Tallinn Vacation part 3

One of the best parts of being over here is to see the US from a foreign perspective. In particular I refer to the prism of music. Its like bizarro world for pop music here. They have an MTV and it shows a best of the 80s or 90s but I only recognize 75%. The rest are Euro bands I never knew existed or songs by groups I knew but that never caught on in the US. What is really unsettling though is the breakfast soundtrack at the Scandic. Eric Clapton's Greatest Hits is played every 3rd song (which is fine as its the original track being played). The other 2/3 are jazzy instrumental versions of Rolling Stones classics. I can't understand why its real Clapton and fake Stones.

To digress on the the Stones for a second, I am about 48 years too young to have any appreciation for them. I find them to be a very middle of the road band that has hung on way, way too long. Their last 20 years of music is not good and I think it tarnishes their enduring legacy. As I write this, I think I may be channeling part of a Simmons article I read (see the links, if you are a male approximately my age fascinated by sports, gambling and pop culture don't start reading his columns. It will be some of the best things you ever read also the worst. Everyone I know swears they have had it and will not read another word, and like me have every word of his read the second he posts it).

Visited the Kiek in the Kök tower for a few hours before lunch (Here is the tourism site so I don't have to do the explaining about the next couple sites). Again an old lady (varying levels of facial hair) on each of the 6 floors. They spoke no English but were very polite and made lots of googlies with Sophia. The cannon and seige weapon stuff was cool but the narrow windy stairs get to be a pain after a while. Inevitably more torture devices. Its no wonder Euros have such a history of brutalizing each other, apparently the racks and thumbscrews were just lying around everywhere.

Pub Lunch at an Irish place which was nice. They had big semi-couch things and we lounged next to a room-sized fireplace while drinking coffee and planning our next moves. As the coffee is high quality on average, they definelty don't have an endless cup policy. I should switch to Americanos or something but never remember to do it.

Bus out to the ruins of St. Bridget's convent. This was an unforgettable place. Ivan the Terrible evidently blew up most of it but the main walls still stand and they seem incredibly high for stone. They were buttressed (sp?) but still amazing to stand in the middle of the place, you can easily picture the setting from "Name of the Rose" (whatever that movie was w/ Sean Connery and a 14 year old Christian Slater who gets 'raped' by a lusty milkmaid, I think written by Umberto Eco?) with all the Gregorian chants, incense etc. Being from a country and in particular a state that consider things >100 years old to be in the realm of paleontology, its hard to express the impact old places like this have.

The Bus ride out was interesting itself as we rode without windows for 20 minutes in a bus packed w/ Eastern Europeans who make it a strict policy to not bathe. I am given to understand that the shower is (or was until the last 10-15 years) associated closely w/ the US and especially the idea of a daily shower. That is craziness. Everyone must take a shower, every day. When I am king this will be a rule and there will be monitoring and fines.

Next we wandered the very new mall and let the kids roam in the Toy Store. Other than the maps being indecipherable it could have been a mall in Toledo. Same stores, same chotchkly kiosks (accepting comments on the spelling chotchky in particular), same fruit smooth shops, same 14 year old girls in heavy makeup being stalked by dazed looking 14 year old boys moving in packs.

Coffee and cake at a coffee shop and the image you have of Euros smoking all the time everywhere is correct. I am frankly amazed that they can keep them from smoking on airplanes.

Back to the room to hang out and read some more Harry Potter. We are on #4 the Goblet of Fire. We started sometime around Jackson turning 6 and the first 2 books were all sweetness and light but the humor themes are changing noticeably as the kids in the book start hitting puberty. Poor J is not ready for some of it, not that its bad for him just that he has no frame of reference for it yet. Not sure how to handle this because he begs us to read chapters like a junky and reads ahead on his own if we can't get to it fast enough.

More Medieval dinner this time at a place called the Peppersack. The theme is much less intrusive in this place and the food is about 75% as good as the Olde Hanse from our first night. Nothing really adventurous but on balance it was cheaper. The highlight of the thing was a swordfight staged through the dining hall. J enjoyed it but S actually got upset and wanted the "boys stop fighting". The part we didn't know about was that the fight was staged over the belly dancer. What belly dancing has to do with medieval Tallinn was not clear but nonetheless she shimmied all around us through dinner. Its a hard call but I have to say eating at a restaurant with a belly dancer dancing while I am sitting with my family is not good. On one hand because she makes alot of eye contact as she jiggles and writhes, it feels impolite not to watch. Obviously watching is a good thing but then that seems wrong because of the company. Especially when my daughter stands up in her chair to dance too. This is unacceptable and I think Belly Dancing should be kept in Harems. When I want to see it I will know where to go.



Click here for Pics from Day 3:

Group 1 - Court of the Danish King

6 pics but what you don't see is that we were the only tourists along w/ 2 other groups: kids ditching school and gypsies. The gypsies played olden times music and angled for a way to steal one of my kids/wives. The surly teenagers just wanted to find a place to smoke in peace. Every hidden part of the area we explored turned up more surly teenagers who rolled their eyes at the epic and bloody sword fight J and I put on along the ruins and walls.

Group 2- Kiek in the Kök

11 pics in and around the 6 story tower

Group 3 - St. Bridgets former Convent

17 pics from the ruins of the former Convent. The place was enormous, there must have been alot of chastity back then.

Group 4 - Dinner at the Peppersack

7 from dinner and around dinner.

Group 5 - Around Town

12 random shots through the day ending with the 2 signs we liked best.