Tallinn, Estonia, 11.2.2012

My first trip of the year was Tallinn for my mum's birthday. I don't even know if I have that much to say about the trip as we didn't do any sightseeing or anything like that - we just relaxed, did some shopping and even more eating. Sometimes it's good to do stuff like that, too, and it was a very nice trip indeed. Since Tallinn is so close to Finland, you don't even have to spend the night anywhere if you don't feel like it. We drove to Helsinki in the morning, left the car there for the day and caught the ferry to Tallinn. We had the buffet, had a look around the tax-free shops, and hung around in our cabin. 

Like I said in an earlier update, it only takes 2½ hours to get to Tallinn from Helsinki (well, depending on the kind of ferry you take - really, it varies between two and four hours) so by 2 pm, we were in Estonia. It was freezing cold that day so we walked straight to Viru Keskus, which is a shopping mall quite close to the harbour. We went to quite a few shops and I ended up getting myself a few warm tops and a pair of red jeans. I can easily spend hours at Viru Keskus as all the shops there are good, and cheap, too. Especially on a cold winter's day, it's nice to just stay indoors like that, even if you're not that big on shopping.

My mum in front of Viru Keskus.

We were supposed to go to a Depeche Mode pub because my mum was curious about that, but since we were running out of time (you only get to stay in Tallinn for four hours with cruises like this), we decided to skip it and just go straight to our favourite coffee shop in the Old Town, Maiasmokk, for their delicious cakes.

 

I always love going into the Old Town when I'm in Tallinn. This is the entrance, it's just too pretty! The problem with living so close to Tallinn is that I never spend enough time there. It's always these cruises that only allow you to stay for a couple of hours. The only time I actually spent a couple of nights in Tallinn was when I went to see Madonna there in 2009. Now THAT was an experience I'll never forget, and not solely because of Madonna. I might have to write some more about past trips at some point, too, so just know you have something very memorable to expect :D.

Cakes!!

What we had...:)

...and then we already had to be on our way back to the ferry. What a nice day, though! On the ferry back, we did some shopping in the tax-free shop, and the rest of the evening was spent in our cabin, watching American Idol and Putous. When we got to Helsinki, we still had to get the car and then drive to Tampere, so it was a long day full of travelling. Fun!!

My mum in our cabin on our way back :)!

Next up, I've got London this week, then New York in June, and Copenhagen and Göteborg/Gothenburg in July. At least! Stay tuned for more updates :)!