European Adventure 2025: Day (8) TALLINN

 My stay in Tallinn is coming to end, but I have a feeling I will be back! I really enjoyed my stay here!! The people are nice and the place is awesome so see you soon Tallinn! This could become my summer spot together with Spain or Portugal !! The more choices the better… Astonia is part of the Changan group of countries so I can stay up to 90 days no questions asked!! 90 days is a whole season and summer is what I am thinking about!! Since today is my last full day, I tried going where I have not been yet and in doing that I ended in the boonies, sort off!! After an hour of walking, I realized I was getting farther and farther from civilization so I decided to go back the same way I came … oh well, I said blame it on my maps that showed something !! In any case, I went downtown and walked in all the small alleys and wide boulevards ! I came to realize how beautiful of a mix Tallinn has between the old and the new.. really awesome to see that… may be our American cities should learn from Tallinn!! Refurbish the old and the new to go along with it … another observation is people walk in these European cities.. not so  in our southern cities in the US… every one wants to be very close to the final destination so we drive instead of walking!! These are all adjustments we need to make … in addition to the big gorilla in the closet: the need for an efficient mass transit system! Tramways, subways, buses … all these are needed to push cars out into the suburbs .. I can think of many ideas for the area where I live …

As I prepare to move on to my next stop .. I have to say that Tallinn has been a pleasant surprise … and… I will be back soon!! God willing .. 

….Another beautiful church

…. And One more

A residential building downtown

A snake 🐍 statue with kids watching in owe

A nice little square downtown full of people

More statues in another square

A less busy alley downtown

Smoke stack symbol of the bygone days

A less crowded street downtown 

A nearly empty parking lot

Bikers everywhere

Skyline of the old city from an abandoned Soviet era building

This used to be a very busy site in the communist days

Crumbling old commercial hub in communist days

European Adventure 2025: Day (7) TALLINN

 Today was supposed to be « Riga Latvia Day » but as I mentioned yesterday, and given the change in weather from sunny to rainy, I decided it was not worth it to be on the bus for 8 long hours to see more buildings so today is a rest day, or is it really? Not according to my Apple Watch, i had nearly 14,000 steps for a weakly average of 18,000 steps a day!! Nothing to brag about since my average for the Everest base camp trip was in the 30,000 steps a day range plus altitude gains too… In any case, a vacation in Europe is not for resting the body but rather the mind… 

I woke up so late that I was like what happened to me? It was 12:00 pm when i got up!!! Missed a free very generous  buffet breakfast given by the hotel… so first order of the day, find coffee! So out the hotel I went, after a block or two walking a coffee shop showed up and voila, my coffee was served and I was happy. After that I was just exploring new areas of town… stopping in coffee shops for refueling and resting as well… before long I ended up in the old city again but different streets and squares! It was a coolish weather so my hoodie was very handy today and yesterday!! 

Here is a selection from today’s pics

Interesting seat in front of a store! 

Plazas are where Europeans spend their summer evenings and nights 

Stone structures everywhere

A flower plaza! Big business here

Modern building mixed-in with old 

Old city plaza

 

European Adventure 2025: Day (6) HELSINKI

 Well today was not the perfect day I was hoping for to visit Helsinki, Finland! Unfortunately, it rained on and off all day long!! Sometimes hard and sometimes just a drizzle but none the less, my day was not the best but it is ok… I still saw quiet a bit of Helsinki so no problem! It is a smaller downtown compared to Oslo an Stockholm but cute.. the temperature  was in the low 50s with a steady drizzle ! It was a raw day!! I did not want to catch a cold so I walked inside a mall a lot... It has been a while since I did that specifically since the time we had Madison mall in Huntsville!!! I even ate lunch in the mall.. I had Japanese food for change!! After that I stopped for what else…. coffee !! I then went to the main train station to check it out. I did manage to take some pictures dogging the rain. In summary Helsinki has a smaller and a cuter downtown .. I just wish the rain did not spoil the day but it is what it is .. I cannot be lucky all the time! The big boat experience was also part of the trip! There was so much room and so many places to eat. I was exploring all the floors and rooms and sometimes I sat in a quiet corner to rest. I can imagine those big cruise ships, someone can get lost in there! Even though there were a lot of people in the waiting room at the beginning, they all vanished in the ship ! 

