leaving kuressaare was bitter sweet. we have come to the end of the tour, the last location, which presses on the fact we would be heading home soon. however, for me at least, tallinn is my favorite city, and i was looking forward to wandering the old town streets again, taking in the medieval setting, and checking out some of the other sights i had intentionally missed on our first visit to the old town.

the bus must have run out of sleeping gas cause i couldn’t fall asleep the entire time we traveled from the islands to tallinn. before leaving the islands, we made a quick stop at another church, which is a 14th century church that was once used as a fortress.

the doors were locked so we couldn’t explore the interior, which was fine with me. i have seen enough interiors to know what to expect. altar, pews, low hanging brass chandlier, organ pipes above the main entrance, stain glass, and white washed stone walls. i’m not jaded or bitter about it. after seeing about 20 churches, you start to see a pattern.

at the church, it was group photo time. my wish was still holding true as the sun shined on us as a slew of cameras took our picture. mine was the first one, and i would guess it got the “freshest” look of the group. with each camera taking a picture, my smile decreased til i wasn’t smiling anymore, just staring, like athletes do in group photos, which i never understood. i was always the one person smiling in the back row.

back on the bus heading toward the car ferry to take us to the mainland. we were extremely early since we didn’t spend time in the church. this allowed us to walk around and visit the handicraft store while we waited for the boat to arrive. among the cars in line, which included 18 wheelers, was a group of bikers. their leather jackets looked like they were part of group. even here the bikers looked the same as in the states. beards, tattoos, leather, harleys, etc.

ferry ride uneventful. adam sat with us and talked about the academic world. we were soon back on the bus and heading to tallinn. i was writing furiously on the ride cause i was already behind on my writing and i didn’t want to waste any time in tallinn working on the site.

adam told us that we had been upgraded to a better hotel called the reval hotel central. when john and i first arrived in tallinn two weeks ago, i had thought the reval central was the reval inn where we were staying. didn’t realize reval is a chain. the reception was nice enough to say we weren’t the firsts to make the mistake. regardless, felt kinda stupid. the lobby of the hotel is very chic and modern with a shiny checkboard floor, funky chairs, glass blown chandeliers, and trendy lighting. the room was as modern as the lobby, and it reminded me of a room at the W.

we dropped the luggage and headed for the old town. the hotel was located in the modern part of tallinn where the buildings are metal and glass, lots more traffic, buses, trolleys, people walking faster, and the busy pace of a modern city.

after a short walk, we were soon in the old town bubble where the medieval setting enveloped us. the noise and busy energy of the city was replaced with the quiet and calm setting of the old town. it was good to be back. after visiting so many old towns, all the old towns merged together. throughout the day, i had trouble figuring out a certain bar, where i had found a cool bar or cafe with wireless where i could connect. but there was the old stone wall, st olaf’s church spire, the upper town with the cathedrals and colorful buildings, the numerous restaurants and cafes, and the town square.

after walking around looking for a place to eat, we settled for molly malone’s in the town square. a simple lunch of chili con carne over rice (with a nice helping of ketchup) and a saku with plenty of people watching in the town square. a group of people stood in the center and started singing, backpackers walked around, people photographing, and people heading in all directions filled the sunlit square. after lunch, we sat back and just soaked it all up.

ok, we got some stuff to see. the first stop was the oldest pharmacy in the world, which was right next to molly malone’s. the pharmacy had the old charm of wood and brass. in the back was glass bottles filled with different colored liquids, herbs hanging from the wall, and various oddities.

adjacent to the pharmacy was an antique store. the store had all kinds of war medals, artifacts, old toys, pins, a hitler clock, a very heavy ussr wall clock, and all kinds of stuff. it was quite amazing. we left without buying anything. i did stop in several souvenir stores to pick up some simple gifts and souvenirs.

next stop, st olaf’s church. st olaf’s church is the tallest spire in the city and has an observation deck at 72m high. for a small fee, we climbed the steep, spiral staircase. we kept climbing and climbing. we climbed roughly 264 steps. i couldn’t imagine the group going to the observation deck.

once we reached the top, it was incredibly worth it. the old town with the red roofs and church spires laid out before us. i saw castle walls with turrets, hidden alleyways, the ocean, the green countryside, the tv tower, and the new modern town. it was a pretty narrow walkway around the deck, and several times i had to step on the spire to walk around people. the one thing that scared me was the thought of dropping my camera.

