Europtrip post 2 - Tallinn, Estonia
So when we last left our wee travels I had just got off the boat in Estonia. First I have to mention an interesting fact I forgot to mention last time, about the toilets of Finland (I’m weird like that but I swear it has a point). Ya’ll should know by now that I have a fascination with them. Anyway, when I was in the bar in Finland with Pirkko, I went to the toilet and it had this AWESOME flusher, which you had to PULL UP to make it flush. I LOLed for a good five minutes, coz that’s just awesome. And then I had to push the soap dispenser thing, and of course that was a tube that you squished and soap thence came out. IT WAS SO WEIRD. WHY ARE YOU FINS SO WEIRD? And here is the point: in Estonia, we couldn’t flush the toilet paper town the toilet (at least in the hostel, but I’m getting the impression that most of Eastern Europe is this way …) for whatever reason. CRAZY, AMIRITE? Instead we had to put it in a little bin off to the side, and I was like D: DX DDX! EWW THAT’S SO GROSS, WHO WOULD WANT TO CLEAN THAT?? Though there was nothing weird about the flushers that I saw there …
Right so once I got off the boat I looked around rather scared and confused looking, because I didn’t know what to do. So I decided going inside the terminal building thing would be smart, and I found out from the lady at the Money Exchange counter that Estonia has its own currency. My reaction: HOSHIT! And ZOMG THAT IS SO AWESOME. XD; I obviously needed money to get on the bus, so I asked to change the 10€ I had into Estonian Krown’s. AND I GOT 151 KROWNS. LIKE ZOMG WTF IS UP WITH THAT EXCHANGE RATE! :O \o/ so I had a spazz moment for one second there, but was smart enough to ask where the bus 2 stand was and thankfully it was just up the road and “I couldn’t miss it”. Which I didn’t, thankfully (though the bus had to drive over to us, but thankfully someone was waiting where I needed to be, so I didn’t get lost or retardedly walk over to the stationary bus, like a retard. xD and then I went to go get on at the front of the bus, so I could buy a ticket … (which would apparently cost 10-20Krowns), but he didn’t open the door! So I was just like … o_O wot? And got on anyway, and just looked around with this perplexed look on my face until I realised no one was going to care and sat back to enjoy the free ride. :D
Thankfully in Estonia the buses are AWESOME and have this wee screen that tells you which stop is which, so when mine came off I jumped off all excited like, because HELLO, I’D GOTTEN WHERE I NEED TO BE. Of course this would be the last time that I did shit right, because once I exited the bus I found this street map and decided that of course I was going in the right direction, and promptly went the wrong way. XDDD; I walked for a bit until I got to this park and decided that I should probably ask someone or at least check my directions again, and after an unsuccessful query to a skater kid, this lovely older lady walking her dog came to my rescue. Well, I kind of went “OMG CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME, WHERE THE HELL AM I??? DDX” and she bent down to me (who was on my laptop and about to break my foot with the heavy load resting on it) and told me I was nowhere near the place I was pointing to. X_X;
BUT! DOG WALKING LADY TO THE RESCUE. She told me that she would show me and she ended up walking me all the way to the “Hotel Baron”, which is through a DIFFERENT PARK (the one I was meant to go to) and down this wee cobbled street and about a kilometre or so from where we were. AND SHE WALKED WITH ME, CARRYING MY LAPTOP, THE WHOLE WAY. She even kind of gave me a guided tour! It was so fantastic, she pointed out the Opera house and the National Theatre and told me bits about the park (DX that I can’t remember right now!) and how the shopping mall area that we had to pass through extended over both sides of the road, UNDERGROUND (where we went) and then up the sky rise buildings we could see. Kind of epic, yes. But then once we got nearer where my hostel was, I felt kind of bad for her coz of all the drunk loiters that were on the street, coz apparently it was a place for drinking? IDK, but she gave me my laptop as soon as I was in front of the Hotel Baron and went back to her place. SO THANK YOU LADY, WHO WAS SO NICE WITH WALKING HER DOG AFTER SHE’D SPENT A LOVELY DAY IN THE COUNTRY SIDE. YOU ROCK SUPER HARD, YO.
So then I had to find the “Vana Tom hostel, which might sound easy but no; of course shit has to be made difficult. It turns out that it was down a WEEEEEE tiny archway, where halfway down you would climb these stairs and you come across the Reception on the second floor for Vana Tom, so I trudged in. thankfully the lovely girl on shift could speak some English and showed me all the prices for the dorms and I ended up getting the 6 person Dorm (as opposed to an 8 or 10 person dorm) for only 10 KROWNS MORE which is less than 1€ so HELLO, OF COURSE I CHOSE THAT OPTION. And also another reason was because there was only one other person in that room, so it was basically to ourselves. XD;
They had some weird rules in this hostel; there was only one key for the whole room, so if no one was in the room you would have to bring the key to reception for keeping. I got my linen given to me and went off to my room, which was through a FUCKING UNLIT CORRIDOR (;_; SCARY!) and up an UNLIT STAIRCASE (;_; DANGEROUS!) and through some PARTIALLY LIT CORRIDOR to my room. The nice Canadian lady unlocked the door and I knew she was Canadian from the second she said “I can’t get the key oUT” and I LOLed and was all “oh, you’re Canadian!” XDDD;; and we had a great old chat that lasted most of the rest of that night. XD; we talked about heaps of stuff; important bits were her talking about travelling Russia and how hard it was and that doing it on your own is a REALLY BAD IDEA and I have so much respect and awe for her after what she told me it’s like. People reckon I’m brave and oh-so-bloody-wonderful for doing what I’m doing “at my age” but there’s no way I’d do that! I couldn’t handle going to a country where they don’t speak English and are unwilling to help you and everything is all written in a different language and nothing is phonetic; I just couldn’t cope with the stress. She even said to me “you felt as though the only safe place was your hostel - you couldn’t wait to get back there at the end of the day - it was like your haven of comfort”. See now that, I couldn’t do. I’d be one of these people that would go on a tour because then EVERYTHING is organised for me and I never have to worry about trying to get from the train station to the hostel and having to try and coerce people into helping me, etc. but this lady did and I am amazed. She did say in hindsight though, that it was probably best to do a tour. She recommended me to this tour company that runs out of Beijing, called “Monkey Tours” I think, and apparently they are pretty amazing because they are absolutely tailor made to fit what you want to do and you travel with like minded people. So that’s pretty cool, I’ll have to remember that when I’m going to Russia! XD
Anyway, so that night I wrote up the MERLIN!SQUEEFEST [whilst rewatching the episode] and more about Finland and ended up going to bed REALLY LATE D: so fuck me. Getting up the next morning was so bloody painful, coz my body clock was still on UK time and at 9am it was still 7am and I haven’t gotten up that early since I had to go to Collectormania. T_T I eventually rolled out of bed after four or so unsuccessful attempts to escape the warmth of my covers and went down to breakfast, which was actually in this adorable wee café down the street and off to the side somewhere, called “EAT”. I ate a bit of everything (except the rye bread! D: what is wrong with me, I miss that stuff so much!!) And felt like I was going to explode afterwards. But anyway, I went back to brush my teeth and kind of organise myself for that day, talked to the lady some more (who was going to work that day! She’s an English grader for some international English test and she earnt money!! :O how awesome!)
I decided to set off in the direction that I had come last night, to get some pictures of the things that the nice lady had pointed out to me. I went through the shopping mall as well, and wouldn’t you know it? They had a Tourist Information centre in there! (Though it was basically just a booth). I asked what kind of tours they had, and they said there was a walking tour and the standard Bus City Tour thing, and gave me some flyers and a map showing where both leave from. I kind of debated for the rest of the day whether or not I should go on these tours, but it didn’t matter coz of what happens later on!
