Day 14 – Many Steps and Adventures in Tallinn

​Today dad and I set off on an adventure, with no real plan other than a few stops we had to make along the way. The first stop was heading to a store, 7 Pikk Jalg, to pick up something I had ordered. We were walking up the hill and I was on the look out for the store and we got to the top, near the Russian church and I was very perplexed as I was at the end of the buildings and I couldn’t see this store, where was it? So I grabbed the card out of my wallet and saw it was number 7 and then looked back down the hill and saw it there, we had walked straight past it! When we went in the lady shared my order was not ready yet (something special I am working on for Estonian Designs AU) so I had to come back another day. We then started walking down Pikk Jalg, which is the longest street, translating into long leg. I accidently took us off track early on and we lost where we were going. I knew we had to get to the Sadam, or harbour to find a t-shirt for my uncle. We came to a split in the road and dad wanted to go upper and I wanted to go lower, so we went lower. This was a mistake. We were meant to head towards “Fat Margaret” however we did not find the big building, only from a distance. We kept walking, and to my defence, the sign on the lower way said “Sadam” or “harbour”, so there was logic to what I was doing. Having said that, dad should have stuck to his guns with the way we were walking because in all honesty, he was right in the way we were heading and meant to be going. We finally walked out of the old town and had to work out exactly where we were. Once we did, by dad walking up the helicopter pad, we were on the way to the markets. We got there and it was full of Russian stores. We were looking for a very specific t-shirt and showed a few people to try and find it but as soon as you showed any interest in anything they would start trying to hard sell you things, I didn’t like it. We did find the shirt but it was either too big and the other was too small. So we left it there. Dad and I then went to the tram top and worked out where we needed to go. We got on the next tram and I was following us on google maps and saw we were not saying on the blue line. After 2 stops we got off and I realised, yes we got on a tram but it was the wrong number tram, luckily the one we wanted was coming so we quickly got on the next one.

​We got back into the city, stopping right between Viru Varav and Vabadusevaljak (Freedom Square). I wanted to go to the fabric shop again to check something so we headed that way. It was getting to lunch time and I wanted to have a Hesburger, which I had not had in a very long time, so I dad and I headed there. It was not great, probably won’t do it again, but the Hesburger tasted much like a big mac only better. It is one of the oldest fast food chains in the Baltics, remained in Ukraine, and has become a staple in Estonian modern culture. After lunch we walked back up to Vabadesevaljak to see the start of the concert. To my delight as we were walking and got closer, we saw the Tantsupidu flame being carried in. Thankfully they walk slowly so I could get close enough to take a few photos and videos. It is so incredible seeing this flame. They carry it all over Eesti during this time and it is the same flame that lit the fires in southern Eesti for midsummer! We saw the news crew doing a live feed as the flame was coming, that was really cool. Once the flame was lit people started the ring dance, it was pretty cool seeing everyone joining in the spirit of the Eesti people. We managed to find dad’s cousin Juta in the crowd and had a quick conversation with her, but we will spend more time with her at the end of our trip. Her granddaughter Meriel was with her. After a quick chat, we started walking back towards Viru Varav to the markets. Meriel decided she wanted to join us. As we were walking I got a message from Nichol, about her daughters birthday, which we had previously planned but I was not sure if it was still happening and asked if we were still wanting to do it. I said absolutely so we had to come up with a new plan. Erina really wanted a pavlova for her birthday so we went to this little café I knew in Viru Keskus that had pavlova’s and got one. You paid for it by the gram, it was an interesting concept. It was only small. We then had a little mini meeting and made another plan, dad had to go home and get a few things, including my box of cut up strawberries and raspberries, and a few other things and I was going to the supermarket to get other party items. So Meriel and I went on our little adventure and it was nice talking with her about different things. We have spent time together a number of times I have come, since she was a young girl, she is now 17 I think. We then walked back to Vabadusevaljak with the goods and the concert was still going, it went for hours! I wanted to make Erina feel really special so I got her a flower crown, something traditionally worn at midsummer AND for the song and dance festival. I had to tell her mum to keep it in the fridge and it should be good for the song festival. It was so cute when the girls arrived near us and we took them to the park, they just fill me up with so much joy! When we got there Marju said something like “is this it?” but she had such a good time in this park spinning around on the disc thing, being the bus driver and other things. At one point she wanted to go on the sea-saw but there were two girls on there for a long time and she just walked up to them and asked “are you finished yet, I want a turn”, this just reminded me of her grandmother, Aime, who we recently lost, who would have the courage to do something like this. During this little party, we enjoyed some cake, including a honey cake and just had a really fun time with them. 

​Once it was getting later, we headed back home and mum was there. She had been at choir practice all afternoon at Lauluvaljak and was having a rest. In the evening we went to dinner at a nice Italian place with one my mum’s relatives. When we sat down she pointed out Puuluup was sitting behind us. They are a band that was part of Eurovision 2024 for Estonia. I am obsessed with their song! They were so kind to let me take a photo with them, I am very grateful of this. We stayed there for a few hours, learning about the Estonian Canadian community, how the new Keskus is being developed and all the politics around this as well as some interesting political discussions. It was a lovely evening, although they had run out of chantarelle mushrooms for the risotto and dad had a lot of chilly in his pasta!
Until tomorrow
Marissa xx