Tallinn is a small and mellow city perfect for people watching. Although
Estonians consider themselves Scandinavian, the Russian and Eastern European
influence is also quite evident in everything from the attire people wear to
their physical features. Of course there are also tons of tourists which always
makes for an interesting scene.

There isn’t much “to do” in Tallinn – one of the strongly advertised attractions
was a cow sign made out of pots and pans hanging above a local store. People
were taking lots of pictures of this thing so we did too, but we weren’t very
impressed. What was impressive, however, was St. Alexander Orthodox cathedral in
the center of Tallinn. It has the traditional onion spires and painted outer
façade – clearly influenced by the Russian occupation. (I can’t wait to get to
Russia one day!) There are other sights in Tallinn – the old town walls, the
oldest gothic town house in Northern Europe and the incredible viewpoints over
looking the city and harbor.

Despite all of this, probably our favorite part of Tallinn was our experience at
the hotel bar. After dinner in the town center, we wandered back to the hotel. I
was tired, but Mark wanted a night cap, so we decided to try to the hotel bar.
The place was packed!  A pub band was singing traditional and English language
songs and everyone was dancing!! These were definitely locals with a strange
affinity for leather clothing but everyone was very friendly and having a great
time! Never mind that we were at least 30 years younger than everyone there, we
still enjoyed the evening.