Ok, so after walking around [unknowingly in this big circle] for ages I ended up out at the harbour, saw this massive church tower thing and started heading toward it, passed a bunch of market stalls on the way and got sidetracked looking at the COLOURS OF THEIR GAY SCARFS AND SHIRTS. NO SERIOUSLY, THEY WERE KNITTED RAINBOW COLOURED CLOTHES. THE AWESOME DOES NOT EVEN COMPUTE. And if that wasn’t cool enough, they were selling the MOST AWESOME BENIE SCARF’S YOU’VE EVER SEEN!!! I wanted one sooooooo badly because it reminded me of the awesome one Nina (Marius’s sister, from Germany, ya) had and I almost crumbled just because the hat is so cool. SERIOUSLY. FRIGGIN. COOL. When I go back, that is so the first thing I am going to buy. And one of their gay jumpers. xDDD;
Anyway, following all these street markets and squealing like a girl at some girls on the street selling sugar coated fried peanuts [or something] THAT WERE DRESSED LIKE SOMETHING ELSE. IDEK, BUT IT WAS SO AWESOME AND THEY HAD LIKE THE OLDEN TIMES COAT THAT JUST GOES OVER YOUR SHOULDERS AND THEY WERE ALL IN RED AND ZOMG SOOOOOOOOOO PRETTY!!!! Just fantastic, let me tell you. But yes, after getting distracted by all the shiny, I’d ended up pretty much around the corner from where I’d been this morning! And wouldn’t you know it, it was the Old Town. so I took a look around Market Square and at the Town Hall and “ooooooooh”ed and “ahhhhhhhhhh”ed at all the tall pretty coloured buildings with their cute rectangular windows (IDEK, OK?? THAT + RED TILED ROOFS = MY ULTIMATE FANTASY HOUSE. SHUT UP).
Just off the square, in one of the side streets, there was this souvenir (?) show which sold a stack of amber-centric jewellery - it was kind of weird to walk into, since EVERYTHING was YELLOW. LIKE REALLY YELLOW. And then on other shelves you had the MOST ADORABLE CANDLE HOLDERS YOU’VE EVER SEEN. THEY WERE HOUSES. THAT YOU COULD PUT CANDLES IN. AND THE LIGHT CAME SHINING OUT OF THE LITTLE WINDOWS IN THE HOUSES. ZOMG I CANNOT EVEN, I WANTED ONE SO BADLY. HOW FANTASTIC WOULD THAT SHIT HAVE BEEN, TO HAVE IN YOUR HOUSE AND *KNOW* THAT IT WAS A TALLINN TOWN HALL REPLICATE, SHINING AWAY WITH YOUR CANDLES AS IT FLICKERS LIKE OLDEN TIMES. ZOMGZOMGZOMG.
*ahem* once spazzing was completed, I felt feeling sad because I couldn’t buy anything :( *sadpandas* but happened upon some rather good luck by the way of an Australian woman, whom I met in the Information centre not 10 minutes later, when I went there asking for some help about Eurolines tickets and getting to Lithuania. We had a really good chat about what she was doing (travelling with her son and daughter, who was getting married! And they had just gone through Russia and it nearly killed them and so they were relaxing in Estonia for a month! \o/ they were letting an apartment and just enjoying the ~medieval feel~ of the country) and I asked what she’d recommend I’d do, so she pointed me toward the “Olde Hansa” restaurant/store thing, since it was super olden day time’s themed (*SQUEEGASM!!!!!*) and the Apothecary (which is the oldest chemist in Europe which is still running today) and to go look around Toompea, which has some epic views of the city. So she shoved me off in that direction and went off to get her hair coloured before she had to leave Estonia in a couple of days. xD;
So I made my way up these steps and climbing streets, happening upon this like … battlement wall? Or something? I dunno, but it looked old and important. Fuck me for not doing a tour, I guess. But behind that there was this chick with an ARROW FIRING CONTEST SET UP!!! ZOMG AWESOME but I couldn’t afford it (D:) so I kept going until I got to this ~AMAAAAAAZING~ church, which was opposite the parliament building (equally impressive). I took my happy arse-hat time before going into the church (I guess I thought for some stupid reason that I would have to pay? Or that I wouldn’t be allowed? IDK, Westminster and St Pauls have corrupted me. You evil London bastards!) and then saw the “DO NOT TAKE PHOTOS” sign. And it made me go D: super sad face because the church was ~soooooooooooooooooo beautiful~. So Stealthy Sme took some rather dodgy Stealthy photos, because I’m obviously like that. XDD; I’m absolutely certain someone knew what I was doing, but I never got in trouble for it, so oh well. XD;
Once outside I went for a walk around this wee gardens that was right beside the parliament and this big tower thing (DX I can’t remember its proper name! it was part of the original castle, that’s all I know!) and got some rather tree-covered shots of the whole city. Side note: apparently Estonia is one of the greenest cities in the world, something like 100sq metres of park/Greenland to every person in the city. And it totally fucking shows, because there are trees EVERYWHERE. And I mean EEEEEEEEVERRRRRRYYYYYYYYWWWWHHHHHHHEEEEEEERRRRRRREEEEE. It’s cool though, it made it feel like much less of a city and more … homey like. It reminded me of a more medieval, busier, greener, touristic Bowen. XD it was nice though. But anyway, back to Toompea. I then proceeded to watch my map very carefully and managed to find all of the Panoramic viewing platforms around this part of the city (coz it’s raised up high like that). I took some really lovely pictures of the lovely city, just as shame that I had no idea what half of them where! FML.
One thing I did note though (Australian lady told me) that there was this pond that you could see from one of the viewing platforms, which is the only remaining part of the moat that once surrounded the castle.
Though walking through the district I happened across quite a number of parliament buildings a few other historically significant ones - you could tell which ones they were because they would have wee plagues up on the wall telling you about it. XD; and also, I saw one of my favourite graffiti’s to date - it was “RETROFUTURISM” in funky green writing, with the arrows pointing towards a rubbish bin. XDDD AWESOME REBELS ARE AWESOME! LOLOLOL!
One more thing I find super awesome: the different coloured buildings. Seriously, all of them are like green/yellow/orange/pink/purple/red/some variation thereof. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s brilliant! Why aren’t more buildings painted up like that!??! It’s totally retro!
Ok, coming down I made it back to the castle wall thing that I mentioned earlier, just took the other side of that coming down. And I stumbled onto “LONG ROAD” which was right beside “SHORT ROAD” apparently, and on Long Road they have a restaurant called “LONG SHOE” with a long shoe made out of iron hanging from the building. XDDDDD ILU ESTONIA. THIS IS WHAT TOTALLY MADE ME SMILE. And then I found the ~chocolate shop~ of evil doom, because I could not resist. xD; and it was really cheap as well! It was in this awesomely styled building that was YELLOW and there were heaps of different types of chocolates inside - handmade and Estonia chocolate. I ended up buying a mix bag of the handmade chocolates and a massive bar of white Estonian chocolate WITH BLUEBERRIES. oh yes, that’s right, I said WHITE CHOCOLATE. WITH BLUEBERRIES. and I’m talking one massive bar here people - it puts the Finnish sized ones to shame! And it only cost about 100Krowns, less than £7!!!!!!!!! I bought less handmade chocolates than that when I was in South London for that much! *squeeful over chocolate happiness* and it’s really nice too. I’ve almost eaten all the handmade chocolates and OM NONNOM YUM.
