Tallinn, Estonia

Saturday, September 1/12

The ferry docked in Helsinki at 8am. First order of business was breakfast..  which by the time me and my friend from Japan put our bags in lockers and found a place that was open, I was eating smoked reindeer meatballs.





My ferry to Tallinn, Estonia left Helsinki at 1pm.
A 2 hour, uneventful journey.

My host, Harry, was waiting for me in the harbour when I arrived. Just a short walk to his apartment.

We went to this medieval restaurant in the heart of the old town for supper. It was very unique, all the workers were dressed up and in character. And the food was good.

Harry took me around to see the old town after. Harry is born and raised in Estonia and was able to share a lot of Estonian history with me.

After taking me around to see various old buildings and sites, we went to a local pub for a beer.

We stopped at 2 more pubs, then went back to the apartment to enjoy the wonderful sauna.






Sunday September 2/12

We had brunch then Harry took me to see the TV tower.

Officially opened in 1980 just before the Moscow Olympic Games.

The end of the 1980's brought about an independence movement in Estonia. In order to silence the movement, the Soviet Union attempted to take control of the TV tower. They did not succeed and Estonia again declared independence in 1991.

The tower stands 314 meters high.

The observation deck, located on the 21st floor, is 170 meters high. It gives a 360 degree view of Tallinn, which you can see is mostly forest.

There were various interactive exhibitions, a restaurant and the viewing platform.

After playing around there for a bit we headed back into the town.

We took a walk through a couple beautiful parks.

 We walked past the Presidential Palace - it's pink.

In the evening, there was an important basketball game between Estonia and Israel.
Harry and I went and met up with a few of his friends there.
The venue was much like a Saskatoon Blades game. The fans were great. They have this chant with drums. 2 drum beats and then they yell "Eesti" and it's repeated over and over again. It was an exciting game, but unfortunately Estonia lost.

Saint Petersburg, Russia Day 2,3

Thursday Aug. 30/12

My first stop, Saint Isaac's Cathedral.
 Took 50 years of construction from 1818-1858.

The exterior is a traditional Russian - Byzantine with the large gold-plated main dome and 4 subsidiary domes.

The rich interior, composed of multi-coloured granites and marbles from all over Russia. Columns, pediments and painting fill the inside of the church.

It was a bit overwhelming at first, but beautiful.

I lit a candle in prayer for my family and friends back home... but then got in trouble for trying to put it in he wrong spot. Oops.

Next stop the Hermitage Museum.

One of the largest, oldest, art and culture museum.

Founded in 1764 and open to the public since 1852.

Piece from Central Asia

It had everything: Egyptian collections; Italian renaissance art, which included pieces by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo; Dutch, German, British, Swiss, Russian art collections; impressionist and post-impressionist art including work from Van Gogh and Monet; modern art with work from Matisse and Picasso and the list goes on and on and on.

The museum was so huge, it took me over 3 hours to walk through it.

It was incredible and I enjoyed it, but I don't think I need to go into any more art museums for awhile.











Friday Aug. 31/12

On my way to the famous Peter and Paul Fortress, I saw this beautiful building and figure that I should check it out.

So the entrance is along the side. I had to walk through a gate and just past the gate, leading up to the entrance, there were old ladies sitting on either side of the path.
And they started yelling at me in Russian. I stared at them with a dumb look on my face until I figured out they were telling me that I could not go into the building without a scarf over my head. I shrugged my shoulders trying to indicate that I did not have a scarf to use.

One of the ladies then went into her bag and gave me an extra scarf to use. She put it on for me too. Then I got her to take a picture of me with the scarf and the lady I borrowed it from. Not the best picture, but a very funny memory for me.

I learned that the building is the Saint Petersburg Mosque. Built in 1913 for the Muslim community to worship. The worshippers are separated by gender; females on the first floor and males on the ground floor.  There wasn't much to see inside.
I gave the scarf back as I left the Mosque and gave them some money  (because I saw someone else giving them money). They said many things to me that I didn't understand and I left.

Onto the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Founded by Peter the Great in 1703. The first settlement in St.Petersburg.

First the Cathedral. Built from 1712-1733, is the burial place for the Russian Imperial Romanov Family.

The fortress was used as a political prison from 1718 -1921. The prison is called the Trubetskoy Bastion.
This was an interesting tour. It had information and stories about the famous revolutionary and social activists that were imprisoned here. The prisoners would communicate to each other by stomping, but it was forbidden to do so. If they got caught they were sent to the punishment cell with no light or heat. This picture is what a typical cell looked like.

There were many different exhibitions within the fortress. I spent the entire afternoon wondering in and out of different museums and buildings.








Back on the ferry to Helsinki at 7pm. Luckily this time my roommates were not old naked Dutch ladies. There is a sauna on the ship. So I went there with my friends from the USA and Japan and enjoyed the night at sea.

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Wednesday Aug. 29/12

The ferry docked at 9am (10 hours ahead of Saskatchewan time). They offered a free shuttle bus to the city centre that I was happy to take. On the bus I met up with 2 guys, one from the US and one from Japan. Sure enough, they were going to the same hostel as me, so we set out to find it together. After walking in a couple circles we found the Cuba Hostel. I stayed in a 10 bed mixed dorm room.

With the limited time, I got settled and went out to start seeing the city. First impression was that it was very old looking. Then you walk around the corner to find this magnificent building.

The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, constructed from 1883-1907.
Built in memory of Alexander II: Ruler of Russia from 1855 until his assassination in 1881.

I continued to walk around the town.. and I got a bit lost. I found it difficult to navigate my way around because my map was in English but the street signs were in Russian.

I stumbled upon the New Michael Palace, which was built from 1857 -1862.

