Elowen in Estonia: Day 1
Our next step was Tallin, Estonia's capital city and one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe (with human habitation dating back 5,000 years!). I've wanted to go to Tallinn for a long time because I love that Russian-tanged flavor of Eastern Europe, and I wasn't sure I'd ever make it there, so this was the highlight of the trip for me.
We stayed in the Telegraff, a luxury hotel that was definitely our most comfortable room of the trip. It even had a pillow menu! And since it's nestled right in the heart of the Old Town, it was the perfect location for exploring while still being able to get back quickly for naps.
Since we got in fairly late on our first day in Tallinn, dinner was the first order of business. We ate at Olde Hansa, a medieval-style restaurant that uses 700-year-old recipes. It was flickering and dim inside and felt like you'd stepped right back into the past, especially since the waiters were in traditonal Estonian garb (which included pointy leather shoes. One of the waitresses told me the taller the point, the richer you were--you'd be showing off how you could waste material). Waiters also strolled around singing and even playing pipes. It was super touristy, and I loved it! I half expected the Hound to walk in any minute and demand some roast chicken. I had mushroom soup, while Taylor had a meat sampler with deer, moose, and elk--then Elowen and I shared a rose pudding (which was so good we had it twice).



After our meal, we took a walk around the streets near our hotel, grabbing a photo at this cute dachshund bench--and later in the trip I'd notice there seemed to be an unusual number of dachshunds trotting around the city. I saw one lady walking nine at one time!
Doesn't this look like Bernie Sanders?

We also stopped by Sigmund Freud, a cocktail bar with whimsical and inventive cocktails. We shared a biscoff cookie drink and a creamy mint one, and then I had to take a pre-bedtime nap (whoops). Since it doesn't get dark until after 11 in Tallinn, Elowen and Taylor hung out for a little while on the hotel terrace.



Blogger keeps crashing if I load too many pictures, so I guess I'll do one post a day for Estonia so I can get them up--stay tuned!
This is the view from our room at 10 pm!










You just had to find the dachsund bench! Now you know that I need one!
ReplyDeleteIt would look great on the porch!
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