Anyway, more walking and looking and I tried to get into the Apteck but it was closed because its Monday. D: so instead I decided to eat, coz I was sooooooooooooo hungry. I ended up at this cute café (THAT HAD CUTE WEE BIRDS FLYING AROUND MY TABLE!! :D!) right beside the apothecary, with my Estonia half beer and a Salmon sandwich of delicious awesome. And of course I had to have cake, so I had this CARAMEL and CRANBERRY cake. Yes, I was like VTF IS THIS? COMBINATION FAIL, SURELY? But no, it was really nice. It had cranberry on the bottom, that cream cheese filling (like a sweet version of the one I had in Finland) and a layer of caramel on top. I had to go inside to pay though, which was something else! Inside was like a hovel or something - SO MEDEIVAL!) with a low lying ceiling and arches everywhere and just craziness. I loved it! And I also used the toilet, which had a LATCH. OF AWESOME. And I gave them a euro for their troubles, coz they had a box asking for it. XD;
I’d spent quite a while eating, which was so good. I was nice and rested after, so I could go back to more sightseeing! :D I stopped first at this old door right across from the café; it was something like the oldest something in Tallinn. Anyway, doesn’t matter because I found the Olde Hansa store and went batshit crazy inside, because they had olden style clothes and olden style cups and mugs and glasses with baskets for sale and the saleswoman was wearing OLD STYLE PEASANT CLOTHING. ZOMFG, AWESOME, Y/Y?!
Afterwards I went to the Museum of Torture Instruments, since I had heard it was worth a look. And oh my god, was it ever. I got there at like, 5pm as it was, and spent the next hour going through and reading everything about each thing in this room. It wasn’t all that much, sure, but such amazing stuff … torture back in the old days was so imaginative! I didn’t realise they did even half that stuff! They had the stocks and that muscle pulling machine (though half the time the torturer would just slice the persons limbs to hasten the persons muscles being ripped from his bones! D: DDX), but then they had a heap of other things I’d never heard of! The iron show, for one, which would be adjusted to about 3 sizes too small for your foot, and then you would have to walk around the market square, or the “Break Knee” thing which was just a bunch of spikes that would be screwed into you, just under your kneecaps until it shattered (I think). *shudder* then there was this rack that you would be LITERALLY BURNT ALIVE over, and a pointed arrow rod that would be shoved up your privates (you were lowered onto it) and ooooooh god the sympathy pain. Though possibly the worst thing I saw was “The Hand Saw” - hardly sounds as bad as “Guided Cradle” or “The Thumbscrews”, right? WELL YOU ARE WRONG SIR. Let me read for you the inscription that I photographed. [Engrish corrections made in brackets]
The Hand Saw
There isn’t much to say except that it probably inflicted the worst of deaths, even worse [than the] stake. It consisted, essentially, of a normal two-people used to saw a person put upside down with feet tied up in two [places].
The position itself, favouring the flowing of the blood to the brain, kept the victim conscious for an incredibly long time.
The instrument was used for many types of crimes but it was especially employed with homosexuals and witches.
The bit it fails to mention, which you can see in a picture above the inscription is that THE SAW CUTS YOU OPEN, STARTING FROM YOUR ARSE AND GOING DOWN YOUR SPINE. WHILE YOU ARE ALIVE. AND BEING SAWED ALIVE. WITH A SAW. DID I MENTION IT’S A FUCKING SAW, PEOPLE?! WHILE. YOU. ARE. STILL. ALIVE! X__X DDX
So after that I went back to the hostel coz I was beat, and I wanted to use the internet. Earlier I had used it to check up some things about getting to Lithuania (I went to the travel agent and asked her about getting a ticket and turns out that getting a Eurobus Europass is a dumb idea, coz their buses only leave on certain days and you can only go on certain routes, so it’s basically useless). But now I wanted to chat and upload pictures (fuck you facebook!) and just chill. I fully intended on going down to the Olde Hansa for some food around 7-8 o’clock, but I never did get down there … XD; I actually wasn’t hungry, if you can believe it, and I just used the internet until about 10:30 before going up to shower and bed. And this time I went to bed rather early, after only having read 4 pages of “Master and Commander” (and wondering how that book can possibly get interesting, coz the writing style is possibly going to kill me).
Nevertheless, getting up the next morning was the plague on toast. I managed it after a while and went down to breakfast, where my roommate was still drinking coffee. So I joined her and we talked a bit about stuff before she went off to finish packing. She’s smart - she makes sure to get to places super early and check her ticket 10 times to make sure she turns up in time. Not like me and my failure to turn up to check-in on time. >_>;
First thing I did was going into the Town Square and getting my bus ticket. And wouldn’t you know it, the cute guy that utterly ridiculous GREEN elf like costume was selling the sugar coated peanuts this morning. I grinned at him on my way past, and he was like “good morning” and smiled and all I could think in my mind was “ZOMG HE IS SOOOOOO CUTE!!!!” and then I stood there like an idiot for a few minutes, debating if I should go up and talk to him or something. In the end I decided to ask how old they were, because I was kinda curious since they looked so young, and why the hell they were out selling stuff to tourists. But I didn’t ask the guy, I went up to his partner/college (who looked REALLY PRETTY, I might add) and asked how old they were, and she was 28!! 28, and she looked my age. I wanted to cry. And then I asked about the guy, and he was 19! (ohh, bad Sme, hands off) and zomg his accent was seriously the cutest thing you’ve ever heard in your life. The girl didn’t know so she asked him in Estonian how old he was and he answered and then turned to me and said “19. Why do you ask?” and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzooooooooomg, my heart totally did not stutter. I babbled something about how I just wanted to know coz they look really young and I was surprised. And the lady was nice enough to say thank you and I smiled and they smiled and I walked away. And all I could think of - it was like a repetitive running commentary in my head - was “OH HAI THERE, THINLY VEILED EXCUSE TO TALK TO THE HAWT FOREIGNER GUY. LOL SO OBVIOUS, SELF” *dies from shame*
Anyway, ticket was got and I skipped past them again but didn’t talk to them (not for lack of trying ~LOL shut up, he was adorable) and instead decided that I would in fact go on this City Sightseeing Bus Tour. However, there was a problem in finding it, because the city centre of Tallinn is SO RETARDED and makes absolutely no sense, and I couldn’t figure out where the bus was (thankfully I saw the redness from a distance and got on no worries), but it wasn’t helped by the fact that they all drive on the other side of the road there, so trying to figure out where a bus would be parked based on that, was no fun. In the end I found it though, so no worries.
It went on three routes - I can’t remember all that much but I remember going through “Kadriorg” and the guidewomans voice said that it was thought to be one of the most interesting/beautiful in the whole city. Its where Czar Paul I’s Summer Palace was located with all its fancy buildings surrounding it for the other nobles connected with the Czar, and so it’s all very designer house like. But there are some really ancient buildings and they are doing renovations and such constantly, but sometimes they can’t on these rundown buildings because there is a problem with who actually owns the property and people don’t want to do anything with it until that’s solved. There was also a massive park in the area, which was open to the public (as it has been since the day it opened).
