Tallinn

Wednesday, September 26

Today’s forecast called for rain and the early morning’s gray skies indicated that the predictions would prove true.  When we set off on foot for the old town, it was still dry, but chilly and windy.  Our plan was to spend a couple of hours on a walking tour of the Old Town; our hope was that the rain would hold off until our tour ended.   

We gathered for the tour in front of the TI, which was being used for the filming of the Ukrainian series The Sniffer, which streams on Netflix.  Guess we’ll have to start watching…  Our guide, Miriam, began with some background information on Estonia, including some anomalies of the local language, which shares origins with Finnish and Hungarian.  Estonian nouns have 14 cases, and pronouns are genderless!  Estonian school children begin studying English in early elementary school, then add Russian a few years later, and after that, a third language of their choice.  After all, with the quirks of their native language, learning three more must be a piece of cake!

As we moved on to Freedom Square, we learned about Estonia’s complex political history of partition and occupation by a changing lineup of foreign forces dating back to the 13^th century.  Danes, Germans, Swedes and Russians were among those who dominated Estonia until the time of World War I, when Estonia first declared its independence in 1918.  This status lasted only until the Second World War, and domination by Russia and Germany in turn during the war years, after which Estonia was incorporated back into the Soviet fold.  In 1991, the second era of independence began, leading eventually to membership in the EU and NATO in 2004.  Using 1918, the year of its first independence, Estonia has been celebrating its centennial this year, with banners throughout the city bearing the logo of the event.  Freedom Square is  used for all manner of civic gatherings, concerts, and sporting events; it was here, under the huge glass cross commemorating Estonian independence, that Pope Francis celebrated Mass yesterday.

We continued the tour, climbing to the Upper Town, known as Toompea. While medieval merchants and commercial interests occupied the lower town, Toompea was the realm of the upper classes and seat of government.  The Parliament building occupies the central square, facing the onion domes of the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.  Also in the Upper Town is the Lutheran Cathedral (formerly a Catholic church) of St. Mary.  The viewing platform over the Lower Town, walls and towers (26 of the original 46 towers remain), and out to the Baltic leave no doubt that Tallinn has LOTS of churches, despite the fact that it is among the least religious countries in Europe.

The rain, which had been rather intermittent during most of the tour, intensified by the time we reached the Town Hall Square back in the Lower Town.  Though we’d worn our rain gear, the increasing wind made the chill pretty uncomfortable and our umbrellas close to useless.  We decided to take a midday break to get warm and dry for a couple of hours and plan a car-based afternoon excursion.  In truth, we were pretty cozy in our apartment looking out at the rainy city, so it was hard to force ourselves to head out again.  

After a couple of hours, we did choose a couple of spots outside of the central city to check out.  We’d hoped to see the Estonian Song Festival Grounds up close and personal, but could only get a glimpse of the massive amphitheater and stage where Estonians gather every four years in a musical manifestation of national pride.  In 1988, 300,000 gathered in what became known as the ‘Singing Revolution” to demand independence.  Two years later, after half a century under the restrictive thumb of the Soviets, who’d forbidden the performance of the patriotic music that is so important in this nation, half a million people (one third of the country's population!) defiantly gathered to sing Estonian songs with 29,000 performers. That year, free elections were held, with independence declared (once again) in 1991. 

We were able to see and photograph the remaining Gothic walls of the 15^th century Convent of St. Bridget, though the continuing rain caused us to opt out of tramping around on the soggy grounds.

From the convent, we headed back into the center city on a boulevard that passed a Soviet war memorial dedicated to its soldiers who died in 1918 – fighting the Estonians!!  The road followed the coast of the Baltic.  The sea was raging, with whitecaps breaking over the shoreline promenade.  We’re hoping that the waters will be calmer when we take the ferry to Helsinki in less than two weeks!

Our last drive-by was in the area of the cruise ship and ferry ports, where we wanted to see the Linnahall.  Built in 1980 as the Lenin Palace of Culture and Sport, and containing a huge concert hall and other venues, the massive concrete edifice was last used in 2010. It has deteriorated considerably since then (built fast, but not to last??), but the city seems to have neither a plan nor the funds to restore or re-purpose it.  Its protected status as historically and culturally important significant evidently prevents its demolition, despite the fact that it has become an eyesore and presents a barrier between the Old Town and its harbor.

It was still chilly, gray, and rainy, and happy hour was on the horizon, so we decided to do what any smart folks would under the circumstances and call it a day.