Week 21, 18.July.09 - 24.July.09
Parnu, Estonia to Turku, Finland
18.07.2009 - 24.07.2009
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Week 21
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18.July.09
Parnu, Estonia
Parnu certainly isn't famed for its cultural side. This is primarily a beach town, as I found out today... still, I did a bit of sightseeing for what is here. Started out with a stop into the city's oldest building, the Punane Torn, or Red Tower (even though its white.. and not much of a tower for that matter!).

Followed by a stroll through Tallinn Gate into Vallikaar Park along the 17th Century Swedish Moat. Next went to the New Art Museum which had some "interesting" displays,
then past a cathedral or 2 and finished up at the History of Parnu Museum. After the town sites, went down to the beach sites (really really nice!).
After dinner with the Belgian old man (who by this point was really trying my patience!), stopped by a live outdoor concert,
then to a club (sort of) for more live music. The 2 local girls the Belgian started talking to (I'll give him credit, he's certainly fearless) were fun to hang out with for some insight into the locals' views.
19.July.09
Tallinn, Estonia
I'm debating about whether to go out tonight here in Tallinn - primarily because I've been out way too much recently, but also not sure if much will be going on for Sunday night (that, & its starting to rain... boo!). Pretty uneventful 2 hr bus ride up today from Parnu, arrived here and got checked-in to a hostel then wandered around a bit; went to Raekoja Plats (Town Hall Square) and up the Town Hall Tower for some nice panoramic views of the town.
Next stopped by the surprisingly entertaining Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments - good thing I wasn't born 500 years ago - this stuff looks painful!
Ok, so now its starting to downpour & thunderstorm - definitely staying in!
20.July.09
Ok, so last night (this morning, technically) didn't turn out to be as quiet as I would've predicted. Around midnight, a loud group of kids were outside my hostel's dorm-room window, which woke me up - the trouble with being on the ground floor, you hear everything going on outside (as I learned back when I lived in my LES apartment). Next thing I know there is a loud crash and glass breaking. There was one other guy also in the room at the time, neither of us knew what happened but suddenly realized the window in the hostel was broken! I looked outside and saw the reception guy running after 2 kids. He did catch them and got ahold of the police (turns out they were 13 & 14 years old). The receptionist asked us to move to another location the hostel owned, down the street, since this one was now "unsafe" because the window was broken. Seeing it pouring outside, told him I'd take my chances here, because I wasn't moving! The other guy did move, but soon I was joined in the room by an Australian girl who just returned from dinner, and had a hacking cough keeping me awake. Next a very big guy (from Poland, I think) also returns and after a while is snoring - not just loudly, but borderline violently! I've never heard such loud gasping/choking/snoring in my life! I usually never bother, but had to wake the guy up to roll over or something, which worked for a while (like 10 minutes). So then about 02:30 another guy stumbles home from the bar, plops on his bed & I hear the can of Pringles open up - starts chomping away. By this point I realized sleep wasn't going to come easy, so went into my pack and busted out the iPod. A few hours later when I woke up, went out to check out Tallinn with the German biker dude Dennis (who was staying in the room upstairs and thus, had a peaceful night's sleep). First stop was over at Toompea, the small elevated area in the West part of Old Town, to see some great views of the Old Town Wall.
After, grabbed a coffee at this medieval-themed restaurant, complete with candle-only lighting and some kettle contraption to wash hands in the restroom (which, by the way, not easy to find my way out... only 1 candle lit the restroom on the opposite side of the door, I couldn't find the handle!)
Then made stops to Estonian History Museum, St. Olav's Church, Great Castle Gate & Fat Margaret's Tower (nice name).
Dennis bailed to try and meet up with a local girl from a few days before, so I continued on to round-off the sightseeing with stops to the Holy Spirit Church, Nevsky's Cathedral and Pikk Hermann Tower. Later after dinner, met up for some drinks with folks from the hostel, Mayuko and "Pringles" boy Andy - we went to the "Depeche Mode" bar with DM posters everywhere, and yep - only DM music playing.
Well, we could only take that for 1 drink!
21.July.09
Helsinki, Finland
Arrived earlier today in Helsinki; I took the enormous cruise ship from Tallinn the 2.5 hrs journey across the Gulf of Finland. The ship was ridiculous - 10 levels, several bars, restaurants - even a supermarket! Everyone on board (except me) also brought several cases of beer - a prelude to how expensive Finland is. Started out today back in Tallinn with a visit to the Raeapteek (Town Hall Pharmacy) - not to buy any medicine, but rather wander around this relic - established in 1422, the world's oldest active pharmacy. Nice selection of ancient remedies on display - viper saliva, stallion hooves, mummy "fragments", dried dog penis - you know, cure what ails you!
