. In general, the service in the restaurants is quite awful. Maybe no one leaves tips, and they are all depressed? However, if you order from the bar or make the appearance of doing so you will get your food.

Final food note. The restaurant that is right next to the old city hall and the information office – the beautiful one,.. they serve a soup that is called something like Cheese and Bacon. Yes, it is. Imagine the rich stock of heavy cream with some cheese melted in and large pieces of bacon (with meat) languishing on the bottom, while croutons, their light counterpart, float on top. A few sticks of dill bring freshness to the lake of cream. Every spoonful says, “MORE and F.U arteries!”

The highlight of the town is the 13^th century castle. Very nicely preserved. Lots of winding staircases – every room had at least 2 exits. Sometimes 3 or 4. We were completely lost. On the bottom floor in the chapel there was a girl in an ethnic costume who was playing a bass. That’s was the nicest part. After that there was extensive exhibition that described the ravages Soviet occupation on several floors with gusto... To the point that period of Nazi control that was shown on a few meager displays started to seem like a welcome time in the history of the country. Here is a little tidbit that shed some additional light on how some Estonians tried to deal with Soviets during WWII. Taking aside any knowledge of history, the almost sadomasochistic zeal that they’ve used in that museum just made one really sad and angry. I would think twice about taking kids there if I knew. After that exhibit of mounted local animals and birds in the basement was just nauseating.

Another note to close in on the contrasts. Quite as expected, most locals do not speak Russian. English is a lot more popular here. I got the feeling that if you want a bit nicer service, start with English. But there is a lot of Russian tourists - at least half of the ones we saw were Russian.

On a happier note, we came back to our hotel Johan Spa Hotel, and spent a few hours going through some of the great water activities they offer: several pools, sauna, Jacuzzi, many different types of massaging showers. The hotel itself is adequate and reasonable value for the price, but the water part was awesome. 

The Last Day in Tallinn

Thursday was a hectic. We were planning to go to Saremaa island and after some contemplating decided not to come back to Tallinn. It was time to go to Vilnius anyway. So we had some logistics to take care off – rent a car, tell our trusty agent Audra (gelminta@delfi.lt) that we would be coming on Tuesday, pack. The plan was to arrive to Kusseare (the capital of Saremaa) on Friday, go sightseeing on Saturday, and leave early on Sunday to drive through Latvian castle area and stop there for the night.

Between the packing we also worked, paid last visit to Pelmeni place and the talented artist in the cellar, discovered an interesting way to walk through the textile row near St. Catherine’s. The first day of 4-day Medieval days festival was going on in town as well. However for the first day, it was not very impressive: it looked like Wednesday market folks just came back on Thursday dressed in traditional clothes. A few workshops opened up near the Nigulist church.

Speaking of traditional clothes, locals wear them and wear them well. Clothing is clearly very thoroughly done – it is really clothes, not cheap carnival gear. Ladies have 2 layer dresses with beautiful under dresses, and very elaborate upper dresses with interesting drooping sleeves. Men wore laced up leather booties and similarly complicated overcoats. Hats represented all medieval periods and social-economic types. Just beautiful to look at. We even saw a few “beggar kids.” Their faces were smeared with “dirt” and clothing consisted of linen tunics all ripped up.

At night Dan and I walked around and made a few final discoveries as we were saying goodbye to the city. The first was finding the abandoned Dominican monastery. I saw it from the window of another monastery mentioned in this post (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). I looked around and tried to find it but could not. We walked into a restaurant on the street where Master’s Courtyard is located to see it closer – it was enormous. And inside, there were glass doors right onto the monastery. Amazing sight!!!

The second discovery was the way up towards Parliament building tower. There was a staircase from the ponds below the city wall directly towards the tower. We walked around that area all the time and never noticed it. We passed a bunch of people sitting in the niches of the wall and having a picnic and watching the sunset. We wish we found it earlier.

