austria: a layover in vienna

I've been to Vienna before, this wasn't an intended trip, nor was it very long.

When I booked my flights to and from Sarajevo, the cheapest option gave me a long layover in Vienna. I basically had the entire day to explore the city. I wasn't as organized as I could've been, but oh well. Maybe next time?

My flight from Moscow landed in Vienna early in the morning, almost on time. Passport control went rather quickly, yay. I sat around for a little while, then asked the information desk how to get into the city by public transport. I also stepped into the grocery store in the arrivals hall, I'm a sucker for grocery stores.

It turned out to be very easy, and relatively cheap to get into the city center of Vienna. There is more than one S-bahn that goes from the airport into the city.

While back in Moscow I'd made sure to download offline maps to use, as I knew I'd get lost without this. My S-bahn took me into the city centre, into one of the main transport hubs. Just figuring how to get up to street level was 'fun,' as was figuring out which street I was on and in which direction I wanted to walk. I have a terrible sense of direction.

I walked through a couple parks, one of which had statues of various composers. I liked Mozart, and the way the flowers had been landscaped into the shape of a G clef. Needless to say, I was among many who wanted to take photos there.

When Bo and I were in Vienna a few years ago we visited a church with a great ceiling, I wanted to see it again. It took a bit of searching the map, then more walking, but I finally got there. When Bo and I had first seen the church it was early April, and still quite chilly inside the church. This visit was at the beginning of July, so temperatures were very different. I was hot, and the church didn't feel nearly as peaceful.

Throughout the day I kept stepping into bakeries, because I love them. I especially like Viennese bakeries, because they have heaps and heaps of pastries, not just bread. It's probably a good thing I don't have regular access to these kinds of bakeries. Even though I stepped into all these bakeries, I didn't get something to eat from most of them because of the heat. When it's hot I eat far less.

I realize this post is quite short, but that's pretty much all I did during this visit. Like I said, I wasn't nearly as organized as I should've been. It was easy enough to get the train back to the airport and continue my trip.

I'm totally okay with going back to Vienna sometime in the future, though it isn't on my must see list at the moment.

greece: athens

I love to travel. It's even better when I have a reason to travel. Over this weekend, it was my birthday. That's as good a reason as any, right? It got even better when I found cheap flights to and from Athens. I'd been to Athens before, but that was in the summer of 1997, just over 18 years ago. Needless to say, it had been a while, so I didn't remember as much about the city as I should.
My flight arrived after 2230, I was able to hop on the metro train, and get into the city for 8 euro. I only had to transfer once, then came up to the surface just a few blocks from my hotel. After hearing for so long about the Greek economic crisis, I was expecting the public transport system to be a lot more run down. It was a very nice surprise to be on metro trains that seemed almost new.
I checked into the hotel just after midnight, then went to sleep. After checking email, facebook, and all that other stuff, of course. Gotta love free wifi :)

The next morning I started with the hotel breakfast, included in my rate. It was a nice spread, yay! Various forms of bread, feta cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, yogurt, eggs, cereal, milk, tea, coffee, cheese, juice, deli meat. I didn't eat everything, but it did all look good.
It was a nice sunny day, and a whole lot warmer than in kyiv. I got to wear a spaghetti strap dress, yay! I started walking toward a main street, then took a right.
I first came to a small park, more like a platz. There was a small church on one side, but it was closed and I wasn't able to enter.

I walked around the whole platz, then followed another street. I wandered through some winding streets, and ended up in an area/intersection with heaps of second hand stores. Heaps of them. You can buy just about anything in these stores. I saw furniture, old stuff, toys, etc...
Another street took me to the edge of a tourist area. I saw another small church, this one was open. Very small, but beautiful. I lit two candles as I left. One for those in my life who are having struggles, and one for the happy moments everyone has.
I didn't really know where I was at the time, but it didn't take a genius to figure out it was a tourist area. Cafes, more signage than usual, (and plenty of English,) and parking. I used a triposo to figure out where I was standing. I followed another street, which was lined with more second hand shops. The shops spilled out onto the street, along with the people who were browsing. It wasn't easy to walk forward. A mess of people. I tend to get annoyed in situations like this, argh.

This street took me to monastirki square. Lots of people wandering around, a couple fruit vendors on one side. I saw a cafe with chocolate in the window, of course I investigated. I know I'd just eaten breakfast, but I couldn't pass up the snack size portion of chocolate mousse they had available :)
On one side of the square is a small monastery (hence the name of the square,) but the door was closed, so I wondered if it was just the building exterior I should see. This was only Saturday morning, I figured I had plenty of time to find out.

I walked out another side of the platz, coming to the entrance to Hadrian's Library. When I got to the ticket office, I found two options. I could buy a single entry ticket, good for just this one sight, or I could spend 12 euro, and get a ticket good for the library as well as six other major sights around the city. I opted for the 12 euro ticket.
There isn't much left of Hadrian's Library, but there are signs at various points around the ruins, describing what was once located there, what it probably looked like, and how it worked. Of notice was a family of turtles that seemed to live in these ruins.

