Tallinn is still a free country

It occurs to me only now that anyone reading this post (or my previous post in relation to Tallinn) may think I think that Tallinn is a country. But I don't. ANYWAY, my work kindly arranged a trip to see my work's friend (aka another law firm with whom they are extra friendly) and that law firm happened to be in Tallinn. And Tallinn most certainly was free this time and most certainly was just as interesting as before. Well, maybe a little colder and a little darker, and with a bit (but only a bit) more snow.

Here's Liberty Square (above). Not sure why there is a Finnish flag in the background.

This is a fully-restored former merchants' house. The protruding steel pulleys were used to hoist salt (which sold at a premium in the North of Europe) and other goods up to the top of the house. The merchants' families would have slept on the ground floor or basement.

 

It might be getting dark but at least we can turn on the leccy. It must have been a pretty miserable (and scary) place back in the 12th century.

Tallinn is a free country

We've had more rain this autumn than *insert some long, mouth-opening time period, which i seem to recall was more than a decade*. My colleagues tell me that this means one of two things: either we're in for a really bad(ass) winter, or we're in for a mild winter, or presumably somewhere in the middle, because they're clearly hedging their bets. Regardless of how cold it is in Helsinki, it'll certainly be cold in Tallinn, at least if my recent expedition is anything to go by. Here's a photograph of Madeleine at the dock.

Cross-referencing longitude is not a sure-fire way to predict how freezing a place will be. Tallinn resides somewhere south-east of Helsinki, underneath Russia, propped up by another ex-communist country, which most likely possesses an equally beautiful "old town" but is otherwise full of concrete monstrosities similar to the above. I was therefore a little shocked to notice a 3 degrees weather report on the catamaran, compared to Helsinki's now seemingly very generous 7. Fortunately, unlike some other cold countries I know, it turns out Estonia handles it well (unlike the interior decor of their churches). This is especially true when it comes to alcohol. Warm wine, warm beer. From a very nice man in a grey snow-flake jumper. Yum! Unfortunately Tallinn does modern art museums less well, to which the following is testament.