Sunday, May 26, 2019

Wednesday, May 15- Tallinn, Estonia

When the alarm rings at 6:15, Shirley is in a deep sleep so she cancels the gym, but I'm awake so off I go. It is another sunny day, albeit cool at this time in the morning. Should be 13 degrees for the high. It's a leisurely morning as we are walking to Tallinn from the ship. We are allowed to leave whenever we want. Barb and Nancy go for breakfast about 30 minutes before us. We are all eady to leave around 9:45 or so. Tallinn is only a 15 minute walk away and we are not the only ones heading that way.
It's a medieval city/town and it still has parts of the original wall. There are many churches, some Gothic, Orthodox, Lutheran, etc. We walk through the main entrance, Fat Margaret's Cannon Tower.

Fat Margaret's Tower- was used as a storehouse, barracks, and a prison. Today it is a maritime museum depicting the shipping and fishing industries.

We walk along the main street, Pikk St and find a Gothic church- St Olaf. 
St Olaf. Too big for the space that I had.


Photos from inside the church. It's very plain compared to a lot of gold filled churches that we have seen. The walls are made of stone with no paintings and the pews are of wood. 

We continue into the old town called Vanalinn. We see the old prison where the KGB tortured its prisoners. 

Old prison

We walk in a big plaza where we think the St Nicholas church is, but in fact it's the Town Hall and square. 

Buildings along the way

Love all of the colours and architecture

In the Town Hall Square

Across from Town Hall

The backside of the Town Hall building

Talking "bull"

One of the towers
The three sisters, posing under The Three Sisters Hotel


Town Hall and square

We pass by St Nicholas Church and Museum but we don't go in. The next church is St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. What a beautiful church.

St Nicholas-Nevsky Cathedral

We continue on our walk around the city but Nancy has returned to the ship as walking on stone walkways, and climbing and descending are causing a lot of pain in her bad hip. 
The rest of us decide to sit and have a nice cold one on this nice, sunny day. 


Nice Estonian beer

Descent from the viewing platform

Beautiful flower arrangements again

View of the city from the viewing platform




Sisters sitting at the gate of one of the towers.

Our ship

Need I say more? Ha

This is the Kalev restaurant/hotel

At 3:30 we start heading back. There are vendors outside the ship so Barb and Shirley stop to shop and I continue on board. 
There's a trivia contest at 5:00 so Shirley and I head there. We are too late to participate but we stay to see what we would have know when they are giving the answers. On our way out we hear a guitarist playing Andrea Boccelli so we go listen. We then return to our room for a few minutes. We then hear another announcement calling out three names. I guess we have another day with late passengers. We do eventually leave after we see the three people return. 
We walk around the ship and go to a spot where we can guess the weight of a big beautifully painted cat made of resin. We can write a guess once a day for 3 days. We then listen to the guitarist again while Nancy and Barb go to a Kincaid seminar. We meet in the dining room at 6pm. 
Tonight we learn that Ian's wife, since December, also works on board. 

Seafood risotto for Shirley and me

Barb's meal

Nancy's meal

Chocolate soufflĂ© with sauce. After all of this Shirley says to me, want some Pistachio ice cream. When do I say no to ice cream. So we order some. Unfortunately, it is not good. My visions of Pistachio gelato are nowhere near this dish. 
We go to the Centrum where there is another contest. See who can get the most ping pong balls out of a bo attached to your back. Shirley and I get a free glass of Champagne. It's showtime, so off we go to find a good seat. Tonight a magician/comedian is entertaining us. Everyone seems to be skeptical at the beginning as no one is really applauding, but in no time, this guy has us convinced that he is for real. 

A young boy was brought on stage to help with a card trick

Amazing sunset

Time I took the sunset shot. That's how light it still was outside.


Amazingly calm seas with the ripple of the ship. Thanks for taking the picture Shirley.












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