Just about recovered from my weekend in Tallinn. It was good.
As predicted, we ended up late for the ferry because my stupid Italian housemate thought it would be a good idea to leave at 6.50 when the lack check in is at 7.40, and the port is ages away from the metro station. So we ran a good 2km to make it there in time, and I thought I was going to die I felt so sick/wobbly when we finally made it. I’d like to blame that on my asthma, but it’s more just me being incredibly unfit. But we made it - that’s the important thing. Being on a cruise ship for the first time was an interesting experience. The entertainment was awful. A duo playing traditional Finnish music on a keyboard and then DJ Awa playing Abba songs. Weird.
So after three hours of that we arrived in Tallinn. Tallinn’s beautiful - it’s a weird mixture of Russian, Scandinavian, German and Eastern European influences. Never been anywhere like it before. The Old Town in particular is amazingly well preserved/rebuilt. We stayed at the Red Emperor hostel, and I’d highly recommend it. After eating some massive pancakes at the Kompressor restaurant (also highly recommended) we went on a free tour of the city, which would have been pleasant if it wasn’t MINUS 12 DEGREES CENTIGRADE. I’ve never experience cold like that before. It was awful. We then went to the Balti Jaam market and I bought a Zenit ET camera from a Russian bric-a-brac stall. I bartered with the owner and managed to get 13 euros knocked off the asking price. To be fair, I probably still ended up paying more for it than I should have (27 euros). It is a nice camera though.
Then that night we all got really drunk (obligatory), wandered around the town for a bit the next day and caught the ferry back. The end.
