Back in the U.S.S.R.
In my effort to abide by rule #17 of my travel (go somewhere that makes other people say “Why the hell would you go there???”) I spent a day wandering around Tallinn, Estonia. Unless you’re a single male who has studied abroad and have heard other people say “Bro, you gotta go. The women are HOT” you probably are wondering the same thing.
The quick and dirty. Super well-preserved medieval town on the Baltic coast, site of several anti-communist uprisings and held a decent solidarity movement. Germanic and Polish influences, and yes. Their women are nice as well.
This is where pictures come in handy. There’s not a whole lot to tell here. The ferry over was a 2 hour ride through calm waters under a crystal clear sky (terrible). Then I wandered around Old Town for a while, and, because I love markets, popped over to their market. Or whatever it was. Instead of normal things you’d find at a market, I found way too many pair of womens’ underwear that looked like it belonged in the 1930′s. Weird.
A view from the top of the Old Town
I did see the ex-KGB headquarters though, and the bricked over windows in the basement where “special” prisoners were questioned. I’ll upload a picture later. Which is now apparently.
They bricked over the windows in the basement. Damn Russians.
Lunch was at a place called the Beer House, and all the waitresses were dressed in old school leder….leader….something hosen. Those traditional German outfits. You know what I’m talking about, I’ve seen you drinking St. Pauly Girl. When I walked in and saw a midget dressed in pirate costume, I knew I was in the right place. Expecting a good beer but unsure about the food I stayed anyway. On the beer – house brewed honey Weiss. Very solid beer.
As for the food…I was pleasantly surprised. Really surprised. These Estonians can cook. I started
with a plate of homemade rosemary sausages that were good, but not enough to really convince me. The entree did.
Grilled pork ribs, but they were cut more like beef short ribs than traditional pork ribs. Smoked and grilled, they had a nice crust followed by a juicy, smokey finish. Again, pictures will follow here. The ribs were served over potatoes, carrots, and parsnips and accompanied by a spicy mustard sauce flavored with cinnamon (that was cool…going to be worked on at home) and a tart cherry sauce. I’m pretty sure I licked the plate clean. Pork ribs are tough, especially the short rib cut. If you’re not braising them, you better be spot on with your chosen technique. These guys were. Well done Estonia, well done.
Mmmmmmm Pork.....
At that point it was pretty much time for me to head back. There’s not exactly a ton to do, but you could probably spend two, maybe three, days wandering around. If you wandered reaaaaaaalllllllyyyyy slowly.
The ferry ride back was during the final USA game in group play. So of course the ship was only playing the England game. I must have hit “refresh” on my world cup app about 1,000 times, convinced we lost. It read 90 minutes and then all of a sudden up pops Landon Donovan’s goal. The two other Americans and I went nuts and then everyone stared at us. People here definitely don’t hate Americans, but they do hate our soccer team. Oh well. That’s over now.
On to Finland, which you will hear about soon enough!
Last little side note here. The WC has been linked to a few other blogs, which I think is pretty cool. One is a discussion of men’s urinals because of my post about the bathroom at the Peninsula hotel in Hong Kong. Because I’m vain I google myself every now and then. You should too. Yourself, not me. Well me too if you want. I wont complain.
Keep on keeping on…
On the road again…
Or more precisely, the plane, train, ferry, and road again. There’s only so long someone with my affliction (wanderlust, immaturity, living in fantasy land) can stay in one place before you start feeling the grass growing underneath.
In my case that was 12 weeks, long enough to take some classes, graduate, ski one more time, see my awesome goddaughter be born, and plan my trip back over to the Continent. Which includes Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. I was, until yesterday, pretty excited about watching the World Cup over in Europe but….we’ll come back to that. (Italy wtf was that? Seriously?)
But hey now that I have my MBA, I’ve got another 40 years to work. What’s four weeks in the span of that time? So off to Europe I go, and will try and keep you updated along the way. Some
stuff will have to wait. Like pictures. Apple “makes” an attachment to the iPad that allows you to upload pics from your camera directly. Except no one has actually seen one in any store. Every one told me to order it online but I was leaving too soon. God forbid you go into a store and expect to buy something, you know, at that moment. Despite my love for Apple products (talk to me after I get the iPhone 4 though) I hate their retail stores. No one that works there has had any sort of customer service or sales training. Anyway. I digress. Some stuff besides pictures will have to wait. I tend to get caught up with people I’ve met, things to explore, and local watering holes to test out before writing my blog. Somehow those watering hole visits go long, which prohibits my from editing, especially on an iPad with a funny keyboard.
Let’s go back to the World Cup. Usually I root for the USA and Italy until the USA gets knocked out. Then I root for Italy, and whoever is playing against France or England. Which, right now, is exactly NO ONE. France and Italy, the finalists last time, didn’t advance out of their weak groups, and the USA and England are both out in the first round. Someone in Italy needs to be fired and probably imprisoned for that. Unbelievable. Now I am just going to watch and hope someone other than Ronaldo and Messi does something cool.
So, for the next few weeks I will be, yet again, refusing to grow up and do something responsible with my time. Sit back, enjoy your jobs, and relax knowing that some of us are out here doing the hard work of having fun in foreign lands for you.
Cheers!
