Estonia

Somehow we made it through this frozen sea and arrived in Tallinn, Estonia 2 hours after we left Finland.

We checked into our hostel first thing. All the beds were named after countries. Mine was India:

Estonia is famous for the red roofed towers that surround the fortress.

Tallinn feels like it was somehow left undisturbed since the Middle Ages.

The town square:

The best thing about Estonia is that it is 100% part of Europe and thus has Doner Kebabs!

I found this restaurant online and was hoping that it would prove to be as good as the kebabs that I had while I was in Spain. We got there and it looked the same, so I was very hopeful.

Success! They were so good. All 7 of the girls that I dragged there with me loved them, so we immediately made plans to come back the next night.

Estonia's towers at night:

After eating kebabs and exploring the town, we decided to hit up a bar for karaoke night. We didn't look our best since we got ready for bed and then made the decision to head out on the town. Oh well.

This is our friend "stripes" as we call him who was way too good a singer to be a part of karaoke night. Seriously, he was so good. 

The next morning we headed to a medieval restaurant where they serve elk soup and homemade fruit and meat pies. It was pretty legit. Some of the girls got the soup and they weren't given spoons with which to eat it because that wouldn't have been particularly medieval. Here are Reagan and I at the restaurant:

Reagan, Paige, Samantha, and I with our apple pies:

They were so good that we came back the next day for more.

They also gave out free pickles, which were delicious.

At noon we headed out on a free walking tour of the city. It was super informative. I learned that Estonia has only been independent for the last 20 years or so. I forget exactly how long. But this is the longest that they have been independent ever as they have been tossed back and forth between Russia, Sweden and other countries so many times. We were actually there on the day that marked the longest period of independence for them ever. They had a small parade to celebrate it.

This is the church where we started the tour. There is an ice skating rink right in front of it.

Freedom square:

Nevsky Cathedral in the distant background:

One of the many towers in Tallinn. I love the stone with the red roof.

Russia's rule left behind this beauty. Apparently the people of Estonia aren't so hot on it and wanted to tear it down, but thank goodness they didn't because it was gorgeous.

The Estonian House of Parliament:

A gorgeous view of Tallinn:

One of the best finds in Estonia was the Puppet Museum. Yup. Of course I would travel to a random country in Europe that just happened to have a giant puppet museum. Too perfect.

So many puppets!

Some of the puppets were set up in these sweet cases and if you pressed a button they moved. It was awesome.

Pinocchio!

They had lots of sweet masks that you could try on:

There was also a Cellar of Horrors in which they displayed all of the scary puppets, like this dragon:

Parade puppets!

Asians!

The best part of the museum was that you could make your own puppet at the end. Obviously I did. I made a hippo finger puppet.

Here he is:

Megan, me, Jessica, and Laura with our puppets in the town square:

Round two of doner kebabs. I couldn't decide between a normal kebab or the french fry/kebab box, so I just got them both. I didn't regret it for one second.

After eating we headed out to watch the sunset while they lowered the Estonian flag and played the national anthem, which was less exciting than it sounds (the anthem that is).

On Wednesday we hit up the interiors of lots of churches. We started with this one, which is now a medieval museum:

We saw this incredibly valuable painting called Dance of Death in the museum. It is apparently the only painting of this common medieval subject matter to have survived in its entirety. It is also the most valuable painting in all of Estonia.

After seeing some churches, we stopped in at this delicious pancake restaurant. They were so big and so delicious. Here are Samantha, me, and Sara with our pancakes:

Mine was filled with peaches, cottage cheese, and brie cheese. It was incredible (before you worry about that combo, cottage cheese out here is more like American cream cheese). 

In the afternoon we visited Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in order to see the inside. Say what you will about Russia, but they sure do know how to build beautiful churches.

While we were there a tour group came in from Spain, so I latched on and got a free tour in Spanish of the Cathedral. The interior was gorgeous. Lots of gold and lots of icons. 

We decided to come back at 6 pm for the service, which was really interesting. There was a lot of bowing on the floor, but I enjoyed seeing it.

Jessica's and my puppets sure enjoyed seeing the cathedral:

Round three: I completed my rounds on the menu by getting the durum kebab and fries with the delicious yogurt-garlic sauce to dip them in. So happy.

Thursday morning we visited some markets to snag some souvenirs and then hit up the pancake place again. I couldn't not get the same exact one because it was so good the first time.

We passed through the town square one last time on our way to the airport.

I loved Estonia. Next stop: Sweden.