estonia vacation; pt. 2 Tallinn

the next day we had planned to go to an island off of Estonia, but because the weather was going to be bad, we decided to go to Tallinn Estonia instead (we had planned to go to tallinn over my birthday in november but now that we were that close we decided to go for 2 days. which i was 100% okay with, i have always wanted to go there so i was excited that we were able to go this weekend!) anyways so we took another bus, this one was only 2 hours and 30 minutes so it wasn't bad at all. we got to tallinn and had to walk to where we had seen that there were many hostels in the area so we walked.... and walked... and walked... we had figured it was closer then it actually was....  it was so annoying. we were all  over it by the time we got to Old Town so we found some hostels to get a room... yeah "no room in the inn" and not just one, we asked at least 6 or 7. i now have a whole new understanding of mary and josephs frustration. anyways we ended up asking this one fancy fancy hotel cause we were getting desperate. the more desperate we got, the less money mattered. we ended up finding this one ritzy place called Tallink. it was so nice and just, awesome to not have to lug a suitcase around anymore and be able to sit for a few minutes.

soaking it all in on mine and jaclyns bed

this picture doesnt do it justice (per usual) this was a picture i was able to take on our way to our hotel. the sun was beginning to set and started raining. it was beautiful!

 well of course after being able to let loose for a little bit we wanted to go back out and see the town. it was saturday night, and as most know, tallinn does not lack in the bar/pub area. so we decided to go out and see what the nightlife at tallinn had to offer, and we were not disappointed! it was so much fun!

jen and i loving the streets of Old Town Tallinn

all the girls

the next day we woke up read to really explore all of Old Town. lucky for us we got the best breakfast in the world. "complimentary" breakfast included everything i had missed about home. yogurt and granola for parfeits, pears, oranges,  apple juice, sausage, toast with jam, hashbrowns.... it was amazing. we all went back for line 3 helpings. it was a  perfect start to our soon to be amazing day!

words can not describe how happy i was.....

tallin is full of little allyways and streets. it was out of a picture book. all the small streets, back allyways, vendors of all shapes and sizes... it was a dream come true. this was one of many market streets that they had there. 

since the hotel we were at was so expensive, we decided to only stay there one night and get a new hostel in the morning. it ended up working out perfect, we had to check out of our hotel by 12:00 and be at our new place at 13:00. so wem woke up, explored a little bit, went back to our hotel, checked out and then jaclyn and i got a taxi on our way to our new hostel.

this is our hostel. it was fabulous. it was beautiful and sooooo unreal! old cottage feel inside and so cozy! a sauna(that worked), huge bathtub, old, open wooden stairways, a loft, something that when you watch a movie and think, man that is only achievable on a movie set... oh no i was a direct witness!

 

more old town pictures

this was a huge rock wall and a ton of painters had their artwork up to sell. so beautiful!

they had a medieval torture museum that we went to it was sooo...... dark. hahha i dont know what other way to describe it. i had no idea how awful it really was. or maybe i did, i just didnt like thinking about it. hahha this is like the only picture i feel comfortable sharing. the other ones are a little bit scary... hahaha the one above is the interrogation chair. the accused had to sit in it...... jeepers.

public humiliation at its finest. people,  for a "lesser" crime, had to wear this after being found guilty.....

this was the most..... odd to me.  This theory is that physically you should weigh more than Satan's apprentice.  so if someone was accused of witchcraft or things like that, they would be stripped naked to make sure they weren't wearing any weights or anything to weight them down....and then were weighed against another object.  If they weighed less, they would kill/torture/do whatever with you. the interesting thing was though, that the object they were weighed against never was fair.  If they wanted the person to be guilty, they would just place something that clearly would be heavier. so the outcome was typically pre-determined. NOT FAIR!

we went on a walk up to this lookout point to see all of old town. so incredible. thats the baltic sea off to the upper left of this particular picture!

that night we got back to our hostel and tried out the sauna and then the huge jacuzzi hot tub! hahah PARTY TOWN USA!

the next day we all got up, and decided to go to rent bikes and go along the shoreline and explore. it was so much fun!

what do you know, yet ANOTHER view of the baltic. it never stops being beautiful!

these girls are so great. i love them so much!

view of where we came from. we bikes all along the coast. it was a beautiful  view to look back at. 

cool trees we rode through

we went and ate at this AMAZING italian restaurant and it was incredible. this was the owner guy who LOVED us! the feelings were mutual! hhahah

i used to not be GUNG-HO for dessert but europe chocolate has sadly turned those tables on me! this was mine and jaclyns "goodbye tallinn" dessert and it was the PERFECT note to end on! 

tallin was fantastic. i loved every second i spent here, and mark my words... I WILL be back! no lie. anytime ANYONE wants to go back, call me and i will be there. i think it is something that literally EVERYONE needs to see! well... now back to reality. teaching, schooling and adorable kids. wish me luck :) xoxoox