Our morning began like all the others with breakfast. After breakfast we met with the private guide Dad had hired before we left. He was going to take us on an two part tour of Tallinn: car (the outer city) and walking ( the inner city). Before we left in the car he gave us a basic understanding of Estonian history. Here is essence of it: The Swedes took control of it but the Estonians were too much trouble so they sold the land to some German knights, from whom the Russians got it. The Russians ruled over Estonia for 200 years until 1918ish when Estonia finally got it's independence. It didn't last long, the soviets took over in 1939. The Nazis took it from the Soviets in 1941. After the fall of Nazi Germany, Estonia became a Soviet country and was such until 1991. There you go crash course in Estonian history.
So on the driving tour we saw a ton so I'm just going to start with a list with a little explanation. If you want more info google or ask me a question in the comments. Here goes: the "white house" where the KGB operated, the Viru hotel made of "micro-concrete" (60% concrete 40% microphones), Stalin's birthday cake building, Catherine I's summer palace and gardens, the President's house (which didn't even have a fence), the Forrest Cemetery for heroes, the singing ground, the TV tower where the tense moment between Soviets and Estonians happened, the rich's villas, the poor's apartments, a memorial to a ferry accident, a memorial for a ship that went down, a memorial to heroes, a memorial to WWII heroes, old wooden houses on a limestone clint, the 1980 Olympic sailing center that looked like a cruise ship. Many of the things on this part had to do with the Soviet era. Our guide had to serve in the Soviet army at one point and was later part of the resistance when Estonia tried to get there freedom.
Next came inside the city. Another list coming at you: St. Mary's Church, the Finnish embassy, the town square, the three sisters buildings, entrances into the walls, a parking garage that had excavated walls from the 1200s in it, several towers in the walls including Fat Margret, the baker's alley, two different overlooks from which he pointed out the industrial district and the train station, he talked about how many peninsulas are on the coast, and told us about how complicated things were after the Soviet Union collapsed. When all was said and done we'd had an amazing 4.5 hour tour.
We had lunch at an Estonian place our guide recommended. We tried a dessert that had Kama in it. Kama is a local grain mx thing, it has a granularity about like sugar with the flavor of wheat. It was folded into whipped cream and served with a foxberry sauce.
We spilt up, boys and girls, after lunch. We went to St. Olaf church and climbed the tower. It had some spectacular views. After the church, we went to wander some and found a place where we could climb up on the wall. We walked along the wall and enjoyed keeping dry because the on again-off again rain we'd had all day was coming down. Then we headed back to the hostel to meet the boys.
We had a picnic dinner in the kitchen and settled in for the evening. We read and caught up on journals and hit the bed early due to needing to be at the airport at 7:15 in the morning.
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