Adventures part 2: Tallinn

I am becoming quite a Tallinn traveler, having just been there last weekend for an improv performance trip. It was a fun trip, and I shall write about it later, but for now I want to get back in my thoughts to last summer and my trip to Tallinn together with my sister, my dad, and.... you guessed it:  my great aunt.

After having been on a fun bus tour around Kemiönsaari with my great aunt I was open to travelling with her more. When my dad and sister were visiting Helsinki and we thought of visiting Tallinn for a day I suggested that my great aunt could come along. 

And so it was that we saw early in the morning in Helsinki to take an Eckerö Line boat towards Tallinn. The  boat ride was relatively uneventful. We had coffee (to ensure a table at the cafe) and read the newspaper and talked about life. 

The sea is interesting, one moment it looks really grey.. 

... and the next it is full of colour 

We had about five hours to spend in Tallinn before the return boat was due to leave and we all agreed that it would be best to spend it in old town. So we headed to old town, and the moment we entered the historical city I was mesmerized by the old buildings and their stories. There are plaques on the walls of each old building saying what the buildings history is. You could do a weekends tour just by reading all those plaques, so sadly I couldn't read all the interesting stories of the buildings. We came across an interesting museum though, the Estonian History Museum at the Guild Hall, that fulfilled my desire to learn the city's history. It was well worth a visit as it had a very good and interesting display on different aspects of the city's history. My favourite bit was a room in the cellar, which had boxes full of different historical tools and appliances and you got to guess what they were used for. We didn't get that many right, but it was a fun guessing game. 

The beautiful space of the Guild Hall at the Estonian History Museum

My father and sister had never visited Tallinn before so of course we went to the sightseeing terrace to view the city. 

It is a beautiful view of the cities roofs at the sightseeing terrace

We also saw some traditional dancing at the town hall square

For food we went to a restaurant in old town and though it was a beautiful location to have lunch, my pasta meal took around 45 minutes to come and by the time it came I was getting really hangry, which wasn't helped by the small portion size. My appetite was only fully met back at the boat where we had booked a table at the dinner buffet. 

Back at the boat, after dinner we were all really tired of a long day of walking in the sun, and everyone's energy was a bit low. My great aunt, of whom I was concerned at the start of the day because of the amount of walking that was due, seemed to be the most energetic of us all. When the boat reached Helsinki again she had the energy to try and race the other people to get a place in the tram back to the city center. Me and my sister and dad, had no such aspirations and we said goodbye, and stayed back and let the other people leave the boat first, with my great aunt at the forefront. We decided to walk to the Ruoholahti metro station, instead of trying to fight for a place in the tram. As we were walking, we concluded that it had been a fun day, but that now we were all ready for some sleep. 

The evening spoiled us with this cloud and it's silver lining