going back down was much easier, and we were soon on the street to take a picture of the three sisters hotel. the story behind the three sisters is that a very rich merchant had a daughter and wanted to build her a house. he built a wide, three story house. a while later, he had another daughter. he wasn’t as wealthy but he still wanted to build her a house. so he built a slimmer house. some time pasted and he had another daughter. he had lost some wealth but he wanted to build her a house. so, he built the much slimmer house. the story is made up, but it is a good one since each house becomes smaller and smaller. the three sisters hotel is a very famous hotel where queen elizabeth II stayed when she visited tallinn.

down the street from the three sisters was an old town gate and fat margaret. fat margaret, built in the 16th century, is a large, rotund bastion used to defend the gate next to it. today it houses the maritime museum. a picture of fat margaret concluded the list of sites on the remaining list, but it didn’t conclude the photography.

while wandering around the town, we saw some workers rebuild the cobblestone street, a bar with a weird name, some more of the city wall, and an open air theater that looked like they had lynching stations next to it.

our feet grew tired of walking, and we sat down on the terrace of an irish pub and had a couple. john started getting the itch to check out the sauna so we parted ways. i was in search of a place to grab internet so i could work on the site while i waited for john. i found a place, worked a bit, and then decided it was getting late and i should make my way back to the hotel to drop off panda.

since this was the last night in the old town, i turned on some chill music and walked incredibly slow to soak up everything i could. the sun was setting over the town casting an orange and pink glow on tops of buildings. i forced myself to be in the present and not think about tomorrow, work, etc. i wanted to just be in the old town like i was saying goodbye. the walk turned me right around and i was quickly lost, which was fine for a while, but the sun was setting and i was running out of time. i changed to my fast nyc pace and kept ending up in unexpected places or finding i had walked in a circle. i couldn’t figure out how to find the new street to use to reach the new hotel. i was without a map, and eventually, i resorted to heading toward the old hotel and backtracking to the new one.

as soon as i made it back to the new hotel, john and i communicated a meeting point via text. as i walked back into the old town, i made mental landmarks at each turn. we met up at the irish pub and decided to eat at the place i had been wanting to check out since we arrived in tallinn. olde hansa was the most medieval looking restaurant with a big wooden deck outside with curtains trimmed in the block style pattern, fire danced in iron torches attached to the wall, and the staff was dressed in medieval attire.

we sat down out on the terrace and was greeted by a kind sir dressed in a white frock, tan pants, and some funny looking shoes. i ordered a goblet of the dark honey brew and john had a cider. the menu was so cool. colorful illustrations and a fairytale narrative went along with each section. the menu had some exotic food such as bear, elk, wild boar, and rabbit. i was eyeing the bear until i saw the 70 dollar price tag. i think i can hold off on eating bear. the peasant returned to take our order, and i said i wanted a true estonian dinner to go with my goblet of brew. he kindly recommended the sausage with sourkraut, cranberries, and potatoes. let it be so, i decreed! very good sir and off he went to fetch my grub.

the meal was amazing and reminded me of the latvian dinner we had in riga. it was another meal i didn’t want to end. off in the courtyard, a man dressed as a joker was performing fire dancing and shooting fire from his mouth. the crowd was more interested in his shooting flames from his mouth than spinning the double ended flaming stick. my camera was dying so i was lucky to have gotten the pic that i did.

what a fabulous dinner to round out the old town experience! the honey brew was a little bitter with sweet undertones, and the food was a dynamic sensation of sweet, spicy, and sour. after dinner, we walked around a bit, checked out a few bars, but decided to head back to the hotel. we were both exhausted.

well, that concludes the entire trip. tomorrow, we head back to nyc. i have no idea how i will tolerate the jet lag cause when we land it will be 11pm in tallinn and 4pm in nyc. however, it is good we are returning on saturday instead of sunday.

i wish i could stay longer. i don’t want to go back. during my final walk through the old town, i wished i could just freeze time and place or repeat the same day over and over again like in the movie, groundhog day with bill murray where he repeats the same day over and over until he changes his life for the better. course, having limited time makes the experience wonderful and poignant. even a good thing can get old after a while. so, reluctantly i will be heading back to nyc, but i plan on returning sometime in the future.