We went through some forest and by the Song Festival Ground, which is the most weird looking building I’ve ever seen (ok, that’s not true, but for a concert venue it was weird). Every year they have a afternoon where hundreds of thousands of Estonian’s gather and sing. It’s something to do with the fact that there are only 1,000,000 Estonian’s in the world, so every year they make their voices heard by singing as loud as they can. Unfortunately I didn’t get many good pictures because there were so many trees in the way. I guess that’s a good thing (and Tallinn is almost considered a green city or something, because there’s like 100sq feet of greenery to every person in the city, or something) but it makes trying to take photos really annoying! (especially since you can’t just get off the bus and take the pictures and then keep going) but oh wellz
We circled round the Song ground to go up the main road (along the shoreline, so that was pretty cool) and along the sides of the motorway they had these walls that were made out of limestone (I can’t remember if they were manmade or not - I’m pretty sure they were natural - because they were made over the centuries with the different layers and each layer is distinct and apparently it’s easy to see that). I had a geek out over the stupid limestone, because I’m retarded like that, and all I wanted to do was get off the bus and touch it. XDD;; because of course that would be the logical action >_>;;; Along the there was also a lot of big apartment style buildings, and I think that’s where most of the population of the city lived - about a third lived there. the guide said something about that’s where about a third of the city’s forest was as well, I think, because once we passed the Orlov Castle there was this river that passed through that forest … and I can’t remember why it was special.
We were led then past the botanical gardens - which is an awesome building, btw, but I didn’t get any good pictures of it! D: - and then onto the TV tower. I believe it’s the tallest building/structure in Tallinn (and I would have thought therefore Estonia?) and it was only built after they gained independence from the Soviet union, I believe, and they are really proud of that fact. I’m sure there’s more information but I’ve forgotten it D: anyway, we then started heading back to the town then. We passed the Pirita Convent Ruins and the Harbour (where there was a monument to all those that have died at sea, or in a particularly bad storm as well as a monument that was meant to represent tangled wires - and a guy that died attempting to drop out of a plane and his parachute didn’t open - something to that effect).
Nearer the town there is an angel statue monument that is special for one reason or another, and past this awesome looking church building (seriously, it looks retarded - I wouldn’t have known it to be a church if they hadn’t told me!) then we went out to the Port Terminals - where I was dropped off when I came into Tallinn. I was told various things about it in each of the tours, mainly that the fisherman used to live really close to the river’s edge and that they would be on call so that every time a ship came in people would rock up to help unload it and repair it if needed, etc. there’s also been restrictions on the amount of fisherman over time, which is why they would have to wait until a big shipment came in and then they would also rent out their warehouses for storage. There was also a church in the immediate area, which I had a right bitch getting a picture of. And I don’t even remember why it’s so special now! Something about it looking after the fisherman as they went out to sea, I guess. The bus also visited the other terminals, and explained that once upon a time, there was only one waft. Yet now there is a whole bunch and they have to be sectioned off between passenger and cargo and the Russian Czar was the one that made all this happen because he dreamed of having a bigarse navy and his son also continued his work of developing the Port.
Once we got back to where we started, the next “line” of the tour was ready to begin, so I didn’t move from my seat. We went down a different route this time - out past the Toompea Castle and toward to the Open Air museum (which looks really good, btw, but I couldn’t go in it for lack of time DX). In the area there is also this massive shopping arena that is named after an Italian word/phrase and it seems as though a lot of Finnish people are coming out to shop there (since its cheaper for them to shop in Estonia than Finland) and it’s also a special shopping place that’s well know, apparently. We also went past the Zoo and the National Art Museum before going back past places I’d already gone on the other tour. One amusing thing I did find out the guide though, was that for no reason at all, sometimes a couple of sentences or an area would be done by a guy (when the usual guide person is a woman). It made me LOL several times, coz it was weird to just all of a sudden have a guy speaking to you, when only a few seconds before a woman was explaining the history of the district to you.
We got back a little earlier this time, about 15min before the next bus was due to go, so I went off in search of a toilet. Unfortunately I would have no such luck, because the public WC needed me to have 3 Krowns (lol, 20pence) but I didn’t have that!! D: so I ran off to the shopping mall nearby, hoping that they would let me toilet for free … but no, same story there. D: in the end I went back to the bus and just hoped I would be fine (I was, interestingly) but I was also hungry by that point and contemplating running into Hesburger (hehehe, Finnish fast food chain!) and grabbing something. But it was almost time for the next bus line to go, so I didn’t. More fool me coz I sat around waiting for at least 10 minutes after it was meant to start, for whatever bloody reason. Anyway, this next tour took us around the town area, talking about Freedom Square (which has changed names a lot over the centuries, for example when the Russians had taken over it was called something else and was where they celebrated their conquest of Estonia every year, and then when the Estonians got their independence, it was changed to Victory Square in honour of that victory).
Anyway, after that finished I rushed back to the hostel [used the toilet] and then grabbed my stuff and headed off toward to the bus station. I ended up going to the WRONG FUCKING ONE, because I fail at reading maps (clearly) so after walking for about a Km in the wrong direction, I headed back toward the city centre and thanked my lucky stars that I had given myself at least an hour to get to the bus station. So I somehow managed to figure out where the fuck I had to get the number 4 tram from, which would take me right near the bus station (thankfully I listened to the woman that told me this before, and I also managed to get myself a ticket at the Kiosk, even though I didn’t have to show it in the end). The tram pulled up just as I got there and I frantically signalled/yelled at the woman driving it, asking if it would go to the bus station. Thankfully she nodded and I climbed on, somehow people made room for me. I used the handrail thing as a resting post for my heavy arse bag most of the time, so plus for that. And then the wonderful tram driver lady of awesome even pointed out when I had to get off the tram as well, pointing at the big Bus AUTOBUSSIJAM sign that was on the building and pointed out where to cross the road and everything. Even though I would have figured it out for myself, I was really grateful that she did that, because it’s nice when people do nice things. ^-^
I filed out of the tram and walked over to the station. Once I got inside I kind of had a blank “hoshit” moment, coz I had no idea where I needed to go. But there was a Eurolines office in the station so I went in and asked where I needed to go (after waiting for ages for the chick to get off the damn phone! And I was sweating and hot! NOT NICE), and got directed to the stands, which were outside. So I went up to the big “NUMBER 1” and stripped off all my bags and coats, etc to try and cool off. I listened to the Naked Scientist until the LUX BUS came up (the luxury version of the eurolines bus - I paid a little extra for the bus to Riga to have internet and drinks and a snack). It was only £6 more, so I figured the extra comfort would be good. It got there on time and there was about six of us for the whole bus, so that was good, I guess. We put our bags into the undercarriage bit (WITH TAGS!! EEK, LIKE IN THE AIRPORT. SO COOL!) And filed on, where we got a wee can of milk-soaked and fried nuts (? IDEK, but they taste good). I sat in the seat opposite to the one I was meant to be at, since there was so much extra room. I used the internet for a lot of the time, until it kind of died on me or something, but in the end it didn’t really matter.
I got into Riga at about 11pm, which was seriously annoying since the next bus (that would take me to Tallinn) wouldn’t turn up until 2am. So I had to amuse myself for three hours. Thankfully inside the bus terminal they had wifi, so I stole that and spent the whole time squealing like a piglet over Merlin. XD; it’s great coz it kept me awake, so I guess fandom is good for one thing, ne? OHOHOH - and I saw the most awesome thing in the whole world in Riga. It was a sign for the internet café, and you know what they called it? “INTERNETS”. YES, THEY CALL IT INTERNETS. OMG, I THINK I LOST MY MIND A LITTLE. RIGA IS OFFICALLY THE MOST AWESOME PLACE IN THE WORLD.
Sadly I had to leave when my bus turned up, so no more internet. And sadly it wasn’t the luxury bus like I thought, but the normal Eurolines bus. That was when I realised I’d only got the luxury version to Riga, so that shit me, as otherwise I would have taken more advantage of the hot chocolate option on the bus. But oh well, fuck me.
