First time in Tallinn, Estonia + Silliness in Sweden

Places covered in this post: Tallinn, Estonia; and Stockholm, Sweden.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Today was my first of seven trips that I would make to a place that quickly became my favorite destination in the Baltic: Tallinn, Estonia.  Before this day, I had heard of Estonia once.  It was referenced in the movie Encino Man staring Brendan Fraiser, Sean Astin, and Pauly Shore.  Astin, and Shore make up a cover for Fraiser claiming that he's from Estonia.  Probably because he's a caveman, and something to do with stone?  Well, seriously, when people mentioned Estonia, I thought of this, and how you shouldn't go weezing the ju-uice.

But all that changed when I realized that Estonia is freaking awesome!

Why?  Because it's medieval, and it's still in tact, and they know it, are proud of it, and they play it up.  Heck yeah!

For example, above is the Old Hansa restaurant.  This place has a medieval menu and serving wenches!  From the decor to the utensils, they world hard to give you a medieval eating experience.  (Place was noted on this trip, and I came back with friends on our last day here.)

 

A Peppersack

Here is a pepper sack.

Walking towards the center of town

Like most medieval towns, this one is circular, and after walking through what seems like a level 2 circle maze, you can eventually reach the square in the center of the town.










The square in the middle of town was flanked by several modern restaurants, but in the spirit of how things were, it wasn't long before one of our friends from the Old Hansa climbed up on something tall, and called everyone around him to go eat at his place.

Here ye!  Here ye

Square in the center of town

On our way out of the town, we passed by the Old Hansa again where I stopped to get a better look at the cart in front of the building.

Sweet Nuts

Above: Roasted almonds with brown sugar sold just outside the Old Hansa by a serving wench.
Below: Rain gutter drains in the style of dragons.

A dragon, a dragon, I think I saw a dragon.

Since it was raining, and since we knew we'd be coming back, we walked out of the Old Town and crossed a park and walked into the shopping mall.  (I remember spending many days looking for acetone because Marcy forgot to bring a bottle with her, and it turned out that no where in the entire Baltic does anyone sell pure acetone!  It's always mixed with something else.  How strange. Anyway, this was one of those days where we spent a good half hour looking for acetone.)  And wouldn't you know it, but the first place we past on the left is a Mexican restaurant!  We thought, "Score!" and we ran inside, and waited to be seated.  A few minutes later, and some people walked in from the outside, passed us, and then just sat down anywhere they wanted.  So, we learned something just then, and went and sat down somewhere, and a waitress appeared!  (This same trick did NOT work later in Helsinki, but that's another story).  Anyway, we were happy at the prospect of finally eating some Mexican food again, so I got a beef burrito and Marcy got a chicken burrito.

Yum! Wait, what?

Upon inspection we discovered what seemed to be no better than hormel chili, pace picante sauce, cubed chicken, MAYOFREAKINGNAISE, and a slice of american cheese.  Nothing in the above list of ingredients seems even remotely Mexican.

FAIL!

 The moral of the story: Don't order Mexican food outside of America.  Just don't.



Monday, July 16, 2012

Today was another embarkation day in Stockholm.  Meaning, only half the amount of time for fun stuff, and the rest of the time I'm greeting our new guests.  In fact, from here on out, the rest of our days in Stockholm are all embarkation days.  So, I'm glad that Marcy and I had our grand Ikea adventure already because there just was never enough time do something like that again.  So, I took to putting my tennis shoes on and running as far into the city as I could, and just seeing what I could see before the time ran out.

He's actually pointing at Russia.  They're not friends.

So, I managed to run all the way to a park with a statue of this guy when all of a sudden two other performers from the ship, Dustin and Courtney, walk right in front of me with their relatives, who happen to live in Sweden.  I was going to say hi, but I was too late, and they were out of earshot so I did the next best thing.

The wild Cunninghams have been spotted in Stockholm!

I played National Geographic and decided to stalk the wild Cunninghams back to the ship.

Where ya goin' guys?

It's important to keep your distance at first.  This ensures that you get plenty of pictures before you are discovered.  You also need some time to build up the confidence to get closer while remaining unseen.

Using different levels of elevation, and different pathways is also recommended.  Who wants to only see the backside of who you're stalking?

Using reflections is also another great way to remain undetected.  I think National Geographic could learn a thing or two from me.

The Wild Cunninghams are approaching their natural habitat.

We've walked about 15 minutes now, and there is our ship in the background.  (The one on the right).  I know the ship looks close, but don't be fooled.  We still have to walk much farther to the right to take the bridge over the water.

Victory is mine!

Yes!  I made it this close before I was seen!  That's like a win in my book.

The moral of this story:  Life is what you make it.  You can play new games every day when you're the one who makes them up.

Sewer Statue FTW!