Finally, we randomly walked into Reval café located near the Victory square. Turns out that it is giant, cavernous inside. It is filled with comfy red armchairs, pictures of views from NYC Greenwich village. And they sell the best deserts. Finally! It was great to sit down inside for a bite. And some closing thoughts about the city. We had a great time!!!

Kumanetz

Nice day in the city. It looks like cruise ships had come back – the city is teeming with the passengers. We had been here for a while – we start to recognize and greet regulars in the streets. As for McDs, we practically live there. I order my coffee and Georgia’s pastry and they deliver it to our table.

Before lunch we dragged Dan out and went to see the oldest cellar in the city and associated Ukrainian resident-painter. He was pretty silent the whole time. Only spoke with Georgia who shared our entire family history. He is amazing. It is like 5-6 different artists working there. Even in the same media the styles are completely different.

In honor of all Ukrainian we decided to have lunch at Kumanetz close by. They pulled off a pretty decent Ukrainian borsht with unsalted pampushkas but it went downhill from there. Chicken salad with feta cheese consisted of dry croutons, dry feta and dry chicken cubes. 2 soups, dumplings, and 2 sides, 3 juices  =  40 euros. Make your own choice J.

Preparations for the Medieval days tomorrow had started in the town square. Hurray! 

Kids went to the Zoo with Irina today. They checked out one of the picnic areas and turns out that they have a big closed in baby animal area. Baby animals were baby goats, ducklings, chicks, turtles, even a snake. And you could feed them fruits. Kids had a blast.

When we were having our 11pm cup of coffee with cake at the Kehrwieder Chocolaterie we found a journal with entries from tourists who visited the coffee shop. The final entry probably was made today. It was by American couple Dan and Deborah from St. Louis, Missouri who are in Estonia for a month. These are our final days here. I am a little jealous of them. Hope they have a really great time! Skipped on the free pickle today. Maybe tomorrow.

Almost Robbed & Happy Birthday Alan!

That thing I said about nice people yesterday, scrub that.. well fine.. scrub that for the alcoholics, drug addicts and whoever it was that tried to rob our apartment last night and destroyed the lock on the bicycle chain that keeps our stroller attached to the stairs downstairs.  

I guess it is better to start from the beginning. Last night we heard some noises that sounded like they were coming from our apartment. Usually the noises from the night club downstairs do sound like they are coming from our apartment, but those are usually laughter and Brits saying incomprehensible things. These were scraping noises. Dan went to investigate and did not find anyone in our apartment.

So in the morning we headed down to grab the stroller and go outside – and the lock was all scraped up. They did not manage to open it so to get over their sorrow they got some stuff stuck inside so we could not get the key in.

The evil Renata from BookingEstonia first said it is 9am and she is not at work yet. And anyway “she warned us that this is the old town and any kind of riffraff hangs out here.” She actually did not – she said it is OK to leave the stroller downstairs. The bike chain was Dan’s idea. Anyway she suggested to wait till 10am and the bike rental place opens up to see if they have the special scissors to cut open the chain. I asked if we should call police – she said don’t bother, they have enough to worry about.

We did call the police (110) and initially the girl on the phone said it is not their responsibility to open up the chains and that I would have to call the locksmith. But she agreed to send over the car to get report filed. Meanwhile Irina found another bike guy near the information office who was at work at 9am and so he called someone over to help. At about 10am both the cops and the guy showed up at our place. The cops were friendly young guys who spoke very good Russian. They helped the guy with metal saw to open up the chain. Took him a good 10 minutes. So it was a very good chain. Afterwards they did do a police report in Russian so I could understand it – and I could see that this is not something that they typically do since the guy really had to think hard not misspell. So that thing about nice people is still on J. We got the new bike chain and now take the stroller inside for the night. So we are all good!

Other than that nothing really that exciting. The first part of the day was kind of scrubbed. And things seemed a bit sad afterwards, well until lunch anyway. After lunch it was as good as new J .   

Dan spent some quality time with the coin guy near Solaris. Got a book he is excited about. Thinking about some more books tomorrow.

