Am now back from my business trip. It went very well indeed, and it was great fun to have gone on it with my colleague, friend and mahjong buddy, Shi Hua :o). Well, I'll just put up pictures from Tallin in this post because I didn't take anything in Helsinki and Stockholm. Didn't do any sightseeing in either capitals, but I've been there many times before already anyway so it didn't matter to me.
But Tallin - now that was a new place for me to "check out". I had been to Riga before, and Tallin feels quite similar to Riga with the buildings, streets, people and all. And believe it or not, Estonia used to belong to Denmark! Vikings were all over, that's for sure... . Not sure what happened afterwards though, since they're now one of the smallest countries in Europe now, and even though Greenland still belongs to Denmark, it's not quite habitable, is it? Eskimos...or Greenlanders look more Asian anyway... .
We only had a few hours in Tallin, so we walked around only in the Old Town. Had taken a 2hr ferry across from Helsinki to Tallin in the morning, spent the afternoon walking around, then took an overnight cruise from Tallin to Stockholm. Both ferries were operated by one of our major cruise suppliers at work, Tallink Silja.
Here are pictures from Tallin then. Quite a lot, so be prepared.
We had the very comfortable business lounge.
Tallin's old town from afar.
Cosy streets
Cobbled and narrow.
A new-ish-looking building in the old town.
This is the close up of St. Olav's church that you see in the earlier picture of Tallin from afar.
City Hall in the town square.
The buildings around.
Some restaurants too.
Up some steps to find a Russian Orthodox cathedral.
Walking towards the light.
Found it! Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
Russian cathedrals are easily distinguishable by their onion shaped tops.
Inside the cathedral.
There was a wedding going on. What a beautiful couple.
Don't wear high heals to walk in this old town! You'll not get very far walking on these cobbled streets.
Interesting clock in the wall.
At a restaurant's entrance.
One of the many colourful doors in Tallin.
Another one here - Shi's size.
Found another one. So pretty! But wonder why they're all Asian-sized. Did Estonia maybe belong to China at some point in history ;o)?
Ok...here's an interesting street name, because in Danish, "pik" is a slang for the male anatomy that females don't have, and this one is size 50(cm?). Does size matter ;o)?
And here's another interesting street name. "Piss copy"?
Cute plant holding thingy at a pork restaurant.
Who said I can't drink?
Took M/S Romantika (the white ship) to Stockholm.
Yeah, size really DOES matter!
Our buffet dinner onboard.
Yummy... .
Dessert - the best part!
Cheese should not be under the umbrella of "dessert"!
A more professional entertainment show that we watched for ½hr after listening to young, drunk Estonians singing karaoke in another bar area.
Not Jack Sparrow!That's all folks! It's good to be back! Btw, Denmark won Malta 3-0 in yesterday's group qualifying match for the World Cup! Woohoo! They're top in their group still. On a sadder note, Portugal didn't beat Sweden :o(. Score was 0-0, so they're 3rd in the group. Don't like that because I want Denmark and Portugal to be the top 2 and qualify. Anyway, there are still many games to go, so things can still change.
