My trip to Tallinn, Estonia

I was pretty excited for this trip, mainly cause it was going to be my first time traveling in Europe. Also, Estonia intrigues me because it's a small country no one even thinks about going. Plus I get to be the only one that said he has been to Estonia, that I know of at least. So we decide to take the early train from Tampere to Helsinki at 7 am that way we could hop on the ferry to Tallinn at 10 am and be there the whole day. So I get up at 6 with anticipation, shower, eat, and have some coffee. Then my friends and I take the short bus trip to the train station and arrive there at about 6:45. Since the main ticket area isn't open yet so we go to the manual machine to purchase tickets. There are a couple problems though, one is that everything is in Finnish, two we have to pay with a Finnish card. Luckily one of my friends had gotten his Finnish bank card already and we borrowed a local Finn to help us with our purchase. We get our tickets and book it to the train. The train ride was smooth and I got to know my Canadian friend a little bit better. He teaches me all of Canadian history within an hour and half train ride, with time to spare. We get off the train and now were in Helsinki. The downtown area is a lot bigger then Tampere, its very beautiful and clean of course. We take the walk from the train station to the harbor and its about a 20 min walk. We get to see some sites, especially around the harbor. I definitely need to go back and explore the city more. We arrive at the harbor and purchase our ferry tickets. Once were on the ferry and moving out to Estonia it's a very cool sight. Being able to see Helsinki from the water was very cool, and traveling across the Baltic sea was quite a sight. The feery wasrather fast and bumpy, which made one of my friends sea sick..But she was able to make to Estonia without puking, Once we arrived to Estonia we toured the city while looking for our hostel. One thing was apparent about old town Tallinn, which was the architecture of the buildings. Very medieval, some buildings you could tell use to be old castles. We found our hostel and it was not that bad. It was the one recommended to stay at, and I would stay there again (assuming I would want to come back). We got something to eat at apparently the oldest bar in the town. It was downstairs and had a good atmosphere. I got bavarian beef stew over onion potatoes it was very good, oh and a beer called Cobra, imported all the way from India. Aftert that successful meal we went sight seeing a little bit more. There were a lot of churches and farmers markets. We met up with some friends at the only Mcdonald's in town, nice common meeting spot. We got to know what everyone was doing and made plans for the night. It was nice coming to a place that was a lot cheaper than in Finland. Also it was nice getting away from the Euro (they have the Estonian Kroon). This comes to my main story of my trip. We go back to the same bar that we ate at first and got a round ofKatu beers. As I was finishing mine I was walking to the men's restroom brining my mug along. I was minding my own business while this Estonian man comes and yells at me in Estonian I'm assuming. It seemed like he tried to yell the samething in 3 different languages. I had no clue what he was saying, so I responded with "I dont understand you!" He leaves and I go wash my hands, just so happens he comes back and yells at me again. At this point I have no idea what he wants, but he finally figures out I only understand English. He says, "I don't like it that you bring your mug in here!" I respond with "I'm sorry..." He leaves I go back out to my buddies and they asked me about the guy, I told them the story, and then apparently that guy comes over to chat. He puts his hand on my shoulder and starts talking to my Canadian friend. "The only thing I know about Canada is Wayne Gretzsky and Montreal," he says. He ends up making small talk and then says "I'm going to get you guys a round of beers." He keeps his end of the deal and we get a picture with him. Only in Estonia. That night was very fun but the morning was not. We decided to wake up early to get the free breakfast they provided and so I had some nice cereal with no milk. They refused to give us any milk since breakfast was technically over in 5 mins. We took the 4pm ferry back to Helsinki, and made it back to Tampere by 11pm. Had a nice lounging Monday morning before I had class at 12.

One thing I forgot to mention that its common to buy a lot of hard alcohol in Estonia and bring back to Finland, because its a lot cheaper. So my 6 friends brought back 40 bottles. I contributed 4 more, but I plan to bring back a couple to the States. Some nice Estonian liquor will make nice gifts.

Moy moy