September 17, 2015

 

 

 

Surfing the Baltic

Breakfast is a monster at our hotel in Tallinn this morning.  Hot and cold, savory and sweet, meats, eggs pastries, lots of coffee and the killer “cake of the day.”  You have to love these Radisson types.

We have a 10:30 ferry back to Helsinki this morning and walk through the continuing drizzle of our lives.  Pat has a rain poncho that makes her look like an isolated soldier from the Korean War.  Stylish and yet functional.  We are now ferry experts and find the perfect table in the perfect lounge for crossing.  It’s good to be us.  We’re also happy we took the time to include Tallinn on this trip.  It is very different from Helskinki and we think a better experience than a good seat at a Twins game.

We walk back to our little imitation hotel in Helsinki and our rooms are already ready at 1:00.  We drop our stuff and take advantage of a break in the rain to begin our Helsinki walking tour. There is a challenge with street names since bi-lingual Finland has all the street names in both Finnish and Swedish.  Out anchor is Mannerheiminitie which we have renamed the Steamroller.

There is a cool monument right across from Stockmans with three naked guys swinging sledges on an anvil (be careful) that is pockmarked with bullet holes from WWII.  We detour to revisit the train station, a local architectural treasure and return to the Steamroller to continue our walk to the north.  This is culture row with museums, galleries, music venues finally passing the under-renovation Parliament building.

Our furthest point is the Temppeliaukio, also known as the Church in the Rock. This non-denominational house of worship was literally blown out of solid granite and sits neatly underground on top of a rocky hill.  There is recorded new-age music playing in the church and if we could listen to music in this environment all the time, we would listen to music all the time.  You feel like you’re inside the speaker.

We get our bearings and begin to walk back towards the hotel.  We nose around in some neighborhoods and shops along the way veering off a block or two if we see something interesting.  Like our Aussie friends Don and Jan, we might think this is “just another big city,” but it is starting to grow on us.  Especially if we’re not wet.

We take a break for a couple hours before squeezing into our room for a cocktail before dinner.  We have a couple sips left from our nightcap last night and surprisingly our front desk guy has ice cubes.

Our mission tonight is to find “Zetor” a Finnish Traktor restaurant that either celebrates or insults rural Finland lifestyles.  It has disappeared (we later learn it is in an alley across the street) so we go with what we know and head back to “9” where we ate last night.  It’s packed.  The other recommendation we got last night was for “Rafla” which is next to “9.”  It is a touch more upscale but still comfortable.  Pat and Mary both have the cheeseburger with Tallegio cheese and John has the lamb meatballs with mashed.  Mary has been talking about a burger she had in the north of Wales since 2006.  She now says that this burger is perhaps as good as and maybe better than that one.  That makes it all worthwhile.

We stop at a place on the way back called “pJAZZa” which is an Italian/jazz joint that has some sort of jam session going on.  Pretty fun but one drink and we’re toast for the day.  There’s a break in the rain which will slow down the growth of moss on the north sides of our bodies.

What did we learn today?  Levis makes an ultra-taper jean--largest waist size - 33.  Must be for Europeans.

September 16, 2015

 

 

One Nighters

We are categorically opposed to one-nighters, speaking in the travel sense.  When you stay in a place for one night you spend a too-high percentage of your time dealing with moving around.  It’s frustrating and draining.  So here’s the deal--we have six one-nighters in a row. We have a couple more towards the end of the trip when we have difficult connections but this is the worst stretch.

Our schedule calls for 3 nights in this part of the itinerary but we wanted to spend a night in Tallinn, Estonia.  We could have done it last night but since we were meeting Pat, who would be tiring rapidly, it didn’t seem prudent.  We could have done it Thursday night but we have a firm travel date on Friday afternoon so if there were weather or labor disruptions we might miss the boat, so to speak.  The result is that we have Helsinki-Tallinn-Helsinki in this stretch.

We let Pat sleep for a while and John goes to “Roberts Coffee” for a couple cups to get us rolling. There is allegedly coffee in our lobby but the office doesn’t open until 8:00 and the coffee appears sometime after that.  Eventually Pat pops up and she and John go next door for the discounted breakfast buffet while Mary mills around in Stockmans. 

It is raining once again (the headline of the trip so far) which means Pat goes back for a nap and John and Mary hang out again at Stockman’s.  This is the flagship of a monster retail operation and this store rivals Macy’s in New York and Harrods in London.  Not much of a foreign experience but we have time to explore Helsinki over the next couple days.

We have a 1:30 ferry to Tallinn and we need to board by 1:00.  It is a two hour ride each way and about $70 round-trip so the time and cash investment is about the same as a good seat at a Twins game.  The Finns consider this ferry to be a party barge, at least on weekends, and make the easy 50-mile run for cheap beer and food in Estonia.

Being good walkers we decide to walk the mile+ to the ferry terminal.  We have left our big suitcases with the Helsinki Hotel and just carry overnight bags. We have already purchased tickets on-line and use the automated check-in service.  The boarding is easy after zig-zagging for ten minutes down chutes and hallways and ramps. We were concerned about the style of seating but we find a table for three in a lounge at the window in the front of the ship.  We share some sandwiches, chips and beer and the whole experience is very civilized.

We’re in a Radisson Park Inn in Tallinn that is walkable, even in the drizzle, from the ferry terminal.  Our room here is about the same size as our combined rooms in Helsinki but 25% less in price than either.  Mary is pleased.

We do the Rick Steves walking tour through the old town of Tallinn.  Tallinn was a power during the middle centuries of the second millennium AD rivalling Stockholm and Copenhagen.  The old town is wonderfully maintained from the town walls to the main square and city government buildings.  There is an upper town, the historical seat of Estonian national government, and a lower town where the traders and city government held sway.  The heads of the respective governments would meet on the steep path between the towns when there were matters to discuss.

 

The big deal in addition to the town hall is the Russian Orthodox Cathedral.  The Russians have had their toes in Tallinn for more than a hundred years with true domination between the end of WWII and 1991.  During the occupation Russians flooded in by the tens of thousands in an effort to create an ethnic presence as well as a political one.  The Cathedral is a very visual representation of that presence as it sits across a plaza from the Estonian Parliament Building.

There is a service in a side chapel when we visit with the Priest popping in and out of altar doors which represent the separation of the physical from the spiritual.  There are 4 ladies singing and it sounds like a full choir—the voices of angels.  It is really moving.

Our next move is back down the hill for beer and dinner.  Our pick is the “Hell Hunt” or Wolfhound.  The beers are good, Mary has a Herring platter with potatoes and vegetables, Pat the yellow curry and John the Salmon pasta.  Beers and dinners total $36 Euros.  We could like it here.

It’s a nice evening stroll back through town to our hotel.  There are plenty of people moving around and it seems very vibrant.  We grab a bag of ice at the bar and finish the day with a nightcap in our room.

 

What did we learn today?  Prices in Finland are about 70% of Norway and Estonia is half of Finland.