After an afternoon of exploration, I met up with my friend from the US, Trevor. We went out for dinner. Then to a couple pubs where we enjoyed some good Russian beers.

Helsinki, Finland Day 4 and last

Monday Aug. 27/12

Feeling much better today!

I started with the Helsinki Cathedral.  It is Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral, built in 1917. Beautiful.

I walked to the local ferry terminal where I took a 20 minute boat ride across to the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress.

The fortress was constructed when Finland was a part of the Kingdom of Sweden in 1748. In 1788, the fortress served as a base in the war between Sweden and Russia.

The whole island is dedicated to preserving this fortress so it was really neat to walk around and explore it.




Of course I found the military museum and had to go in.

1937 German gun

Basically, Sweden was power house from 1700-1721.
Then Russia came and kicked some ass in 1809; therefore, Finland was broken from Sweden and annexed to Russia.
In 1917, Finland declared independence, which was followed by a small civil war.

1940 Ford M40, V8

The Winter War from 1939 - 1940: the Soviet Union attacked on 2 occasions and Finland was forced to withdrawal. The Soviet Union feared the involvement of the French and British thus The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed in 1940, which resulted in territorial losses for Finland.

Finland then allied with Germany and in 1941 the Continuation War broke out when Germany attacked the Soviet Union, with Finland fighting by their sides. This war ended in 1944 with more signing of peace treaty's.
As a result, Finland remained neutral in the Cold War (1970-1980's).

That's what I got from it. It was hard not to be distracted by all the big guns.

I spent the entire afternoon walking around the beautiful fortress.


In the evening, one of Fernando's friends was going out for a "girls night," so I tagged along. 1 Euro cider's all night long. Not quite as good as beer but they still get you drunk. We danced at the club and had a great night.

Tuesday Aug. 28/12

Had a lazy day. Spent most of my time getting my things together and packed.

At 7pm, I boarded the Princess Maria ferry to St. Petersburg, Russia. It was an overnight trip.
I had to take this ferry in particular because I didn't actually get a visa to get into Russia. This ferry deal allows you to stay in St. Petersburg for 72 hours visa free. The only loophole.

On the boat, I was sharing a room with 3 other people. And to my surprise, there was a Dutch lady already sleeping there when I went to put my things away.. and she was naked! All 3 of my roommates turned out to be Dutch, naked sleepers. The trip was uneventful otherwise.

Helsinki, Finland

Friday Aug. 24/12

Arrived in Helsinki via the train in the afternoon. I met up with my host, Fernando. Fernando is originally from Columbia. He lived in Australia for 6 years and has now been in Finland for 5 years. He is some sort of important accountant.

Fernando has a fairly big 3 bedroom apartment, very close to the train station and city centre. He was hosting 2 other girls from Switzerland as well. So I met them and then we all went to the shop to get some groceries for supper. Fernando cooked up spaghetti. Later, he took me for a walk around the city. We stopped at an Australian bar for a welcome beer.


Saturday Aug. 25/12

Today was the Australian football finals. Fernando's team from Helsinki was playing in the gold medal match against Turku (West of Helsinki).
I went with him in the morning and helped set up the beer tent. First was the bronze medal game. It took some time to catch onto the rules.. it's like rugby, soccer, football mixed. By the time Fernando's team was playing I had the hang of it. There is a guy on his team from Saskatoon, which was super cool.. because most people have never even heard of Saskatchewan.

Back Row, 3rd from right: Micheal Huck (Saskatoon)
Front Row, 3rd from left: Fernando Leon 

Helsinki Heatseekers won! It was great! And the celebration after was even better!
We had some grill and some beers.. then back at Fernando's more beer. Then to a pub followed by a club followed by another club :) and many more beers! I met tons of new people, all very interested in hearing about my trip.  It was a fun night.




Sunday Aug. 26/12

Hung over. The worst I have been so far this whole trip.

I managed to shower and I thought I could power through the hangover and go see some sights still.

I tried. I went to the National Museum.

The first room was prehistoric.. I walked around and attempted to read the scripts.. but nothing was being processed. I was useless. I did manage to finish walking around the rest of the museum.. but I got very little out of it.
Then I took a short nap on the grass in the park beside the museum. At least it was nice and sunny out.

On top of the hangover, I got an infection in my leg. I got bitten by something like a week ago on my thigh and it never got better, just worse. So I got some stuff from the pharmacy but it was aching pretty bad.
I was in rough shape. So I took it easy for the rest of the evening and night.

Savonlinna, Finland

Thursday Aug.23 /12

I took an early train and arrived just before noon in Savonlinna, Finland. I was staying in a hostel there, so I checked in and put my things away. Then it was off to the famous castle.

Savonlinna is a town surrounded by lakes. I walked along the water line to the castle called, Olavinlinna. Built in the 15th century, it is the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing.  The castle is one of a kind with its thick, circular, towers that can withstand cannon fire.

Olavinlinna was purposely built surrounded by lakes and waterways, to impede Russian access. It survived several sieges by the Russians and in 1639 the town of Savonlinna was chartered.

After a thorough tour of the castle, I headed to the museum because it was included in the admission to the castle. To be honest, I don't really remember what information it had. Just that the lake seal is the animal they are known for. And on the second floor of the museum it had some funky art, which I actually enjoyed. By Soile Yli-Mayryn.




They also had a ship exhibit behind the museum building. So I toured 2 ships.

The Mikko is a steam barge ship built in 1914. This wooden steam boat has a top speed of 6 knots (which I think is only like 11km/hr).

The Steam Schooner Salma was built in 1874 and has a top speed of 7.5 knots.


After touring the ships, I just wondered around town.

Later in the night, I went out to a pub for a couple of beers. Met some nice people to chat with, then called it a night.