Thursday Travels - Helsinki and Tallinn

Thursday Travels are back! Mainly because I have a lot of trips to write about so I figured I better get to it. Otherwise Thursday Travels would still be on hiatus. Until December. So first up - our little trip up north.

Lately I have read quite a lot about Tallinn - it's a European Capital of Culture 2011, it's up and coming, on various "places to go" lists, yada yada yada. So we went. We flew to Helsinki and the next morning took the ferry to Tallinn. The ferry ride from Helsinki to Tallinn is very easy and quick. The ferries depart from a central location in Helsinki (about a 15 minute walk from our centrally located hotel), and the ride is about 90 minutes. We took one of the faster catamarans, which I would recommend. It was air conditioned (handy since the weekend we went it was HOT), had a bar (popular, even at 10am), and comfy, so basically what you need for a boat ride. The ferry docks about a 10 minute walk away from Tallinn's old town, and we just blindly followed the other passengers, hoping they weren't going to the mall on the outskirts of town instead.

Tallinn's old town was pretty, charming, colorful yet OVERRUN with tourists. Unfortunately, I think Tallinn has already started to suffer from the "Rick Steves" effect: far too many tourists descending on one place all at once, and all clutching his guidebook. Similar to what happened in Cinque Terre after he started raving about it years ago. There were tourists everywhere, and therefore the old town lost any feeling of authenticity. Some may argue that few touristy cities are authentic, however, walking around Italian towns you still see Italian townspeople out doing their shopping, hanging their laundry, gossiping with neighbors, walking kids to school. In Tallinn I did not see one Estonian, not one person who seemed to actually be living their life in the old town.

We walked around the old town for a while (it's pretty small), visited the churches, saw the main square, saw the old walls and had lunch. I researched where to eat, and it seemed that one of the most popular restaurants, even at lunch, is a Medieval-themed restaurant that serves bear. We ended up at a pizza place (don't roll your eyes...). It was perfectly decent, although not air conditioned. We decided to forgo the Medieval fun, and the BEAR, on such a sweltering day for something a tad bit lighter, and BEAR-free.

The ferry schedules are sort of limited, there aren't ferries between Helsinki and Tallinn every hour, so we timed our city walk to coincide with us catching the earlier afternoon boat. In the end, we didn't need any more time in Tallinn. Granted we only saw the old town, not any of the newer city, or a park I had read about it, but the point of our trip was to see the old town. When we first discussed going to Finland and Estonia I was considering spending the night in Tallinn, but we didn't. And I am really glad we didn't. Dave's friend told us you don't need too much time there and I am happy we listened to him. Having about five hours was more than enough time to see most, if not all of the old town, eat and do the to-and-fro ferry walk.

After our lunch, and on the way to catch the ferry back to Helsinki, I made Dave walk by one certain street I had read about. According to my sources, the KGB used one building in the old town to interrogate perceived enemies of the state. The windows in the building's basement were bricked up to muffle sounds. The flat squares seen below are the former windows, now covered. They went along the entire length of the building. And on to the ferry we went. By the way - Tallinn is known as a cheap place to buy alcohol so a LOT of people ride over from Finland, stock up on beer, etc and take it back on the ferry. We wondered why people had those collapsible shopping carts, and on the ride back we figured it out - they were overladen with the good stuff. Ready to go home and par-tay!

I know this post is rather negative on Tallinn, and I don't mean it to be. I am glad we went, I am glad we saw Tallinn, and I actually really enjoyed walking around the old town. Part of what made the day a bit unenjoyable was the weather, as it was soooooo hot, and the heat was inescapable. But I was also shocked how crowded the town was. Tour groups all over the place, and camera toting, shorts, socks and sandal wearing people everywhere! Oh, and I forgot to say mesh shirt wearing too.

I know - tourists in Europe, in the summer - oh my! How dare I criticize. It was just...so full. In such a small area too. It felt more crowded than most other European cities, except for maybe Venice. Would I recommend Tallinn? Yes, but only, ONLY as a day trip.

On the next installment of Thursday Travels - Helsinki. The land of berries and car races.

When Veggies Are Pretty

We went to the Pimlico Road Market on Saturday and I found a purple cauliflower. I actually really, really like cauliflower (did you just stop reading?) so I don't need purple to make eating them appealing. But, it sure doesn't hurt! I thought about making cauliflower soup or cauliflower puree but then I thought that might actually make eating such things less appetizing. Purple soup may just look...nasty. So I decided on this salad. The description says the colors in the salad are pale - well, I'll show them with my purple cauliflower! Won't that add a bit of zing? However, not enough zing to make Dave try it.

I do know he will try my pumpkin bread. I have made this recipe time and time again and it's really good. But I loooooove (I could have added 5,000 "o's") pumpkin anything, especially breads, cakes, cupcakes, pies, ice cream...   I don't add the orange to the bread because I never have oranges at home and I never feel like buying one just to zest it and then have it sit on my counter slowly shriveling up and drying out and dying. Gross. But the bread is awesome without the orange. But again, I love pumpkin. And now that it's fall (with summer-like temperatures outside) I start making pumpkin recipes up the wazoo, because to me, fall equals pumpkin. Or pumpkin equals fall. That sounds like an SAT question: fall is to pumpkin as summer is to...

