Our Pre-Honeymoon to Tallinn, June 2014

So, on the 1st of June 2014, we took the Eckerö Line ferry to Tallinn, Estonia to spend a couple of days there before our Very Special Day :). Thus, we refer to this trip as our pre-honeymoon. We stayed at our usual Tallinn accommodation, Viru Backpackers, which I've already mentioned in a previous update. It's such a lovely place with a great location, and it's peaceful and affordable, too.

On our first day, we had lovely albeit a bit chilly weather so we mainly just wandered around in Toompea Hill, taking in the pretty views, before venturing on a ferris wheel ride near the harbour.

After this sort of extreme activities, we headed back to the hostel for a good night's sleep.

The following day, we had really crappy weather, but no can do, still had to brave it to experience more things. The main goal for the day was to go to Tallinna Teletorn, or the TV Tower where you can go up to 163 metres for great views. Well, great views ON A CLEAR DAY, as we were soon to discover, heh.

We decided to catch a bus to the TV Tower, but things didn't go according to plan as we ended up in the suburbs, decided to get off the bus only to get back on the same bus a bit later, then got off at a sign saying "TELETORN" and had the brilliant idea of following the signs and walking to the tower - it couldn't be too far away, right? RIGHT. By this point, it was very wet indeed but since we managed to bump into the Pirita Cloister ruins, we decided that it was our destiny and paid a visit.

Now, you'll remember what I said about the walking to the TV Tower, which was probably very close anyway? Well, you've guessed it - it bloody wasn't. We were practically hiking in the forest, which by the way resembled Pyynikki in Tampere quite a lot...we were getting desperate, wondering when we'd spot the fabulous tower....until there it was, right in front of us, in all its Soviet glory...I know you want to see it, too:

HEH!!!!! I cracked up completely :D! It was so foggy that you could barely see the damn tower! We already decided that we probably wouldn't see anything from the tower, but since we went through the trouble of specifically hiking there, we thought what the hell, let's just go up anyway.

TA-DA! This is the view :D! I know, I know, it's everything you expected and more!

At times, you could see something - not very much, but SOMETHING!

Seriously, though, I do recommend going up, but if you want an even more legendary experience than what we had, pick a clearer day. The entrance fee is quite high - when we went, it was 8€ and now it's 10€, so maybe you'd actually want to see something, too. In our case, though - no regrets, because to this date, if we want to have a good laugh, all we have to say is "remember the TV Tower" :D.

After catching the bus back downtown, we went to a grocery shop to buy ourselves a well-deserved feast to be consumed in our room <3.

On our last day, we went to the Marzipan Museum in the Old Town. The entrance was free, which is always a nice surprise, and the marzipan figurines were amazing. See for yourselves!

The Moomins!

Cool, right? We also had a cup of coffee each before moving on to our next destination, St. Olav's Church tower. Can you guess what went wrong? Yep, by the point we reached the top and had climbed all the 232 steps, it was raining like mad.

The church tower steps.

SERIOUSLY!?!

Ended up having pancakes for lunch.

When it was time to leave Tallinn, the rain had stopped - obviously. Before leaving, though, we still had one important thing to buy  - our bouquet for our Big Day the following day, to complete our holy trinity of Hungary, Finland and Estonia...<3