Trip #1 - Estonia (part 1)

This past weekend we traveled outside of Sweden! We took a 16 hour ferry across the Baltic Sea to the city of Tallinn, Estonia. Neither of us knew much about the country of Estonia, but the trip came highly recommended from a lady in the 'mama and baby' yoga class I had taken, which I will not take again btw- though she met the age requirements Kitty did NOT behave enough like a baby to make the class productive. My muscles were more tense when I left the class than when I arrived, due to me chasing Kitty all over the cozy (read: cramped) room, where she was crawling on top of the other mama's in 'downward dog', and stealing the pacifiers from the mouths of the VERY still other babies. She is such a goose!

After dropping Laska off at "The Oakwood Ranch" his country paradise for the weekend (50 acres of gorgeous fields and woods, on a horse farm two hours away from the city) we made our way to the ferry boat named "Victoria I". We left Stockholm at 6 pm, so after watching the sun set as we sailed through the archipelago, the majority of our journey was spent sleeping. (okay, TRYING to sleep, the sea was a bit rocky, and the ferry beds were less than 'fluffy') When we awoke Sunday morning, we had breakfast and enjoyed our coffee on deck, as we entered the beautiful port of Tallinn.

Old Town Tallinn is protected by UNESCO as a world heritage center- which basically means that it is gorgeous, old, and a really authentic example of life/architecture in medieval times (it means a lot more than that obviously but I have a very small window of time to type here while Kitty naps :). We stayed one night in the heart of Old Town in a beautiful 500 year old Merchants house that is now a boutique hotel. We stayed two days and one night in Tallinn, and never ventured outside of the Old Town castle walls- the narrow winding hilly cobblestone streets, large town squares, and crazy dungeon-esque basement bars was fascinating and beautiful enough to keep us well occupied for 48 hours!

We took a fantastic tour where we learned so much about Estonia's (very downtrodden and sad) history, ate some fantastic meals, and even watched a school children's production of "the 12 billy goats and the wolf" in the opera house. We walked and ate and drank and explored so much that we didn't even realize until we were on the ferry heading home that we did not actually go INSIDE many buildings. Including the stunning Russian Orthodox Dome church, and the oldest town hall in the Baltic. We feel pretty foolish, and can't really believe that we didn't take any interior tours or step inside any museums- but it does speak to how much we enjoyed walking around, and how satisfying it was to simply feast our eyes on the sights!

We did enter one church, as we attended an Estonian mass at the Catholic Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul- so at least we went inside ONE mid-evil church. (okay, it wasn't even midevil, the church was built in 1841... )  And of course stepped inside many shops and restaurants- but we learned our lesson- if we walk by something beautiful or impressive (or you know a Russian Orthodox Cathedral built in the height of the 19th century, my favorite time in Russia, full of stunning icons, in a country BORDERING Russia, that was under RUSSIAN RULE at the time it was built.. oh sigh stephanie you are such an idiot!!!!!) go inside it right away, don't assume you will come back, and do a tour later.

We left Estonia feeling happy, charmed, educated, and exhausted! A delightful weekend abroad- and now good to be back home in (rainy) Sweden :)