I slept kinda alright in the remaining time on the bus - except at about 3am we cross the border into Lithuania, I presume, coz the passport police came on board. I had no idea wtf was going on, and my sleep-addled brain couldn’t quite put the pieces together until I saw someone else get out their passport. Then I found mine and passed it over, before falling straight back to sleep. XD; and I stayed asleep until we got to Vilnius, and then I dragged my groggy arse into the terminal, where I waited for the sun to come up and kinda napped while I waited. Then I went in search of the hostel I knew to be near the station, but kind of got wrongly directed at the Map, so I went down the wrong street. In the end I stayed at the hostel on that street, coz it was really close to the bus station and I just wanted to find somewhere and that was closest, so yea. I was tired and didn’t want to carry my bags anymore, basically.
AND THAT IS THAT. LITHUANIA TO COME SHORTLY.
Right so once I got off the boat I looked around rather scared and confused looking, because I didn’t know what to do. So I decided going inside the terminal building thing would be smart, and I found out from the lady at the Money Exchange counter that Estonia has its own currency. My reaction: HOSHIT! And ZOMG THAT IS SO AWESOME. XD; I obviously needed money to get on the bus, so I asked to change the 10€ I had into Estonian Krown’s. AND I GOT 151 KROWNS. LIKE ZOMG WTF IS UP WITH THAT EXCHANGE RATE! :O \o/ so I had a spazz moment for one second there, but was smart enough to ask where the bus 2 stand was and thankfully it was just up the road and “I couldn’t miss it”. Which I didn’t, thankfully (though the bus had to drive over to us, but thankfully someone was waiting where I needed to be, so I didn’t get lost or retardedly walk over to the stationary bus, like a retard. xD and then I went to go get on at the front of the bus, so I could buy a ticket … (which would apparently cost 10-20Krowns), but he didn’t open the door! So I was just like … o_O wot? And got on anyway, and just looked around with this perplexed look on my face until I realised no one was going to care and sat back to enjoy the free ride. :D
Thankfully in Estonia the buses are AWESOME and have this wee screen that tells you which stop is which, so when mine came off I jumped off all excited like, because HELLO, I’D GOTTEN WHERE I NEED TO BE. Of course this would be the last time that I did shit right, because once I exited the bus I found this street map and decided that of course I was going in the right direction, and promptly went the wrong way. XDDD; I walked for a bit until I got to this park and decided that I should probably ask someone or at least check my directions again, and after an unsuccessful query to a skater kid, this lovely older lady walking her dog came to my rescue. Well, I kind of went “OMG CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME, WHERE THE HELL AM I??? DDX” and she bent down to me (who was on my laptop and about to break my foot with the heavy load resting on it) and told me I was nowhere near the place I was pointing to. X_X;
BUT! DOG WALKING LADY TO THE RESCUE. She told me that she would show me and she ended up walking me all the way to the “Hotel Baron”, which is through a DIFFERENT PARK (the one I was meant to go to) and down this wee cobbled street and about a kilometre or so from where we were. AND SHE WALKED WITH ME, CARRYING MY LAPTOP, THE WHOLE WAY. She even kind of gave me a guided tour! It was so fantastic, she pointed out the Opera house and the National Theatre and told me bits about the park (DX that I can’t remember right now!) and how the shopping mall area that we had to pass through extended over both sides of the road, UNDERGROUND (where we went) and then up the sky rise buildings we could see. Kind of epic, yes. But then once we got nearer where my hostel was, I felt kind of bad for her coz of all the drunk loiters that were on the street, coz apparently it was a place for drinking? IDK, but she gave me my laptop as soon as I was in front of the Hotel Baron and went back to her place. SO THANK YOU LADY, WHO WAS SO NICE WITH WALKING HER DOG AFTER SHE’D SPENT A LOVELY DAY IN THE COUNTRY SIDE. YOU ROCK SUPER HARD, YO.
So then I had to find the “Vana Tom hostel, which might sound easy but no; of course shit has to be made difficult. It turns out that it was down a WEEEEEE tiny archway, where halfway down you would climb these stairs and you come across the Reception on the second floor for Vana Tom, so I trudged in. thankfully the lovely girl on shift could speak some English and showed me all the prices for the dorms and I ended up getting the 6 person Dorm (as opposed to an 8 or 10 person dorm) for only 10 KROWNS MORE which is less than 1€ so HELLO, OF COURSE I CHOSE THAT OPTION. And also another reason was because there was only one other person in that room, so it was basically to ourselves. XD;
They had some weird rules in this hostel; there was only one key for the whole room, so if no one was in the room you would have to bring the key to reception for keeping. I got my linen given to me and went off to my room, which was through a FUCKING UNLIT CORRIDOR (;_; SCARY!) and up an UNLIT STAIRCASE (;_; DANGEROUS!) and through some PARTIALLY LIT CORRIDOR to my room. The nice Canadian lady unlocked the door and I knew she was Canadian from the second she said “I can’t get the key oUT” and I LOLed and was all “oh, you’re Canadian!” XDDD;; and we had a great old chat that lasted most of the rest of that night. XD; we talked about heaps of stuff; important bits were her talking about travelling Russia and how hard it was and that doing it on your own is a REALLY BAD IDEA and I have so much respect and awe for her after what she told me it’s like. People reckon I’m brave and oh-so-bloody-wonderful for doing what I’m doing “at my age” but there’s no way I’d do that! I couldn’t handle going to a country where they don’t speak English and are unwilling to help you and everything is all written in a different language and nothing is phonetic; I just couldn’t cope with the stress. She even said to me “you felt as though the only safe place was your hostel - you couldn’t wait to get back there at the end of the day - it was like your haven of comfort”. See now that, I couldn’t do. I’d be one of these people that would go on a tour because then EVERYTHING is organised for me and I never have to worry about trying to get from the train station to the hostel and having to try and coerce people into helping me, etc. but this lady did and I am amazed. She did say in hindsight though, that it was probably best to do a tour. She recommended me to this tour company that runs out of Beijing, called “Monkey Tours” I think, and apparently they are pretty amazing because they are absolutely tailor made to fit what you want to do and you travel with like minded people. So that’s pretty cool, I’ll have to remember that when I’m going to Russia! XD
Anyway, so that night I wrote up the MERLIN!SQUEEFEST [whilst rewatching the episode] and more about Finland and ended up going to bed REALLY LATE D: so fuck me. Getting up the next morning was so bloody painful, coz my body clock was still on UK time and at 9am it was still 7am and I haven’t gotten up that early since I had to go to Collectormania. T_T I eventually rolled out of bed after four or so unsuccessful attempts to escape the warmth of my covers and went down to breakfast, which was actually in this adorable wee café down the street and off to the side somewhere, called “EAT”. I ate a bit of everything (except the rye bread! D: what is wrong with me, I miss that stuff so much!!) And felt like I was going to explode afterwards. But anyway, I went back to brush my teeth and kind of organise myself for that day, talked to the lady some more (who was going to work that day! She’s an English grader for some international English test and she earnt money!! :O how awesome!)
I decided to set off in the direction that I had come last night, to get some pictures of the things that the nice lady had pointed out to me. I went through the shopping mall as well, and wouldn’t you know it? They had a Tourist Information centre in there! (Though it was basically just a booth). I asked what kind of tours they had, and they said there was a walking tour and the standard Bus City Tour thing, and gave me some flyers and a map showing where both leave from. I kind of debated for the rest of the day whether or not I should go on these tours, but it didn’t matter coz of what happens later on!
