Tallinn

I was playing around on Google Earth yesterday, and I think the view of tallinn from satellite is pretty good. You can really see what the town is all about, so I decided to put the picture here on my blog.
If you enlarge the picture on the left, you can see how the town is divided into two. The smaller oval on the bottom right quarter is the upper town, built on a steep hill. The rest of the built up area (mainly red roofs) is the lower town. The upper town was the home of knights and was ruled by feudal law (ie land lords, vassals etc.) The lower town ruled itself under a special law , and was full of merchants and artisans. It was this lower town that made Tallinn the important place that it was, it was a member of the Hanseatic League, a sort of medieval EU.

Smack bang in the middle you can see the town hall square, which was the market place in times gone by. It is still the focal point of Tallinn today.

Kadriorg

Yesterday was a fairly nice day here in Tallinn, and with summer quickly running out I thought that I should make the most of the (limited) sunshine, and so took a walk to Kadriorg. Kadriorg is a large park area with some interesting buildings and art galleries.

The most interesting in my opinion is Kadriorg Palace (Left). It was built in 1718 by the Russian Tsar after the Russians took over from the Swedes in Estonia. Kadriorg means Katherine's Valley, as Katherine was the Tsars wife. At the time Estonia was a remote outpost, so seeing as though the emperor wasn't going to spend much time in his summer villa, he made sure it featured gardens to be open to the public. The building is now the Museum of Foreign Art.

Up until communist times, anyone who wanted to be thought of as anyone got themselves a villa at Kadriorg, and even today it remains a wealthy, leafy suburb with beautiful houses distinct form the square uniform apartment blocks more common in Tallinn.

In the spirit of an area for the rulers, in 1938 the newly independent Estonians built a presidential palace just up the road from Kadriorg Palace. The side gates with the Estonian emblem are on the left. The front itself is fairly boring compared to the Palace, though there are the stereotypical guards who change every who knows or cares when.




The latest arrival in Kadriorg Park is the new art museum, which was finished in February.

The Kumu is short for Kunstimuuseum, or Art Museum. Its a pretty cool building, and has been built into a limestone cliff. (Limestone is everywhere in Northern Estonia). It serves as the National Gallery and the Contemporary Art Gallery. I haven't been in and had a look inside as yet, though I did go to a concert there a few weeks back. It's all glass and angles as you would expect from a modern building. One of Sirli's friends Dad built it, which was apparently a pretty stressful job. He finished on the last day possible to meet the deadline, and all the financial stuff that goes along with that.

The Greatest Viewing Ever

I have just seen greatest film\TV show in the history of the world!! I know that is a big call, but it is true. The fact is that I watched a French movie with Estonian subtitles, but I was still totally hooked. The film is called Haute Tension. I know no one reading my blog is likely to ever actually watch this, but I felt it is such a great movie that I need to alert people. If only one person actually does watch it, then I will be happy. Do what ever you have to do, rent, steal, buy, or make an online purchase to get a hold of this film. It's worth it.

The Lucksmiths

Last night I went to Von Krahl here in Tallinn to see The Lucksmiths supported by Fred Astereo. Why this is interesting is because they are from Melbourne. I think the Lucksmiths are a great band, and was a bit surprised to find that they were touring here. For the equivalent of $9 I saw these two Australian bands and an Estonian warm up act. The Lucksmiths were brilliant, One of those bands that are just brilliant live. If anyone ever gets the chance to see them I strongly recommend you do.

Estonian Manor Houses

Recently I went on a small trip out of Tallinn and visited two Manor Houses. Before the first world war Estonia was part of Tsarist Russia, though most of the landlords were actually of German origin. Though they pretty much all left in after the war and Estonian Independence.


Palmse Manor (left) is about 30 minutes east of Tallinn. It's a Baroque mansion built in the 18th century. The von der Pahlen family lived there from 1676 to 1919, though it's first mentioned in the history books in 1287, so I'm sure there has been plenty of interesting stuff happen here. Palmse was the first Estonian mansion to be renovated.



Sagadi Manor (left) was built in 1795 by the von Focks. It's also been restored, and has a few interesting displays inside. They had an old gun display with some great old shotguns and rifles. They also had a stack of old furniture waiting to be restored on the top floor. I'm sure that when restored, or perhaps even as they are, they would fetch a decent price in an antique store.




I've got a few more pictures up of both houses on my flickr page if you'd like to see more.

Re-Independence Day

Today is Re-Independence Day here is Estonia. It may seem like a funny name, but it commemorates the day Estonia announced independence form the Soviet Union. To Estonians they had been occupied since they first declared independence after beating the Russians in 1918.

It was interesting to see that every house or apartment building had the Estonian flag hanging out front today. In Australia we seem to have no pride at all in our flag. Whether that’s because we have a dirty great Union jack on our flag or because were just not patriotic is an interesting question!!

Paldiski

Yesterday I ventured to Paldiski, about 40 km west of Tallinn. During the Soviet Occupation of Estonia, Paldiski was a major military centre. In particular it was a nuclear submarine base, with its very own nuclear reactor. Once the were around 1600 people living in Paldiski. Now there are just over 4000. Since the Soviet military left in 1994 the town has been slowly falling apart.

Once upon a time the whole area was strictly off limits to foreigners, as well as most Estonians. The super secretive soviets left it out on maps. Thankfully it is now back on the maps, and is even something of a tourist attraction. For a "westerner" there is something oddly thrilling about being able to freely walk around the "Pentagon" (pictured), a former training centre for the nuclear sub-submariners.

For more pictures, go to my Flickr photo page.

Working Holiday Maker Visa

I have finally got my visa to Estonia, which will enable me to live and work here for the next 12 months. It took about two months, mainly because no one in Estonia, or any consulate or embassy had ever heard of the working holiday maker visa, despite the fact that the agreement was on the Foreign Ministries website. Eventually I was able to make contact with someone form the Helsinki Embassy, and after some research they agreed to give me the visa. Sirli and I traveled to Helsinki on the ferry. It took about five hours, but we were able to wander around Helsinki, which is a beautiful city. As far as I am aware, I am the first ever person the have a working holiday maker visa to Estonia!!

Soviet Symbols

As you can imagine, the Estonians were keen to get rid of most Soviet Symbols after independence. However there are still a few around if you look carefully. The building pictured here is my favourite in Estonia. It has an interesting design compared to most of Tallinn's drab soviet blocs designed in the 1950's. The Star at the top of the spire is great. It's so awful and awesome all at the same time!!!





















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Viljandi - Southern Estonia

Viljandi is the home of Sirli's grandparents. It is a smallish town in Southern Estonia. Its most famous sight is Viljandi Castle, which has been in ruins since the 1700's. With the fall of the castle, the town lost it's importance. Since then there's been bugger all to do in Viljandi except lie in the sun and swim in the lake, which is fine by me. You can see the lake in the picture to the left. On the otherside of the lake from where this photo is taken, Sirli's Granfather has a summer house.





Summer Houses are where Estonian's go in Summer to get away from the towns and enjoy the brief Summer. Sirl's Grandfather is lucky enough to have a pool. He also has a great garden, with lots of vegetables, flowers, berries and fruit trees growing.

The Sherrin even made an appearance, probably the first time the Kangaroo brand has been sighted in Viljandi!! You can see it just near the pool.