We walked around in the evening looking for a perfect chocolate cake. Realized that most of the restaurants in the old town are Italian. There are a few Old Estonian ones that specialize in bucktorn jelly and rhubarb cake which are great but not chocolate enough. We finally found a tiny coffee shop on the fashion designer street. It was really beautiful inside and had copies of Pikker magazine that dated back to early 70s. In pristine condition. The coffee and cake left a lot to be desired though. We are thinking that past 11pm the best choice is trusty McDonalds. Its donuts are soft and tender and deep with flavor. Almost sounds like a poem.

We were in a perfume store today with Georgia and she was sampling. For one of perfumes she said: this one must be really healthy for you. I asked why? She said the smell is not so good J

Krishnaits are lot more dedicated bunch here than those in Vilnius. They typically greet us as we come out of Viru mall at the end of the day, every day. And they usually have something new and fun going on. Today they were playing harmonica and carring around a sign with some kind of a mask.

Waiters on the main square still try to invite us in even though we refused for the last 3 weeks. Well today, one of the guys who works at the restaurant in the cellar of the city hall followed us around with a goblet in his hands putting on a beautiful drunk act and offered us a flier with a free cucumber if we go to his restaurant. This is one invitation we cannot refuse. So we have a date set for tomorrow J 

Happy 3rd Birthday Alan! Georgia said Hello! Isabella looks like in a few months she might say Hello too.

Rakvere Castle

On Sunday it was cooler and we went to see Rakvere castle. The trip almost did not happen when we got out of the house and saw literally every single school age kid dressed in region's gear hanging around the center. There was some kind of a national holiday going on (that they did not warn us about at the Information office a day prior).

They looked beautiful but they blocked the only road from the parking lot. We waited for an hour for a gap in their numbers and made a dash out past come traffic cop who turned around to pretend that he did not see us.

On the way we made a 15 kilometer detour to Palmse to try to get the best cheese Danish that we had last week. We were in luck – got the last 6 remaining ones and most of the cheesecake they had in the store. If you are in the area, definitely drop in, it sooo worth it.

After we got out of Palmse we stopped after seeing some blueberry bushes and picked us some blueberries. There were so many berries that you could sit on one spot and eat and eat and est. Don’t know if they have any nuclear power plants around but clover flowers were the size of plums.

Only the shell has remained from the old castle. But during renovations everything on the inside was rebuilt for the most part from wood. The castle is the prime example of a multi-media experience similar to the one we had at the Bastion tunnels. After coming in we immediately headed to the red-lantern district to the brothel that was built there recently.

We passed an alley of alluring medieval pictures on the subject and doors with pictures and the names of the lady-inhabitants inside. They were all locked except Dorothea’s. From behind that door we heard bits of the conversation that sounded like “Let me try that chastity belt on you to see if it fits.” “Now put your hand your wife’s behind, and now she is turning. Do you see that hare’s ass on her chest – gross. Isn’t that discouraging?” So we stayed around for the chance to speak with the learned woman.

After she was done with those customers, she spent some time with us sharing the delightful tidbits from that time period in line with her character. Not to say that they were really delightful but the way she was dressed and talked (in Russian) was hugely entertaining. Inside layout complete with a bath barrel for 2 and a 4 post bed was probably too luxurious for the time period.

After that she offered to take us to the barber to check how we were feeling and in we were in the need of some bloodletting. For the next venue she played the barber and offered to relieve my condition with some bloodletting from a vein. Some English tourists walked in and asked what she was doing seeing her clean out a rusty knife with  water from a dirty flask. I said that she was going to cut my veins. They stayed around to watch. Next she dipped the knife in the dark liquid from a second flask. She pressed on the inside of my hand and pulled the knife across leaving a dark streak to the loud gasp of the audience. It was expertly executed. The liquid was most likely iodine. Real fun to watch.

After that there was a torture museum with some horror rooms reminiscent of US fun parks, alchemy demonstration,  horseback riding, farm animals feeding, archery, candle and pottery making. We did not do most of them because we ran out of time. They basically have loads of different family oriented activities to choose from, some free and some modestly priced for 1.5 euro. You can also walk around the castle, enjoy beautiful views on the walls. They have cellar (viewable by candles) and armory – with lots of different sword types that you can try out. A great playground for kids and adults.  