Ok, so after walking around [unknowingly in this big circle] for ages I ended up out at the harbour, saw this massive church tower thing and started heading toward it, passed a bunch of market stalls on the way and got sidetracked looking at the COLOURS OF THEIR GAY SCARFS AND SHIRTS. NO SERIOUSLY, THEY WERE KNITTED RAINBOW COLOURED CLOTHES. THE AWESOME DOES NOT EVEN COMPUTE. And if that wasn’t cool enough, they were selling the MOST AWESOME BENIE SCARF’S YOU’VE EVER SEEN!!! I wanted one sooooooo badly because it reminded me of the awesome one Nina (Marius’s sister, from Germany, ya) had and I almost crumbled just because the hat is so cool. SERIOUSLY. FRIGGIN. COOL. When I go back, that is so the first thing I am going to buy. And one of their gay jumpers. xDDD;
Anyway, following all these street markets and squealing like a girl at some girls on the street selling sugar coated fried peanuts [or something] THAT WERE DRESSED LIKE SOMETHING ELSE. IDEK, BUT IT WAS SO AWESOME AND THEY HAD LIKE THE OLDEN TIMES COAT THAT JUST GOES OVER YOUR SHOULDERS AND THEY WERE ALL IN RED AND ZOMG SOOOOOOOOOO PRETTY!!!! Just fantastic, let me tell you. But yes, after getting distracted by all the shiny, I’d ended up pretty much around the corner from where I’d been this morning! And wouldn’t you know it, it was the Old Town. so I took a look around Market Square and at the Town Hall and “ooooooooh”ed and “ahhhhhhhhhh”ed at all the tall pretty coloured buildings with their cute rectangular windows (IDEK, OK?? THAT + RED TILED ROOFS = MY ULTIMATE FANTASY HOUSE. SHUT UP).
Just off the square, in one of the side streets, there was this souvenir (?) show which sold a stack of amber-centric jewellery - it was kind of weird to walk into, since EVERYTHING was YELLOW. LIKE REALLY YELLOW. And then on other shelves you had the MOST ADORABLE CANDLE HOLDERS YOU’VE EVER SEEN. THEY WERE HOUSES. THAT YOU COULD PUT CANDLES IN. AND THE LIGHT CAME SHINING OUT OF THE LITTLE WINDOWS IN THE HOUSES. ZOMG I CANNOT EVEN, I WANTED ONE SO BADLY. HOW FANTASTIC WOULD THAT SHIT HAVE BEEN, TO HAVE IN YOUR HOUSE AND *KNOW* THAT IT WAS A TALLINN TOWN HALL REPLICATE, SHINING AWAY WITH YOUR CANDLES AS IT FLICKERS LIKE OLDEN TIMES. ZOMGZOMGZOMG.
*ahem* once spazzing was completed, I felt feeling sad because I couldn’t buy anything :( *sadpandas* but happened upon some rather good luck by the way of an Australian woman, whom I met in the Information centre not 10 minutes later, when I went there asking for some help about Eurolines tickets and getting to Lithuania. We had a really good chat about what she was doing (travelling with her son and daughter, who was getting married! And they had just gone through Russia and it nearly killed them and so they were relaxing in Estonia for a month! \o/ they were letting an apartment and just enjoying the ~medieval feel~ of the country) and I asked what she’d recommend I’d do, so she pointed me toward the “Olde Hansa” restaurant/store thing, since it was super olden day time’s themed (*SQUEEGASM!!!!!*) and the Apothecary (which is the oldest chemist in Europe which is still running today) and to go look around Toompea, which has some epic views of the city. So she shoved me off in that direction and went off to get her hair coloured before she had to leave Estonia in a couple of days. xD;
So I made my way up these steps and climbing streets, happening upon this like … battlement wall? Or something? I dunno, but it looked old and important. Fuck me for not doing a tour, I guess. But behind that there was this chick with an ARROW FIRING CONTEST SET UP!!! ZOMG AWESOME but I couldn’t afford it (D:) so I kept going until I got to this ~AMAAAAAAZING~ church, which was opposite the parliament building (equally impressive). I took my happy arse-hat time before going into the church (I guess I thought for some stupid reason that I would have to pay? Or that I wouldn’t be allowed? IDK, Westminster and St Pauls have corrupted me. You evil London bastards!) and then saw the “DO NOT TAKE PHOTOS” sign. And it made me go D: super sad face because the church was ~soooooooooooooooooo beautiful~. So Stealthy Sme took some rather dodgy Stealthy photos, because I’m obviously like that. XDD; I’m absolutely certain someone knew what I was doing, but I never got in trouble for it, so oh well. XD;
Once outside I went for a walk around this wee gardens that was right beside the parliament and this big tower thing (DX I can’t remember its proper name! it was part of the original castle, that’s all I know!) and got some rather tree-covered shots of the whole city. Side note: apparently Estonia is one of the greenest cities in the world, something like 100sq metres of park/Greenland to every person in the city. And it totally fucking shows, because there are trees EVERYWHERE. And I mean EEEEEEEEVERRRRRRYYYYYYYYWWWWHHHHHHHEEEEEEERRRRRRREEEEE. It’s cool though, it made it feel like much less of a city and more … homey like. It reminded me of a more medieval, busier, greener, touristic Bowen. XD it was nice though. But anyway, back to Toompea. I then proceeded to watch my map very carefully and managed to find all of the Panoramic viewing platforms around this part of the city (coz it’s raised up high like that). I took some really lovely pictures of the lovely city, just as shame that I had no idea what half of them where! FML.
One thing I did note though (Australian lady told me) that there was this pond that you could see from one of the viewing platforms, which is the only remaining part of the moat that once surrounded the castle.
Though walking through the district I happened across quite a number of parliament buildings a few other historically significant ones - you could tell which ones they were because they would have wee plagues up on the wall telling you about it. XD; and also, I saw one of my favourite graffiti’s to date - it was “RETROFUTURISM” in funky green writing, with the arrows pointing towards a rubbish bin. XDDD AWESOME REBELS ARE AWESOME! LOLOLOL!
One more thing I find super awesome: the different coloured buildings. Seriously, all of them are like green/yellow/orange/pink/purple/red/some variation thereof. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s brilliant! Why aren’t more buildings painted up like that!??! It’s totally retro!
Ok, coming down I made it back to the castle wall thing that I mentioned earlier, just took the other side of that coming down. And I stumbled onto “LONG ROAD” which was right beside “SHORT ROAD” apparently, and on Long Road they have a restaurant called “LONG SHOE” with a long shoe made out of iron hanging from the building. XDDDDD ILU ESTONIA. THIS IS WHAT TOTALLY MADE ME SMILE. And then I found the ~chocolate shop~ of evil doom, because I could not resist. xD; and it was really cheap as well! It was in this awesomely styled building that was YELLOW and there were heaps of different types of chocolates inside - handmade and Estonia chocolate. I ended up buying a mix bag of the handmade chocolates and a massive bar of white Estonian chocolate WITH BLUEBERRIES. oh yes, that’s right, I said WHITE CHOCOLATE. WITH BLUEBERRIES. and I’m talking one massive bar here people - it puts the Finnish sized ones to shame! And it only cost about 100Krowns, less than £7!!!!!!!!! I bought less handmade chocolates than that when I was in South London for that much! *squeeful over chocolate happiness* and it’s really nice too. I’ve almost eaten all the handmade chocolates and OM NONNOM YUM.
