Tallinn P & Cs

The Nordic Hotel Forum has a great location, just a block from the Varu Gaye into the Old Town. They also provide a fine bfast; tomorrow I'll try the herring and black bread -- our Estonian guide said it is traditional.
The day kicked off with a 1 hour/50 slide lecture on all things Eesti. Our Tour Leader said that we should ask plenty of questions to encourage information transfer. This was a huge mistake. All 21 of us had questions and we were not shy about asking. The poor lecturer got through ~20 of her slides in 80 minutes and only because we had to leave did she get a break.
I don't think they'll do that again.
Inside the Kadriorg is a permanent exhibit from the Art Museum of Estonia, mostly oils & ceramics from the past 400 years, including some from Peter 1st era. My fave was "Journey to Noah's Ark", which included penguins, camels, a unicorn and a rhino with a horn on his back.
Leaving the gardens we walked by the memorial to the 1893 sinking of the ironclad "Russalka" which went down off Tallinn with all hands.
The exterior of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is cool, the interior just another icon-heavy church. It felt creepy to be inside the heart of the enemy.
We were introduced (by way of a fairy tale) to Tall Hermann (where the national ensign is raised every morning) and Fat Margaret, two stone towers that flank the parliament building.
These are all in "Upper" old town; we then wended our way to "Lower" old town observing key sites on the way, including the town hall, which has been in operation since the 1200s.
The visit to St Nicholas Church was neat with the 30-min organ concert and the warm-up of Hortus Musicus, a terrific group that has been playing together for 50 years. Made my day.Read more