Feeling a bit overwhelmed we got back in the car and drove to Toolse Castle. We never found it but did make another stop on the way, this time to pick the wild strawberries. Loads and load of them. Irina got so excited that she walked off in unknown direction and disappeared. After we ate our fill, we started calling for her and she did not respond. I suggested alien abduction but Georgia said that she has probably gone feral and will attack us. Fortunately Irina heard our car’s honking and appeared shortly. She did not go feral. She found a really great spot right on top of the anthill and ate her berries while fending off the ants.  

We finished the day at an Armenian restaurant while still on the road. A local variety of Kim Kardashian served our shishkebab and fries. At home we went to sleep at 8:30pm local.

On Monday the 4^th, there were no highlights. Maybe except a band of guys dressing up like babushkas and playing Beatles classing in a style of a military band. Just perfect!

Parnu

Another great weekend as we traveled around the countryside in a rented car by this great guy Andres (+3726612400).

On Saturday it was really hot so we decided to spend the day at the beach and headed out to a popular resort town Parnu. The city is substantially larger than we remembered.

There was Hanseatic fair going on and we stopped to walk around different stolls. There were great numbers of them but that was not Kazuka's Fair. They were a bit on the boring side with a few exceptions.

Beach area is well developed with loads of attractions – from playgrounds and squirt fountains for the little ones to surfing kites and beer shacks. Young kids sell ice-cream at the beach. The water was comfortable 20 degrees Celsius and  it did not get deeper than your knees until you reached Sweden. Well, we can only attest to the first 750 meters or so. Kids had a great time.

We had lunch at some local joint and headed back to the beach. By the time we reached the city in the evening it got nice and cool again and we took a stroll in the evening.

We stopped by “our bar” but there were swarms of mosquitoes in the air so we walked around the little bay area where the bar was parked and saw that some of the concrete slabs that make up the boardwalk there had cracked up pretty badly. Instead of waiting for the authorities to ever remove this junk locals had put some wooden sections on top of these plates effectively turning them into a multi-dimensional picnic area. A bunch of people were having dinner or supper on a few of those plates. A few steps further and we were at the stone city beach. Some more people and with families despite it being past 11pm. Someone was even swimming. It is strange but dilapidated place like this feels very safe and you could see that locals and tourists alike really love it.

On the main square another variety of bachelor party was taking place. The victim was dressed in a straight jacket. The torturers wore scrubs or medical robes. They were reciting “no sex before marriage” and doing various funny things in the process. A crowd gathered to watch. As we were leaving we saw a bachelorette party approach them. We missed any outcomes of that exchange.

About the people. They seem to be very warm. Racially it is more integrated than Lithuania. There are plenty of all nationalities here: Asians, Indians, African-Estonians J, and of course Brits like I mentioned before. It is nice to see the kids of the mixed unions. Lots of Russians here and lots of Russian being spoken around. 

Other observation - it seems very fashionable for women to wear scarves on their heads styled to look like something like a Girl with a Pearl Earring. We saw some of the in Vilnius last year but here a lot more women and young girls wear it and it looks lovely.

We read on the news about multi-national efforts to stop the human trafficking. It is interesting to hear it being discussed here as well.

Bastion Tunnel & Amarillo

Today Georgia, Dan & I went to the Bastion Tunnel tour. Highly recommended!! They first show a little video about the history of city’s bastion systems. It was done with our sense of humor in mind.. and narrated by what sounded to be a drunk Brit. At the beginning of the tour the guide suggested that we take some blankets with us downstairs on account of it being 8 degrees Celsius. He did not lie. 

 

Great museum. A few years ago they repaired a portion of extensive tunnel network and created pretty entertaining multi media experience there. The tunnel we were in is designed as series of rooms. They used different rooms to show different moments in the history of the city. They start from current times – these rooms show how a tunnel looked  just a few years ago when it was used by the homeless some of whom lived in the system for 30 years.

