Touring Tallinn

Tallinn was the last stop on our Scandinavian tour, but it was hard to muster up any kind of excitement as we dragged ourselves onto the bus at 7am to catch the ferry from Helsinki. We used the 2 hour trip as an opportunity to catch up on sleep. The lack of chairs didn't stop 15 or so people from rolling out their sleeping bags and staking a spot on the carpeted floor.


Somewhat refreshed, we disembarked off the ferry and headed straight into the Old Town of Tallinn, where we saw plenty of old and interesting buildings (including the world's tallest building - or at least it was in the 1400s). We had picked up a few new people who were joining the tour that from here would continue onto Russia. They were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed eager to sprint around town and see all there was to take in. The rest of us however endured the walking tour only with the knowledge that once it was over we could stop for lunch. And Estonians roaming the streets in traditional dress were something to be marvelled at as well :)



To say that we had worked up an appetite would be an understatment and we enthusiatically headed to a restaurant that had been highly reccommended. While it wasn't quite traditional Estonian fare, we certainly did justice to the amazing food at the African Kitchen.

Feeling much more energetic we headed out of Old Town Tallinn to the shopping malls. A massive street parade was occurring right down the main street and with people everywhere we found it very hard to cross into the mall. It was easy just to get caught up in the amazing atmosphere of the people singing, marching, waving flags, cheering and generally swaying to the beat of the numerous marching bands. We didn't know the occassion at the time but later found out it was the 25th Traditional Song and Dance Festival. It spans one week every 5 years and Estonias gather from all over the country to sing and dance in concerts that occur each night. The parade was the opening ceremony in which all of participants - over 20 000 people - could participate and show their traditional village colours.

That night we headed back into Tallinn's Old Town for the tour's farewell dinner, where we said our goodbyes to those who were continuing on through Russia and who would certainly miss our excellent company along the way. As her way of saying goodbye Megan managed to demolish an entire plate of ribs (ok, maybe Kate helped a little).

Of all the friends we made throughout the 22 days of our tour from Berlin to Tallinn one goodbye stood out from all others. Just one person needed to be reminded of us throughout the rest of her travelling days. We both found it of the utmost importance to encourage Alex, no matter where in the world she would be, to be tourists in just our style. So we presented her a t-shirt. Hours (ok minutes) of decorative genius were mustered to create this fashionable masterpiece. A handmade design featuring the acronym WWKAMD - What would Kate and Megan Do. The design included 2 stick figures (clearly us) jumping in joy infront of a scenic background in order to encourage this single traveller to make the most of photo opporotunities presented to her on this tour. Clearly, in true Kate and Megan style, we took a photo to mark this historic occasion.

The night concluded with a visit to the bar with no name, where we danced to such classics as the Grease Megamix, the Macarena, Mambo No.5 and Midnight Oil. Needless to say, it was a truely heroic effort to get up the next morning in order to see off the Topdeck bus (although we were back in bed soon after).

At checkout time - 12pm - we met the remainder of the group in the foyer, stashed away our bags, and headed out for a last exploration of Tallinn. This was mostly dedicated to searching for the ideal lunch spot. Todays winner was Pizza Grande, and as the name suggests we ate grande sized pizza. This gave us the energy and enthusiam to climb towers. Really.

We navigated the mess of cobble-stone laneways that Estonians refer to as streets, back past a Kiek en da Koc to the tallest Cathedral tower and dragged ourselves with all the effort we could muster up the hundreds of steep stone steps leading to the top of the windiest, narrowest staircase imaginable. Luckily the view from the top was good, and we managed to burn off a few calories at the same time.

That afternoon we said goodbye to our new friends and said 'see you later' to Tallinn as we once again subjected ourselves to our favourite mode of transportation in order to reach Southern Estonia, and the beach town of Parnu.