Back in Tallinn, Estonia

Friday Sept. 14 /12

Arrived in Tallinn very early in the morning. Harry picked me up from the bus station and carried my large backpack for me back to his place.
Harry had the day off work and we both went back to sleep for a few extra hours.

That afternoon we went to Museum of Occupation.

It opened in 2003 and is dedicated to the 1940-1991 period when the country was occupied by the Soviet Union, then Nazi Germany, and then again by the Soviet Union.

It was full of different videos and stories about how the people in Estonia were affected and how they fought for freedom. It was pretty interesting.

There was a volleyball tournament that Estonia was competing in for the weekend. So we joined up with some of Harry's friends and watched Eesti in action. The fans were loud and cheerful.. just as they had been in the basketball game, drums and chants. They won best out 5 of games against Israel.

Afterwards, we went out to a pub/ restaurant called, Chicago, for some food and a couple drinks.


Saturday Sept. 15 /12

Continuing to explore the city of Tallinn, Harry and I went to the Lennusadam Seaplane Harbour Museum.

This submarine, the EML Lembit, was launched in 1936.

It was mainly used in military exercises.

When the Soviet Union occupied Estonia in 1940, the Lembit served in the Red Banner Baltic Fleet of the Soviet Navy.

The Lembit conducted 3 attacks in WWII, torpedoing and sinking other ships in battle.

 After the war, Lembit was used as a training vessel.

In 1992 it was handed over to the Estonian Maritime Museum. It remained afloat until 2011.

Diving Depth: up to 90 meters
Speed while submerged: 8.5 knots

We got to walk through the submarine.

Saw the tiny bunk beds the marines had to sleep on.

I am in the bathroom of the submarine in this picture.

This museum was full of other exhibits as well. It had boats, guns, tanks, air crafts...

The hover craft.

Next to this museum is the Patarei prison museum.

The facility served as a prison from 1920-2002.

It was very large, dark, dirty, creepy and old looking.

Three or four levels of prison.

This level had the prison hospital

Definitely wouldn't want to get treated or work in this kind of environment.

Stingy, rusty bunkbeds.

In each cell there were 16 sleeping spaces that often had over 30 prisoners waiting for their trial.

Hundreds of prisoners were executed in this prison. Either by hanging, poison or gun shot.

The execution room was painted brown and red so the blood stains would blend in.

 The last execution took place in 1991.

It was too dark to get a picture of the execution room.

It was an eventful day.
I don't remember what we did Saturday night; only remember that I emailed my sister, wishing her a happy birthday.