Tallinn, Estonia, Day 12 - Old Town, Freedom Square, Happy New Year!

9:45am Breakfast as usual.  Today we were going to go around Old Town and shop for things to bring back home.  And that was what we did.

St Nicholas Church.

Vendor selling roasted pecans.

Nom nom, they were good!

We looked around Old Town, mainly for the intent of buying stuff to take back home.

Guy from the museum of torture instruments.

Interior of Hää Eesti Asi located within Old Town.  Didn't buy anything from this one as it was a lot more expensive than the one we went to previously.

Lots of chocolate. Interior of Hää Eesti Asi..

Sausage samples.

Old Hansa, selling caramalised almonds.

We went to the cheaper Hää Eesti Asi where we bought a few things previously, it's located just outside around the corner.  I bought a table cloth, oven glove, some meat seasonings and hemp chocolate.  Then we walked back to where the Christmas markets were to have lunch.

Sausage vendor, one of the stalls in the Christmas market.

Our lunch vendor, another stall in the Christmas market.

Sausage and potatoes.

Salmon and potatoes.

After lunch we dropped off our shopping in the hotel.

6pm or so, food shopping at Solaris.  We took another walk back to Solaris where we bought food to celebrate the dawning of 2013.

I bought 10 packs of these noodles to take back with me.  They were good!

Dinner was salmon, dried meat, mushrooms, chicken salad, rice salad, bread, cheese, mojito drink, and apple cider.

New Year dinner in the room!

11:30pm Walked to Freedom Square where we were treated to 10 minutes of fireworks shot from almost every corner.  I shot the entire video, but later took some photos as well.  There were lots of people, and a lot of Russians.

Freedom Square!  It was drizzling lightly.

Counting down!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Tallinn, Estonia, Day 11 - Balti Jaam, Alter Ego

1pm No breakfast today.  We walked to Balti Jaam to catch the bus 21 to Rocco Al Mare to buy stuff back home.  Balti Jaam is the main railway station in Tallinn.

All aboard!

The Gangsta class part of the train.

Balti Jaam.

Non running train.

Running train.

Breakfast/lunch was at a nearby cafe, close to the train station.

Blood sausage.

Potatoes with mushrooms, it was like a bake.

We bought an hour ticket or something like that as the R-kiosk ran out of single tickets due to a public transport system change.  The next several hours were spent shopping in Rocco Al Mare.  Oh, we also had ice cream.

5:30pm Caught the tram 7 back to the hotel.  After that we had dinner at Alter Ego, which is supposed to be a nice restaurant.  It also has a wine cellar which can store up to 1500 bottles of wine, making it one of the largest in the world.

Waiting...

8pm Off to have dinner!

Near Alter Ego.

Alter Ego restaurant.

Buildings around Alter Ego.

Apple Passion Cocktail.

Complimentary cream of potato soup.

A savory tomato and sundried peppers soup with chunks of yellow-fin tuna, peppers and potatoes.

Mussels, garlic, fresh parsley and Rioja Viura white wine sauce.

Pan grilled mahi-mahi on horseradish cream and king prawn brandada piquillo pepper.

Alter Ego decor.

9:54pm Left the restaurant and took a walk to the Coca Cola Plaza where we watched "Silver Linings Playbook", it's a really funny movie.  Watch it if you can!  It was after midnight when the movie ended,  so we turned in around 1am.

Tallinn, Estonia, Day 10 - Kumu Art Museum

12pm Another afternoon start to the day.  Breakfast was at the usual time of 9:45am.  Today, we were going to the Kumu Art Museum.  Following the instructions on the website, we took a walk to Solaris, had lunch at Lido, then caught the 67 to the museum.  Estonia has a pretty good journey planner too so you can check the times the buses come and the routes as well.  Don't think it uses IPTIS, that old public transport system I used to work on, but it's good enough.

Lunch. Potatoes, pancake with mushrooms, salad, fruits and kvass.

Lido decor.

VB 6.0, can't believe this is still being sold in bookstores.  Been meaning to take this picture a while now, I took this in Apollo.

1pm Done with lunch and caught the bus just in time.

Catching the bus to Kumu museum.

One of the museum entrances, but not the main entrance, it goes underground where you show up on a walkway.

Structure near the walkway.

There's the museum.

Structure near the walkway.

Museum entrance.  Entrance fee is 5.50 euros per adult.

Giant phone for giant hands.

Interior of the museum, upper floors.

We're now on the 3rd floor, wing A which features estonian art from the 18th century to 1945, entitled "Treasury.  Estonian art from the 18th c. to 1945".

A Wing area.

Defense towers of Old Town.

A Wing.

On the way home.

Estonian woman with child

The B Wing features the group of estonian artist and art innovation in the 1920s and 1930s, entitled "Geometrical Man. The Group of Estonian Artists and Art Innovation in the 1920s and 1930s".

B Wing.

Ilmarine nailing stars to the dome of heaven.

B Wing.

B Wing.

House painted by an artist nearing death.

This looks really familiar.  I saw this in Berlin, the Neue Wache Memorial.

B Wing area.

Preacher.

Hell.

Which one are you?

B Wing area.

Verdun cathedral after WWI.

B Wing area.

B Wing area.

B Wing area.

3 paintings designed to look like 3 windows.

Figureheads in the B Wing area.

Lots of figureheads.

Bird man, I guess this head applies to all politicians.

B Wing area, and me.

A Wing area.

A Wing area.

A Wing area.

The 4th floor shows estonian art from 1945 to 1991, entitled "IRWIN. Construction of the Context".  Started off at the B Wing.  The B Wing area showed artwork by a group of artists called IRWIN who emerged in 1983.

This exhibit showed panels of some movie shots, you had to go in underneath and look around to see what's happening.

B Wing area.

B Wing area.  Showing some art network of sorts.

This one was talking about an NSK passport which was an idea, not an actual passport.  But apparently some people have used it to cross borders, even though it's only for art!

The A wing area on the same floor shows Estonian art from 1945 to 1991, basically art from the Soviet period, entitled "Difficult Choices. Estonian art from 1945 to 1991".

A Wing area.

A Wing area.

Blue man dying!

Lift area.

Lenin.

Looking down at the heads from the 4th floor.

Some random art on B wing.

Some random art on B wing.

The 5th floor showed contemporary art by today's Estonians, entitled "Archaeology and the future of Estonian Art Scenes".  I wasn't very impressed, to be honest.  Most of it showed style but no substance.

How to arrange your desk.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Reminds me of Quake the video game for some reason.

I can imagine Snow White using these.

House burning, noooooooo!!!

That's what it says.

Imagine if you had to type all of that by hand.

How the bible was written.

An exhibit showing the working conditions of the artist.

Contemporary art.

Contemporary art.

12% pay raises for everyone!

Creative, yet confusing.

The 2nd floor which showed soviet fashion, back in the day, entitled "Fashion and the Cold War".

Soviet style hats.  Yes I know one of them looks like a mushroom.

Soviet style clothes.

Soviet style clothes.

The kitchen debate game show!  With Soviet Premier Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev and U.S. vice president Nixon. "Of course I agree but what am I agreeing to?" :)  That's not the translation of the Estonian on-screen but what Nikita said in response to something Nixon said.

6pm Left the museum as it was closing time.  We caught the bus back to Solaris taking the 67 or was it 68?  Anyway, dinner at Vapiano again. :)

Penne with king prawns, cherry tomatoes and vegetables.  Wheat spaghetti with beef filet, mushrooms, onions, vegetables, rucola.  Total cost 16 euros.

Back to the hotel around 7pm or so.