Jane in Finland: September 2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Saturday September 25 - Venturing into Tallinn

Waking up to sunshine and "Une vie d'amour" playing outside my window sets the mood just right for the rest of the day. I will try to refrain using capital letters or too many words of emphasis to describe one of the most beautiful cities I've been to that I am now in love with.
Our hostel was located in the middle of the Old Town so it was quite easy to access all of the historic buildings from it.We first decided to climb to the top of a watchtower that one of the churches had that Arturo had suggested the previous night. He had not mentioned that it was a 60 meter climb with stirs that were a foot in height at minimum. The staircase that led up to the tower was fairy tale-like (it reminded me of Rapunzel's tower). The fairy tale ended when we had to climb it. There were honestly flip-out chairs halfway up the tower for people to rest on. Being the troupers that we are, we didn't stop at all during our climb and were still partially alive when we got to the top. The view was magnificent. The clear blue skies helped immensely. I must say that this tower and view beat the Harju tower in Jyvaskyla. It's always nicer to look out without a glass pane in between you and the view. It was bliss to have the sun on your skin, the breeze in your hair and eyes full of the sights.
Despite my throbbing thighs, I was full of energy and anticipation to see the rest of the city when I climbed down the tower. Everything I saw was remarkably beautiful, I honestly don't remember the last time I've had so many positive emotions at everything I looked at.
Unfortunately all the good in the world has to be balanced out by some bad so I think it was almost inevitable for me to have dropped my camera running across a street. This happened right after I visited a marketplace where all of eh vendors and shoppers spoke Russian. I was in heaven. I even bought some Russian sweets (ZIFIR) to share with the crew.
I was surprisingly unfazed by my broken camera. The memory card was in tact and I still had my phone to take pictures with. The fact that 5 other people with taking pictures with their cameras didn't hurt either.
The day was so warm and pleasant that we took a break on the luscious green grass beside a castle. I even got to visit another Russian church where I put up more candles. I've noticed that I'm becoming less and less upset by trivial matters.
Our ferry ride to Helsinki was highly enjoyable. It was only 2 hrs instead of the 3 hrs that it took us to get here. There were 5 year old koniak samples followed by dark chocolate in one of the shops on the shopping 'street' on the ship. Can you say that we travel in style? On top of my Estonian liquor collection, I added a beautiful black and white bag to my souvenir collection.
SIGH. what a fabulous day.

One of many towers in Tallinn

exploring Old Town

Fascinated by falling water

I'm a tower - impeccable resemblance no?

Cobblestone streets - some girls wear heels in this city

Jump around

We like action shots

I broke my camera and had to use my phone :(

The medieval times never left Tallinn

Russian church

The most delicious almonds ever

Elk soup and pie - delicious

The view out of our hostel

Inside Allure hostel that was completely run by Russians

Kitchen in the basement of the hostel

Stefan making bacon

Enjoying breakfast

my first impression of Tallinn - this artist was right outside our hostel doors

Typical Esonia house

The church that we climbed - 60 meters!

Those stairs were so steep they should be illegal

Old Town view from the the top of the church

Harbor side view

In front of the church doors - my thighs were throbbing from the climb

I love these streets

The ladies

exploring the gardens and towers

modern sculptures in contrast to the old towers

I found a grass wall

yes, this is a headstand

more flowers for mom :)

These gardens were wonderful to walk through in the sunshine

My shot of the waterfall

My last picture before I broke my camera - this was an important moment of my day

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Friday September 24 - We're moving and dangerous

On this lovely grey and cold morning, our group of 6 was indeed a force to be reckoned with. What could be more fierce-some than 4 Dutchies, 1 Austrian and one Russian-Canadian ?
Annelies and I were the first to arrive at the railway station followed by Fiona, Harriette, and Reinier. Stefan, who had our train tickets arrived mere minutes before the train left. Not nerve-racking at all.
3 hrs later, as we stepped out of the Helsinki railway station, we were full of energy and wonder. The wonder levels didn't go down throughout the weekend but the energy levels plummeted.
During our 6 free hours in Helsinki before our ship left to Tallinn, we went to explore the inner city which was possible to do by foot. I'm trying to remember the last time I went on a 6 hr walk ... It definitely wasn't recent at all. The Church of Finland was a majestic white building that was emphasized by the hundreds of painted bears standing across the street from it. Much like the Berlin bears, there was one painted bear from each country in the world. The Canadian one was really cool - it was painted in pixels. As I waited in the line to take a picture by the Russian bear (OF COURSE there was a line of Russians, we're everywhere ;)), I thought about how the Russian bear looked somewhat frightening with it's angry eyes and red lips.
We also visited the Russian church that was in close proximity to the bears. It felt great to go into an orthodox church again, I've really missed going to Liturgy every Sunday.
before heading to the West harbor to catch our ship, we stopped by a pizza buffet to have supper. Me in a PIZZA buffet? It may seem shocking at first but I've taken an extreme liking to European pizza, it is so much better than Pizza hut or any other pizza place in Canada which is to bad because I'll go back to disliking pizza when I come back. IF I come back - hehe.
It was slightly more difficult to walk with all of our bags and an extremely full stomach but it had to be done. we made our ferry just as everyone was boarding. It was a really huge ship with 10 stories, a restaurant, bar, or lounging are on each floor and goodness knows how many thousands of cabins. After setting all of our stuff down, we felt rejuvenated enough to explore the ship. Me and Annelies even signed up to sing "I will survive" at the karaoke/nigh club area of the boat. This will be my second time karaoke-ing to Gloria Gaynor but hey, it's a classic.
by the end of the ride, we were all extremely tired of our 6 hrs of traveling and 6 hrs of walking that we did today but again, the night Estonian air had something in it and we had a bouncy conversation during our walk to the hostel. Our couch surfer contact fell through in Tallinn unfortunately but now I get to experience a hostel which is something new for me :)
At night, Tallinn looked beautiful. The harbor shrank away as we entered the Old City which reminded me of a medieval village. everything was made out of stone and there were red rooftops and castle towers everywhere. As soon as our beds were made and bags deposited on the floor of our hostel, our tiredness melted away and we got ready for a night excursion. a nice Mexican guy, Arturo, who was staying in the same room as us in the hostel showed us around. After exploring the old streets, we stopped at the "No name bar." I giggled at the sight of it as it reminded me of the Superstore/President's choice products back home. There was a ladies special on which made the cocktails even cheaper than they were originally. After some socializing, dancing and a game of pool, I was more tan ready to hit the sack.
How's that for the first day of my weekend?
Get ready to be bombarded with pictures :)