Anyway, more walking and looking and I tried to get into the Apteck but it was closed because its Monday. D: so instead I decided to eat, coz I was sooooooooooooo hungry. I ended up at this cute café (THAT HAD CUTE WEE BIRDS FLYING AROUND MY TABLE!! :D!) right beside the apothecary, with my Estonia half beer and a Salmon sandwich of delicious awesome. And of course I had to have cake, so I had this CARAMEL and CRANBERRY cake. Yes, I was like VTF IS THIS? COMBINATION FAIL, SURELY? But no, it was really nice. It had cranberry on the bottom, that cream cheese filling (like a sweet version of the one I had in Finland) and a layer of caramel on top. I had to go inside to pay though, which was something else! Inside was like a hovel or something - SO MEDEIVAL!) with a low lying ceiling and arches everywhere and just craziness. I loved it! And I also used the toilet, which had a LATCH. OF AWESOME. And I gave them a euro for their troubles, coz they had a box asking for it. XD;
I’d spent quite a while eating, which was so good. I was nice and rested after, so I could go back to more sightseeing! :D I stopped first at this old door right across from the café; it was something like the oldest something in Tallinn. Anyway, doesn’t matter because I found the Olde Hansa store and went batshit crazy inside, because they had olden style clothes and olden style cups and mugs and glasses with baskets for sale and the saleswoman was wearing OLD STYLE PEASANT CLOTHING. ZOMFG, AWESOME, Y/Y?!
Afterwards I went to the Museum of Torture Instruments, since I had heard it was worth a look. And oh my god, was it ever. I got there at like, 5pm as it was, and spent the next hour going through and reading everything about each thing in this room. It wasn’t all that much, sure, but such amazing stuff … torture back in the old days was so imaginative! I didn’t realise they did even half that stuff! They had the stocks and that muscle pulling machine (though half the time the torturer would just slice the persons limbs to hasten the persons muscles being ripped from his bones! D: DDX), but then they had a heap of other things I’d never heard of! The iron show, for one, which would be adjusted to about 3 sizes too small for your foot, and then you would have to walk around the market square, or the “Break Knee” thing which was just a bunch of spikes that would be screwed into you, just under your kneecaps until it shattered (I think). *shudder* then there was this rack that you would be LITERALLY BURNT ALIVE over, and a pointed arrow rod that would be shoved up your privates (you were lowered onto it) and ooooooh god the sympathy pain. Though possibly the worst thing I saw was “The Hand Saw” - hardly sounds as bad as “Guided Cradle” or “The Thumbscrews”, right? WELL YOU ARE WRONG SIR. Let me read for you the inscription that I photographed. [Engrish corrections made in brackets]
The Hand Saw
There isn’t much to say except that it probably inflicted the worst of deaths, even worse [than the] stake. It consisted, essentially, of a normal two-people used to saw a person put upside down with feet tied up in two [places].
The position itself, favouring the flowing of the blood to the brain, kept the victim conscious for an incredibly long time.
The instrument was used for many types of crimes but it was especially employed with homosexuals and witches.
The bit it fails to mention, which you can see in a picture above the inscription is that THE SAW CUTS YOU OPEN, STARTING FROM YOUR ARSE AND GOING DOWN YOUR SPINE. WHILE YOU ARE ALIVE. AND BEING SAWED ALIVE. WITH A SAW. DID I MENTION IT’S A FUCKING SAW, PEOPLE?! WHILE. YOU. ARE. STILL. ALIVE! X__X DDX
So after that I went back to the hostel coz I was beat, and I wanted to use the internet. Earlier I had used it to check up some things about getting to Lithuania (I went to the travel agent and asked her about getting a ticket and turns out that getting a Eurobus Europass is a dumb idea, coz their buses only leave on certain days and you can only go on certain routes, so it’s basically useless). But now I wanted to chat and upload pictures (fuck you facebook!) and just chill. I fully intended on going down to the Olde Hansa for some food around 7-8 o’clock, but I never did get down there … XD; I actually wasn’t hungry, if you can believe it, and I just used the internet until about 10:30 before going up to shower and bed. And this time I went to bed rather early, after only having read 4 pages of “Master and Commander” (and wondering how that book can possibly get interesting, coz the writing style is possibly going to kill me).
Nevertheless, getting up the next morning was the plague on toast. I managed it after a while and went down to breakfast, where my roommate was still drinking coffee. So I joined her and we talked a bit about stuff before she went off to finish packing. She’s smart - she makes sure to get to places super early and check her ticket 10 times to make sure she turns up in time. Not like me and my failure to turn up to check-in on time. >_>;
First thing I did was going into the Town Square and getting my bus ticket. And wouldn’t you know it, the cute guy that utterly ridiculous GREEN elf like costume was selling the sugar coated peanuts this morning. I grinned at him on my way past, and he was like “good morning” and smiled and all I could think in my mind was “ZOMG HE IS SOOOOOO CUTE!!!!” and then I stood there like an idiot for a few minutes, debating if I should go up and talk to him or something. In the end I decided to ask how old they were, because I was kinda curious since they looked so young, and why the hell they were out selling stuff to tourists. But I didn’t ask the guy, I went up to his partner/college (who looked REALLY PRETTY, I might add) and asked how old they were, and she was 28!! 28, and she looked my age. I wanted to cry. And then I asked about the guy, and he was 19! (ohh, bad Sme, hands off) and zomg his accent was seriously the cutest thing you’ve ever heard in your life. The girl didn’t know so she asked him in Estonian how old he was and he answered and then turned to me and said “19. Why do you ask?” and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzooooooooomg, my heart totally did not stutter. I babbled something about how I just wanted to know coz they look really young and I was surprised. And the lady was nice enough to say thank you and I smiled and they smiled and I walked away. And all I could think of - it was like a repetitive running commentary in my head - was “OH HAI THERE, THINLY VEILED EXCUSE TO TALK TO THE HAWT FOREIGNER GUY. LOL SO OBVIOUS, SELF” *dies from shame*
Anyway, ticket was got and I skipped past them again but didn’t talk to them (not for lack of trying ~LOL shut up, he was adorable) and instead decided that I would in fact go on this City Sightseeing Bus Tour. However, there was a problem in finding it, because the city centre of Tallinn is SO RETARDED and makes absolutely no sense, and I couldn’t figure out where the bus was (thankfully I saw the redness from a distance and got on no worries), but it wasn’t helped by the fact that they all drive on the other side of the road there, so trying to figure out where a bus would be parked based on that, was no fun. In the end I found it though, so no worries.
It went on three routes - I can’t remember all that much but I remember going through “Kadriorg” and the guidewomans voice said that it was thought to be one of the most interesting/beautiful in the whole city. Its where Czar Paul I’s Summer Palace was located with all its fancy buildings surrounding it for the other nobles connected with the Czar, and so it’s all very designer house like. But there are some really ancient buildings and they are doing renovations and such constantly, but sometimes they can’t on these rundown buildings because there is a problem with who actually owns the property and people don’t want to do anything with it until that’s solved. There was also a massive park in the area, which was open to the public (as it has been since the day it opened).
We went through some forest and by the Song Festival Ground, which is the most weird looking building I’ve ever seen (ok, that’s not true, but for a concert venue it was weird). Every year they have a afternoon where hundreds of thousands of Estonian’s gather and sing. It’s something to do with the fact that there are only 1,000,000 Estonian’s in the world, so every year they make their voices heard by singing as loud as they can. Unfortunately I didn’t get many good pictures because there were so many trees in the way. I guess that’s a good thing (and Tallinn is almost considered a green city or something, because there’s like 100sq feet of greenery to every person in the city, or something) but it makes trying to take photos really annoying! (especially since you can’t just get off the bus and take the pictures and then keep going) but oh wellz
We circled round the Song ground to go up the main road (along the shoreline, so that was pretty cool) and along the sides of the motorway they had these walls that were made out of limestone (I can’t remember if they were manmade or not - I’m pretty sure they were natural - because they were made over the centuries with the different layers and each layer is distinct and apparently it’s easy to see that). I had a geek out over the stupid limestone, because I’m retarded like that, and all I wanted to do was get off the bus and touch it. XDD;; because of course that would be the logical action >_>;;; Along the there was also a lot of big apartment style buildings, and I think that’s where most of the population of the city lived - about a third lived there. the guide said something about that’s where about a third of the city’s forest was as well, I think, because once we passed the Orlov Castle there was this river that passed through that forest … and I can’t remember why it was special.