After dinner update: Dave came home and did NOT try my cauliflower salad. I offered and he declined. I was not surprised. But he also came home and ATTACKED the pumpkin bread. Seriously, a whole corner of the thing is missing. He also asked me why I made it, since having it means we will eat it, and quickly. No joke, that thing will be gone in about 12 hours. Did I say I like pumpkin?

I Make Things, Do You?

OK, so this isn't trip related, but I have been meaning to write about this for some time. I love to make things - jewelry, cards, I sew (sort of), knit (kind of), bake (heck yeah! bring on the calories!), cook (not enough), etc etc. Soon after I moved here I started looking for places to take classes, something to occupy my time and to allow me to be creative while not making a mess at home. I also didn't bring my sewing machine over (have you used it yet, Mom??) so if I want to sew I have to find somewhere else to do it. I ended up stumbling across The Make Lounge, an awesome place up in Islington. I have since taken four classes from them, my most recent being this past Tuesday. You spend about two to three hours learning to make things and then you walk away with your completed project. It's fun, laid back, you get to learn how to make nice things, and you don't have to clean up! Well, it's nice to help the instructors clean, have some manners why don't you. So what did I make?

1. I learned how to use an overlocker/serger. We got to make napkins while figuring out how those strange machines work. The Make Lounge has a store (but all materials are included in class prices) and they have awesome fabrics and supplies so it's fun to make stuff out of their offerings. Like napkins made with Eiffel Tower fabric! And notice, two different color threads which means I had to thread the darn machine twice.

2. Next I learned how to make a snap-lock purse/wallet thing. This one wasn't too hard, pretty simple sewing was involved, and again, cute fabrics to choose from!

3. My third class was screen printing, which was really, really fun. This class didn't involve learning how to print the image on the screen using emulsion, we only used stencils to create our prints. But we did learn about printing on fabrics, inks, how to physically print (more technical than it seems) and then we got to make towels and tote bags. The price included two items and you could purchase more for I think two pounds each. I made three towels and one tote bag. And yes, Riley was my subject.

4. Finally, I made a notebook in their bookbinding class. I had my eye on this class for a while and kept on putting it off, then finally went this past Tuesday while Dave was out to dinner. This class was also supper easy, which was nice, as I could really see myself making more of these (Spoiler! Christmas presents!) The bookbinding technique we learned, one of 1,000's, was really easy, and the supplies would be fairly cheap to buy so I was glad to learn something handy and reproducible.

No pictures of the inside because then you'd just be looking at plain white paper - boring! The pink thread is much more catchy.

I am hoping to take their silver charm class next. They offered it the day after I took bookbinding, but I thought it may be over kill to go twice in two nights. So maybe, come October, I will be showing you pictures of my handmade silver charms.

Now I am off to set the table with my napkins, count my change in my coin purse, dry the dishes with my towel all while writing my future best seller in my notebook!

Sigh. Summer Is Over.

So we're back! Actually, we've been back a week and a half now, much to Riley's annoyance since she was having so much fun at her over night camp. As an aside, I think she lost weight while we were gone, so I suppose I should say she quite enjoyed her time at the health spa. As an aside to the aside, she gained back the weight in about three days, so either she was too sad to eat (doubtful) or I just overfeed and over-treat her (likely). Our trip was great, and I will write about it soon enough, just hold your horses, sheesh. First I have to write about trips to a) Helsinki and Estonia, b) Copenhagen, c) Provence and d) THEN I'll get to our most recent trip.

Now that the weather has turned - HA! as if we had a summer here in London - and summer is officially over, our season of traveling has ended as well. We booked an upcoming weekend to Milan but aside from that I think we're appreciating being home, with our lovely dog of course, and not having to pack/unpack, rush to the airport, fly somewhere, run around for two days straight trying to see everything, fly back, get home late, lather, rinse, repeat. But as soon as I typed that I was already thinking about places to go.... But overall we had a very fun summer and managed to see some great places, some new and some old. To recap:

We visited 9 countries over the summer, if you include the US, which I guess we should since we technically don't live there anymore: Germany, France (twice), Italy, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Malaysia, Singapore, and yes, the US.

We went to 4 new cities (5 new ones to Dave): Bordeaux, Paradou, etc (in Provence), Helsinki and Tallinn. Dave also went to Berlin for the first time, but I had been there already.

We managed to survive our around-the-world journey, however for the first time we were both physically ill from jet lag. And unfortunately it happened in California, where we were expecting to eat all of our favorite foods. We did eat, trust me, we ate, but it just wasn't as enjoyable as eating when you feel nifty. If we go 'round the globe again maybe we'll go the other direction to compare. OK, Dave?

Riley spent quite a few nights away from home this summer, poor doggie. But she survived and she seems stronger for it! And she doesn't hold it against us, so all is well.

Now that we are home I am trying to sort out a few things (renter's insurance, anyone?), and also trying to do some London things that I have had on my list ever since I moved here. I have been here over two years, but I still haven't "seen" a lot, meaning I haven't done the touristy sites. So maybe this fall I'll get around to it. Like Windsor, some of the other big ole houses (Hampton Court Palace perhaps), maybe take some day trips (Cambridge, Bath, I want to go to Brighton but Dave says no) and maybe, just maybe, we'll take Riley on the train. She has been on the tube and the buses, but never the trains. So if she's lucky we'll do that too.

So now that I have given you the recap I can get down to the nitty gritty and start posting about more interesting things, like what we ate in France!