After arriving in Helsinki and being thoroughly confused with their system of 2 names for each street (one Swedish, one Finnish - sometimes Swedish is on the bottom, sometimes the top!),
found the hostel and got checked-in. After dinner, wandered around a bit and stumbled upon a band playing in some alley lined with pubs - good beer+good music = good combination!
22.July.09
Just returned from catching some live jazz with the kids (literally - they're 18!) sharing in my hostel's dorm room. What I reconfirmed today, other than really expensive (ridiculously expensive), Helsinki overall is a pretty lame city! I think the most exciting thing that I saw was when the 2 teen girls walking along the main pedestrian street, when a pigeon flew down and knocked the hot dog on a stick one of the girls was carrying on the ground, followed by a swarm of pigeons to the food and all the girl could do was scream and get out of the way - hilarious! The first stop on the tour of discovery was over to Kauppaton Fish Market with some good views of cruise ships out in the harbor.
Made my way to the nearby Katajanokka island to visit Uspensky Cathedral,
then back over to the mainland for a stop at Tuomiokirkko Church,
where there was an organ recital/practice going on that I got to listen in on. Next went up past the parliament house and Finlandia Talo, Finland Concert Hall, to small Toolonlahti Lake - which was pretty tranquil and nice. Continued north to visit the 1952 Olympic Stadium,
and nearby Sibelius Park before taking a rest at Hietaniemi Beach, just as the clouds broke for some warm sunshine over the very clear water - too bad I didn't have my swimsuit! After a quick bite went back to the harbor and caught a ferry to Suomenlinna Island Fortress, where Helsinki's early history started. Originally designed by the Swedes in 1748 (at the time they controlled the area of Finland) for protection against the Russians, it is a set of 4 islets in the harbor that had a nice castle and old historical buildings (ok, so this part of Helsinki was cool!).
Back in town I had enough time before closing to visit the Kansallismueo National Museum to visit the exhibits like The Throne Room and The Drawing Room of Jakkarila Manor.
So I think I've officially seen all of Helsinki!
23.July.09
Turku, Finland
Ok, I didn't see all of Helsinki - forgot about the one notable landmark which is Temppeliaukio Church built from the side of this rock cliff. So I started this morning with a visit there (not all that great, so fortunately only a few blocks from the hostel!), then hopped on a bus to Turku in South-west Finland. Once I arrived I made my way to a hostel that was fully booked, then another hostel booked, then a B&B - booked. Considering Turku isn't really that big of a town, this wasn't looking too good! Come to find out this weekend is the Tall Ships' Races Baltic 2009 stop in Turku (coincidentally, this is the second city out of ~5 in the Tall Ships' Races rotation that I've been at during the stop, the other being St. Petersburg), so there is probably 50% more tourists here this weekend than normally. Finally found a hotel for 75 Euros (eek) and after getting checked-in went a bit to check out the nightlife. Roamed around Aurajok River, stopping by the riverboat bars where they were serving of all things, Brooklyn Lager!
24.July.09
I'm on the Viking Cruise Ship "Isabella", in my pretty-damn-small cabin (shared with 3 others), about to go wander around the various bars & casinos on the many levels.
Its just about 10 PM, and the rain is still coming down... non-stop all day here in Turku, and I'm talking cats & dogs. I did, however, manage to get around to most of the town's sites today. Started off this morning with a visit over to the Turku Cathedral, impressed by the history (over 700 years old) and architecture,
and the various side-chapels containing tombs of the past important bishops. Next, wandering along the Aurajok, got to see what all the hype of the weekend (and cause of hotel shortage) was about, ships from all over the world on display prior to the race.
Considering that many of these are around 100 years old, really does make the whole event pretty damn cool! Thoroughly soaked from the rain, I went over to the town's highlight, the Turku Castle. From the outside I can't say I was overly-impressed, but once you enter into the 1280 AD building boasting dungeons,
banquet halls and a medieval museum, can't help but be impressed! Finished off the sightseeing tour with a visit to the Turku Art Museum which Lisa Strombeck's "In Memory of all those who work without ever getting a reward" video (her dog) was by far the best exhibit. So goodbye Finland, tomorrow (7hrs from now), I'll wake up in Stockholm!
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