Moooo, Quack

Estonia really prides itself on its dairy products, so much that in order to get the same respect bestowed upon the precious cows, apparently the Ducks try to impersonate them. On a serious note, Have you ever seen a duck that dresses like a cow?

The most important part of travel

The most important part of traveling is of course the shopping. Anyone that tells you anything different has never been shopping. Estonia proved to be a challenge for me- I was in search of a truly "Estonian" treasure. I found many beautiful things however most were things that originated elsewhere- and were twice the price! Not so much a great deal. I spent the first two days wandering into every shop in search of the perfect keepsake. Finally I found a little porcelain creamer- with an even more adorable cow painted on the side- Not Estonian you say- true but still cute- and therefore a must have.
However in my typical style I needed time to think about the cow creamer and in the time it took me to make the decision to buy him- the store closed. I was heart broken- our last day in Estonia- and I was going home empty handed.................. Have no fear unknowingly Josh saved the day.
My wonderful husband decided that it was time to end the shopping and head to dinner- sadly I followed him to a strange medieval restaurant. In the beginning I wasn't so happy with the food choices- little fish with eyes looking at me is not what I call yummy.


But I stuck with it and ordered a glass of wine- and my night changed- they had the neatest wine glasses you have ever seen! Hand blown wine glasses! Even better they happened to have a store right next door to the restaurant! (I'm so lucky) With this new revelation I started to enjoy dinner more.

The restaurant its self was neat- and Josh loved his man sized beer and meal. So much so that he joined me at the shop next door- and picked out two candles!






Happily I returned home with two hand made wine glasses, a painting, and the neatest :Bearded Ghost mug that is said to protect both the drink and the drinker from evil spirits. - All totally unique and the perfect memory from Tallinn!

Only in Russia

I'm taking a short break from our Estonia posts to show what was our welcome back to Russia moment. On our drive back from Estonia Josh and I were commenting to each other how calm and well behaved the Estonians were- no sooner had the sentence left my mouth then I looked up and saw this...........


absolute stupidity. This ridiculous girl was sitting on top of the speeding, swerving BMW. The most preposterous thing for me what that she thought she was being sexy- just plain stupid- I wish I was a police officer. I mean seriously right now!

The Estonia War of Independence Monument

This monument was dedicated on 23June 2009. That was tuesday, we were here for its opening, however until we saw it on the local television channel we had no idea that it was new as the whole city is new for us. The Official Estonian War for Independence was fought in 1918-1920. The monument is in the shape of the Cross of Liberty, an award for bravery and national service.
If you would like to learn more about the Estonian War for Independence and the new monument check out this article.

Notice the Beautiful weather, we are now back in St Petersburg and apparently we brought the good weather with us.... Life is good

To the Beach, maybe not to the Sea

The views of the Gulf of Finland here in the Estonian summer are beautiful. We were tempted to head to the beach to see what we could enjoy along this beautiful coastline.We discovered the opportunity to do some row boating and kayaking at a local beach. We were excited about how easily we found the local boat rental outfit.The locals however were a little more than just suspicious about our intentions.But it was obvious some sort of boating activities were possible.We pondered whether it was worth taking the risk of ending up dunked in the local marsh...The water certainly had an interesting hue about it? Definitely some red bacteria at work here.And the available paddle boats weren't exactly instilling confidence.I was worried about a possible very destabilizing event.In the end we decided to follow the local posted warnings and not to boat was the decision. However the sightseeing was well worth the trip, here is the remains of Pirita Monastery, built around 500 years ago.

The views of the Old Town from the beach were fantastic, hard to believe that most of this cities structures are 200 years older than the structures in St Petersburg.
The yacht house you see on the right was actually the sight of the yachting headquarters for the 1980 Olympics the main ceremonies were held in Moscow, but all the yachting was up here in Tallinn.

We took the opportunity provided by the amazing scenery to take some photos.

All in all a great mornign of enjoying the Tallinn beach and weather.

the tower

Tallinn is a beautiful little city with tons of little towers that you can climb to the top of. I wanted to see a panoramic view of the city so we chose this one to climb. It is called Oleviste kirk- St. Olav's church- here is what I found out about it's history on a tourist website.

"The 124-metre high Oleviste Kirik was named after St. Olav, the canonised Norwegian king Olav Haraldsson. The Gothic style church was probably the tallest building in Europe around 1500 - and the spire was used as a navigational landmark by sailors.There's a viewing platform at the base of the church's spire, around 60 metres above the ground - and the views of the Old Town from here are truly fantastic, well worth the effort of the climb..! The viewing platform goes all the way around the tower, so you'll see the port and the Baltic Sea as well. Be aware that the stairs are pretty steep, and very uneven and narrow -"
After reading the comments Nikki was excited for the climb but Josh wasn't so sure- he took a bit more convincing.

Yes, the stairs were very steep, winding, and narrow- all of which wouldn't be too bad if there wasn't people going up and down in the same set of stairs!

But in the end we climbed all the way to the top! When we arrived to the top the view was breathtaking!

Even Josh was happy we took the climb ! However, the safety standards might not have been the best? The walk way was an unsecured board laid down on the slanted roof! It was fun regardless!

In Estonia

We arrived here in Tallinn safe and sound, here are a few pics of our first afternoon around the City. The sign above the knight that Nikki discovered says souvenirs, Nikki went right for the kill touring the shops of the old town.

We toured the Nevsky Cathedral which looks down on the old town, it is located across from the current head of government for Estonia, the Estonian Parliament, which meets in the pink building.

And we checked out the Museum of Occupation, as you know we are suckers for an Audio self guided tour.

I was simply amazed at how smooth the roads in Estonia are, simply amazed.

Political History Museum

Yesterday I visited the Political History Museum, it is located very close to Nikkis school, it rotates its exhibits often, is chalk full of interesting old propaganda, and it is Free. I think I may be spending a lot of time there. Anyhow on to some interesting propaganda.
The text says- Women in the Soviet Union have the same rights as Men.

Here is a stained glass window of Lenin. The Museum is located in the mansion where Lenin gave his first public address from a balcony after returning from Europe to lead the Russian Revolution.

The poster on top is some cold war propaganda, the top says phrases as in words, and the bottom says bases, as in Military Bases, I assume it means the sneaky distrustful Americans say peaceful things and then make more aggressive bases off the borders of the Soviet Union.

This one I believe dates from the Russian Revolutionary era, it says Kazak (as in person from Kazakhstan) You are with Who? With Us or with Them?

This one is one of my personal favorites, which side are you one, the heavenly or the hellish side... Interesting.

This one says Glory to the creator of the Constitution of the Soviet Union the Great Stalin. Around the poster are some of Stalin's handwritten notes about the Constitution.

Here is a World War 2 victory poster, showing the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States releasing Lady Europe from the Fascist chains.

I think this one says Don't Indulge and it shows a Soviet Soldier carrying a book titled History of the great Patriotic War 1941-1945 and he is shaking his finger at a man dressed like a dark Uncle Sam who carries "Nuclear Bomb" in one hand and a torch in the other. I love it.