Then a fun punk exhibit to show illegal music movements, then some highly entertaining cold war exhibits complete with a good collection of paraphernalia and propaganda video in Russian. The picture of some Russian soldiers in radiation gear brushing themselves off with a birch broom to decontaminate – hilarious. 

Then they show some other periods in the past. At one point they have a live outside video feed showing where we are in relation to the surface. At the end of the tunnel there is a pressurized glass plate showing the rest of the tunnel that has not been cleaned up yet. That was one of the most impressive points of the tour – a kind of a window into the past.

  

The guide said we are done with the tunnel so we turned around and went back to the surface. He was panting when he caught up and said there is another tunnel. Hurray! We came back. At the beginning of the other tunnel there was a futuristic looking bench that we thought was a dehumidifier at first. We sat down on it and one of the walls came down and it turned out to be a monorail that slowly progressed along the tunnel as a video about the city was shown. The whole trip was about 15 minutes and we moved maybe 50 meters. One might call it the Estonian train J The video was very entertaining and we did not even notice the passage of time. It really zeroed in on the multicultural history and background of the city. In the end there was another humorous exhibit about the future of the city.

For dinner we went to Amarillo at Viru. Very nice. Portions are American-sized and arrived at the right speed and tasted good too. Waitress really waited on us. And there was a kids room right next to us with a single exit. I had to carry out Isabella kicking and screaming in the end. It is disappointing but I have nothing else to add about that.

Song and dance festival is on near Pirita so the town is full of youths in ethnic costumes singing and dancing to make an extra euro. Further adds to the great mood in the city.

At night we went out for a walk at around 11pm. The city was full of people of all kinds. There were crowds, conversations, laughter. And not just one single street of the old town. It is really exciting to be in a middle of this. Wish we could share this with others.    

A quick note about Isabella. She has insatiable curiocity. She could spend an hour on one stop picking up various things: cigarette butts, stones, gum and examining them. However horrific it is to observe it and utterly fruitless to try to stop it. Yesterday she spotted an ant. She squealed in delight. Picked up the little creature and rubbed it between her fingers. I said no Isabella - it is a living thing, let it go. So she did. And then she stomped it out enthusiastically. Jain she ain't at this point.

They play really well with Georgia except for the moments when Georgia has her daily cries. When that happens Isabella slaps Georgia, presumably to comfort her but usually it does not help. But the funny thing, most recently when Georgia sees Isabella approach her with her fists ready, she stops crying.  

The Best Place in Tallinn

In the morning after studying we went to the bank and tried to get some coins in the bags because they don’t give out any more Eesti euro rolls. We got totally lucky – kindly lady teller said it will be some time. She ran around in circles for a few minutes and then came back with a bunch of rolls. The very last and final rolls. Dan was so happy.

Then we went to the Kiek in de Kök museum and reserved a spot on the tour of the tunnels tomorrow at 11am. They do not pick up the phone or answer emails so it was the only way to do it. After that we mailed a postcard and walked around upper old town for a bit. It really is not as interesting as the lower town. Other than the tourists and a handful of souvenir shops there is really no life up here. Most of the buildings are either embassies or private property or locked up and apparently abandoned.

On the way home we visited some souvenir shops and stopped at one new one – apparently something of an artists commune near the staircase up to the upper town. Usually it is closed but it was open today and we went in. Immediately a guide appeared and lead us to cashier. So it is also a museum and there is a charge, a small one albeit, to get in. Still I did not want to do it so I said some other time. So the guard appeared again and offered to go to the courtyard where they have the swing. Very nice. After that he offered to go to the cellar where Georgia can do some watercolors. But we already had to go.

For lunch we wanted to do a donner kebab but it was strangely closed. So we went towards Pirita beach and stopped at Pelmeni place. Some of you noticed that there isn’t a lot on food anymore. It’s because restaurant food here is quite a bit more expensive than in US, especially for the 5 of us. And looking at the menus there isn’t that much variety here. So for lunch we were going out to semi-fast food places: Pizza Grande (recommended, there is one in Talinn too), Lido, and McD, and now Pelmeni. Excellent food, good prices, fast service. It was quite empty too so kids had the opportunity to go crazy in the spacey looking back portion of the restaurant.