We were led then past the botanical gardens - which is an awesome building, btw, but I didn’t get any good pictures of it! D: - and then onto the TV tower. I believe it’s the tallest building/structure in Tallinn (and I would have thought therefore Estonia?) and it was only built after they gained independence from the Soviet union, I believe, and they are really proud of that fact. I’m sure there’s more information but I’ve forgotten it D: anyway, we then started heading back to the town then. We passed the Pirita Convent Ruins and the Harbour (where there was a monument to all those that have died at sea, or in a particularly bad storm as well as a monument that was meant to represent tangled wires - and a guy that died attempting to drop out of a plane and his parachute didn’t open - something to that effect).
Nearer the town there is an angel statue monument that is special for one reason or another, and past this awesome looking church building (seriously, it looks retarded - I wouldn’t have known it to be a church if they hadn’t told me!) then we went out to the Port Terminals - where I was dropped off when I came into Tallinn. I was told various things about it in each of the tours, mainly that the fisherman used to live really close to the river’s edge and that they would be on call so that every time a ship came in people would rock up to help unload it and repair it if needed, etc. there’s also been restrictions on the amount of fisherman over time, which is why they would have to wait until a big shipment came in and then they would also rent out their warehouses for storage. There was also a church in the immediate area, which I had a right bitch getting a picture of. And I don’t even remember why it’s so special now! Something about it looking after the fisherman as they went out to sea, I guess. The bus also visited the other terminals, and explained that once upon a time, there was only one waft. Yet now there is a whole bunch and they have to be sectioned off between passenger and cargo and the Russian Czar was the one that made all this happen because he dreamed of having a bigarse navy and his son also continued his work of developing the Port.
Once we got back to where we started, the next “line” of the tour was ready to begin, so I didn’t move from my seat. We went down a different route this time - out past the Toompea Castle and toward to the Open Air museum (which looks really good, btw, but I couldn’t go in it for lack of time DX). In the area there is also this massive shopping arena that is named after an Italian word/phrase and it seems as though a lot of Finnish people are coming out to shop there (since its cheaper for them to shop in Estonia than Finland) and it’s also a special shopping place that’s well know, apparently. We also went past the Zoo and the National Art Museum before going back past places I’d already gone on the other tour. One amusing thing I did find out the guide though, was that for no reason at all, sometimes a couple of sentences or an area would be done by a guy (when the usual guide person is a woman). It made me LOL several times, coz it was weird to just all of a sudden have a guy speaking to you, when only a few seconds before a woman was explaining the history of the district to you.
We got back a little earlier this time, about 15min before the next bus was due to go, so I went off in search of a toilet. Unfortunately I would have no such luck, because the public WC needed me to have 3 Krowns (lol, 20pence) but I didn’t have that!! D: so I ran off to the shopping mall nearby, hoping that they would let me toilet for free … but no, same story there. D: in the end I went back to the bus and just hoped I would be fine (I was, interestingly) but I was also hungry by that point and contemplating running into Hesburger (hehehe, Finnish fast food chain!) and grabbing something. But it was almost time for the next bus line to go, so I didn’t. More fool me coz I sat around waiting for at least 10 minutes after it was meant to start, for whatever bloody reason. Anyway, this next tour took us around the town area, talking about Freedom Square (which has changed names a lot over the centuries, for example when the Russians had taken over it was called something else and was where they celebrated their conquest of Estonia every year, and then when the Estonians got their independence, it was changed to Victory Square in honour of that victory).
Anyway, after that finished I rushed back to the hostel [used the toilet] and then grabbed my stuff and headed off toward to the bus station. I ended up going to the WRONG FUCKING ONE, because I fail at reading maps (clearly) so after walking for about a Km in the wrong direction, I headed back toward the city centre and thanked my lucky stars that I had given myself at least an hour to get to the bus station. So I somehow managed to figure out where the fuck I had to get the number 4 tram from, which would take me right near the bus station (thankfully I listened to the woman that told me this before, and I also managed to get myself a ticket at the Kiosk, even though I didn’t have to show it in the end). The tram pulled up just as I got there and I frantically signalled/yelled at the woman driving it, asking if it would go to the bus station. Thankfully she nodded and I climbed on, somehow people made room for me. I used the handrail thing as a resting post for my heavy arse bag most of the time, so plus for that. And then the wonderful tram driver lady of awesome even pointed out when I had to get off the tram as well, pointing at the big Bus AUTOBUSSIJAM sign that was on the building and pointed out where to cross the road and everything. Even though I would have figured it out for myself, I was really grateful that she did that, because it’s nice when people do nice things. ^-^
I filed out of the tram and walked over to the station. Once I got inside I kind of had a blank “hoshit” moment, coz I had no idea where I needed to go. But there was a Eurolines office in the station so I went in and asked where I needed to go (after waiting for ages for the chick to get off the damn phone! And I was sweating and hot! NOT NICE), and got directed to the stands, which were outside. So I went up to the big “NUMBER 1” and stripped off all my bags and coats, etc to try and cool off. I listened to the Naked Scientist until the LUX BUS came up (the luxury version of the eurolines bus - I paid a little extra for the bus to Riga to have internet and drinks and a snack). It was only £6 more, so I figured the extra comfort would be good. It got there on time and there was about six of us for the whole bus, so that was good, I guess. We put our bags into the undercarriage bit (WITH TAGS!! EEK, LIKE IN THE AIRPORT. SO COOL!) And filed on, where we got a wee can of milk-soaked and fried nuts (? IDEK, but they taste good). I sat in the seat opposite to the one I was meant to be at, since there was so much extra room. I used the internet for a lot of the time, until it kind of died on me or something, but in the end it didn’t really matter.
I got into Riga at about 11pm, which was seriously annoying since the next bus (that would take me to Tallinn) wouldn’t turn up until 2am. So I had to amuse myself for three hours. Thankfully inside the bus terminal they had wifi, so I stole that and spent the whole time squealing like a piglet over Merlin. XD; it’s great coz it kept me awake, so I guess fandom is good for one thing, ne? OHOHOH - and I saw the most awesome thing in the whole world in Riga. It was a sign for the internet café, and you know what they called it? “INTERNETS”. YES, THEY CALL IT INTERNETS. OMG, I THINK I LOST MY MIND A LITTLE. RIGA IS OFFICALLY THE MOST AWESOME PLACE IN THE WORLD.
Sadly I had to leave when my bus turned up, so no more internet. And sadly it wasn’t the luxury bus like I thought, but the normal Eurolines bus. That was when I realised I’d only got the luxury version to Riga, so that shit me, as otherwise I would have taken more advantage of the hot chocolate option on the bus. But oh well, fuck me.
I slept kinda alright in the remaining time on the bus - except at about 3am we cross the border into Lithuania, I presume, coz the passport police came on board. I had no idea wtf was going on, and my sleep-addled brain couldn’t quite put the pieces together until I saw someone else get out their passport. Then I found mine and passed it over, before falling straight back to sleep. XD; and I stayed asleep until we got to Vilnius, and then I dragged my groggy arse into the terminal, where I waited for the sun to come up and kinda napped while I waited. Then I went in search of the hostel I knew to be near the station, but kind of got wrongly directed at the Map, so I went down the wrong street. In the end I stayed at the hostel on that street, coz it was really close to the bus station and I just wanted to find somewhere and that was closest, so yea. I was tired and didn’t want to carry my bags anymore, basically.
AND THAT IS THAT. LITHUANIA TO COME SHORTLY.