Ok now here is a time where I make a big adjustment to my trips, today is that day, given the experience of the day in Helsinki, i.e rain, I decided to cancel my trip to Riga tomorrow !! It will be raining all day again in Riga, moreover it is not a ship, it is a bus ride and …. It is FOUR hours each way so!! Easy decision I say … no can do !! Staying put in Tallinn and regrouping and getting my energy and sleep back so yeah I will sleep-in tomorrow and after tomorrow !! In any trip, these adjustments are necessary because we start out ambitious and then realize it is too much.. I have seen enough fabulous buildings and streets so far.. I have done such adjustments in the past as well and they always made the vacation better .. Also I have two days to figure out what is next… I actually had to make this change because my body was complaining from lack of sleep and fatigue… the take away is: ambitions should be scaled back at times and listen to our body … 

Here are some pics from today … enjoy

Awesome building in the middle of Helsinki

More amazing buildings in a big square

A statue in the square

More awesome buildings everywhere 

A big square in Helsinki

The best looking building in the square of Helsinki

Inside the train station 

Trams saved the day for me .. 

The train station in Helsinki

More buildings in a plaza

Another cute building 

A plaza…

Inside a mall: picture taken from the top of a spiral staircase

The cruise liner 🛳️ 

An island before Helsinki

Inside the cruise ship

Inside the cruise ship

European Adventure 2025: Day (5) TALLINN

 Tallinn has surprised me more than Stockholm and Oslo because of its mix of old and new!! A fascinating  city to say the least. The old city is beautiful and historic with amazing structures that have been around for centuries and survived two world wars!! This speaks volume about the solid construction methods they used in those days.. I spent a lot of time roaming around the streets of the old city today, what a place I say! It is commercialized now for good reason, to make money from tourism and hopefully maintain the structures for future generations! That is the hope at least … greed is also part of that but that is the century we live in: a century of greed and wars!!! This is not a political blog so let me stick to my vacation ok!! After the old city, I wondered into the new modern city and walked everywhere all the way to the port and bus station! I was on a mission of course, buy tickets for a ferry ride to Helsinki Finland tomorrow and a bus ticket to Riga Latvia the day after tomorrow, before doing this I extended my hotel reservation here in Tallinn until Friday to allow me to do these day trips … I find my hotel to be nice and clean with awesome buffet breakfast and reasonable price… also Tallinn is between Riga and Helsinki so all in all a win-win !! 

Here are some pictures  from today … enjoy!!  

The amazing church!!

Inside the « amazing church »

Inside the « amazing church »

… and another church steeple 

Old city cobblestoned street 

.. another church

More cobblestone streets

Awesome buildings everywhere 

A plaza in the old city

Modern buildings are there too… 

Another church 

European Adventure 2025: Day (4) TALLINN

 Well well well, where do I start ?? First I did not sleep all night, light skies, trip anxiety and looming war just combined to give me a sleepless night.. the last one I have no control over, the first 2 I do but not last night… in any case, i woke up at 4 am to get ready to go to the train station to take a subway to the airport!  It is a first so i needed to be alert but once again, I was impressed by how nice people are with tourists… A young lady out of nowhere help me with everything at the station… it looks like I am using all my luck and soon i will run out and then i will be be left in the cold but for now great … getting out of Oslo was a breeze and at the cute Oslo airport I sat down for a well deserved coffee and a pastry. The flight to Tallinn took just over an hour and i was on the ground in this relatively small but cute airport.. I took a taxi to my hotel, got my room, took a shower and crashed literally … all the fatigue showed up at once and so i slept for few hours … I woke up around 5 pm, dressed and hit the Tallinn streets… my hotel happens to be smack in the middle of everything so I went straight to the old, historic town … Well I have seen pictures but seeing it with my own eyes 👀 was different .. shocked, speechless and just in awe…

Being late in the day and tired i decided not to do too much so i left the old town and went hunting for food … here are some pics from today … tomorrow will be a great day for sure …

The walled old city with towers

Inside the old city

The main church in the old city

Old city street with cobble stones

View of the old city from a high point 

Another dominant church steeple in the distance

An empty courtyard 

Dominant church steeple

A statue of a « ghost »