For dinners we bring in cooked food from the supermarket. Since we discovered Viru mall supermarket we are very happy with the meals from there. Dizzying quantity and variety, and constantly changing selections. They must have 6-8 types of schnitzel and as many varieties of meatballs, fishballs, and other things. So it may not be very exciting on reporting side of things but it certainly has not gotten repetitive yet. We work at a coffee shop on the second floor of the mall and when we are ready to go home, we drop in and pick up something fresh.

As we headed home tonight we heard the familiar sounds of Krishnaits. They had a whole celebration going on. They had a black Krishnait sing and a bunch of other ones dance. They put up the sign – India Festival but it was just them. Many Indian guests and residents of the city did not seem to be present. They had several tents and were having songs and dances in the middle of the little square in front of Viru. It is interesting how this religious sect found a home here in the Baltics.

After dinner we ran to another supermarket for some household items. We go for those at least every other day. Kids got their requisite ice-cream and Isabella ate hers in a customary way – starting from the bottom of the waffle cup. 

Finally, and I am getting to the best part, tonight we decided to do the culture kilometer. Been passing by it for some time. Basically it is a 2 kilometer portion of the coast that has been littered by particularly disgusting and dilapidated remnants of the past. Recently residents of the city cleaned it up and turned it into a pleasant promenade where locals go running and walk around with their families. All along the way are interesting distractions.

Our first one happened for us maybe 400 meters in -  it was a bar made on the platform on the water from all sorts of disposed materials. There was the old doubledecker that served as the bar, a bunch of water crates that separated the booths, cable rolls doubling as chairs and more. They even had the piano, that was not recycled or anything and just served as a piano. The relaxed mood of the place, the sight of the water just made it a really perfect place to be. We had some beer and even the kids were perfect little darlings and quietly shared their drink.

Afterwards we continued our walk and passed the Paterei Prison. They must take the pictures of that place at some other time because it looks very run down – quirky and interesting nevertheless. They offer to have corporate parties and rent rooms in it. This here is a pretty pic and does not show the other side that had rust observation towers more broken windows and such. Well, maybe they have some other better rooms but from where we were looking, those were not the rooms to stay at, unless you were brought in there unconscious. As we were leaving we passed an all metal 2 story gate. It was initially closed for the day but fortunately a guard opened it up and let us out.  

Passed a bunch of dilapidated interesting buildings. It is a really prime real estate there – next to the sea and close to the old town, if anyone has the resources available to develop it. Passed the beautiful marine museum. We could see the submarine parked, will definitely have to come back.

Kids rebelled at 9:30pm and 1.13km and we had to turn back. Will definitely be coming back.

It is pretty late – 12:40am so I will stop for the day. Will upload the pictures tomorrow.

Some more observations: lots of Brits living and working in the city. As far as tourists - these come from all over the place. Many are probably brought by cruiseships - the city is very busy during the day and then at dinner time it empties out.

Some of the historical restaurants like Hansa around the main square have their staff dress up in Renaissance clothing and act out various acts during the day. I like it - gives the area a constant feeling of the holiday or a celebration.

Happy Meal

I know, I know – this is the depth of the moral decay. But they have a Happy Meal featuring Kung Fu Panda so we had to do it. And yes, it was the best part of the meal.

During lunch Georgia, Dan and I squeezed through the crowds to walk around some streets and enjoy the scenery and really lovely weather. Made some plans for next week and the weekend.

Kids were really tired in the evening and we walked around just a little before heading home and putting everyone to sleep. We are hoping to have more accomplished tomorrow – either Fat Margarita or Town History Museum and pelmeni.

They were putting up Belgian Block near our building today. Very faithful to the noise regulations – the sound of Jackhammer stopped at precisely 10pm.