I saw several turtles, each about 2 feet long. They moved a lot faster than I would've thought turtles move. Practically running!
There was also a tiny little museum, mostly showing statues I presume were located around the library?
Along the way to the hill, I walked through an area full of cafes and souvenir shops. I found postcards, yay! A rather large selection of postcards, I was in shopping heaven. Shopping heaven for me, anywho. I wish all cities and countries had selections this big!

Then I made my way toward the Acropolis. This is where I get to explain a couple things about names commonly used in Athens. The Acropolis is the big hill in the middle of the city, the Parthenon is a temple on the Acropolis. Technically, the word acropolis is used to describe a big hill, more specifically the fortified area on top of that hill. The Parthenon is just one of the temples on top of the acropolis of Athens, not the entire hill. The maps are full of the names of each of the temples, but I don't remember any of them, except the Parthenon. I doubt many people do. And I'm way too lazy to look up the names.

There are a few entrances to the acropolis, each of them gated, so they can make sure you have a ticket. The maps are split into the north side of the hill, and the south side, there are ruins of interest on each side of the hill. I came up the north side, then down the south side. (I think.)
Being on top of the Acropolis means you can look out over the entire city in all directions. Back when the Greek empire was in its heyday, the view up to the hill, and down from the hill must've been amazing. As it was, I loved looking out over the city. I could see several other ruins around the city, mixed in among the chaos of the modern city.

When I got to the top of the hill, I was disappointed to see the entire front of the Parthenon covered in scaffolding. I wonder how long it will be there, and what is being done. I can't imagine the entire temple is being rebuilt, but who knows. The scaffolding made it impossible to take that iconic photo with the Parthenon behind you. Darnit.
I also stumbled upon a U.S. sailor being reenlisted at the back side of the Parthenon. Totally awesome. I waited until the ceremony was done, then said 'thank you for your service' to the sailor. It was random, but I"m glad I saw it.
Over the other side of the acropolis, I saw the Odeon, which still looks pretty impressive. Too bad you don't get to climb down into the rows of seats.
After enjoying the breeze at the top of the hill for a while, I came back down. This time I found my way to the Ancient Agora. Google gives me this definition for agora: a public open space used for assemblies and markets. There are a number of ruins in the Ancient Agora, I didn't know what all of them are.

I did recognize the Church of the Holy Apostles. The church is small, no furniture in the interior. Most of it is white, but some of the original paintings are still there. Nice colours, very pretty. 
One more thing that was very identifiable in the Ancient Agora: the temple of Hephaestus. It's still in good shape, though I don't know how much of it is original, and how much as been added in modern times. There is a small area of landscaping around the temple, including pretty flowers. Another visitor took a photo I really liked, (I could see the display screen as she took the photo,) I asked her to take the same photo with me in it :)

Then I walked out of the Ancient Agora. About ten seconds later, I realized there was an area of the agora I hadn't seen, including a big building. (How I missed it I don't know.) Fortunately, the people at the gate let me back in without tearing off another part of the ticket.
This building was the Stoa of Attalos. Another definition according to google: a stoa is a covered walkway. This stoa has been completely rebuilt, and part of it is used as a museum. I loved seeing the old statues. Every photographer (amateur or professional) wants to take a photo looking down the walkway, with all the columns on either side.

Then I walked through the another second hand market area of Athens. Backpacks and bags, clothing, toys, souvenirs, etc... I stopped to eat at a random gyro place.
I ended up back in Monastirki square, filled with even more people.
Yet another side of the square led me to a street split in two. In the middle area was a row of trees. Very pretty. This street wasn't touristy, but it was pretty. I followed this street just because I could. Eventually I walked past the Athens Central Market, housed in a big pavilion. By the time I was there it was the end of the day, so most of the stalls had been packed up.

I could smell fish, lots of fish. Because of the fish and other stuff on the ground, one of the cleanup methods is spraying the ground with water. I didn't feel like walking through so much water, so I didn't go in. I'm guessing there is normally fresh produce, meat, and more in addition to the fish.
Continuing up the street I found another platz. On one side you could catch trolleys, or just sit. I was on the lookout for food, so I didn't sit. I knew my hotel was closeby, so I was hoping to find food.
I did find food. Quite a bit actually. I guess my hotel was located in an area of the city filled with immigrants from the south asian subcontinent. I saw restaurants with Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Nepalese food. YUM. Unfortunately, I saw these restaurants after I'd stopped at another and gotten a giant greek salad, minus the olives. (I can't stand olives, I've always felt that way.) I was way too full to get more food.

I went to bed fairly early that night, there was no reason for me to stay up late.
The next morning I  started with another hotel breakfast. Have I ever mentioned how much I like eating vegetables for breakfast? Greek salad for breakfast is awesome.
After breakfast, I walked out of the hotel in the same direction I had the morning before. This time I walked further along the main street, quite a bit further. Along the way I passed another small church. It was open, but I saw a sign indicating I needed a headscarf to go in, so I simply peered in from the door.

At one point along this street I saw amazing graffiti painted on the entire side of a building. Several 'panels' of the building were painted, each had a giant painting. I don't know whether to call it graffiti or not.
I passed another church, this one was quite a bit larger. I was able to step inside and enjoy the splendor of the paintings. I liked the quiet atmosphere too, I could only see one other person in there. A Greek Orthodox Church.
Eventually I came to my first stop of the day. The Industrial Gas Museum. It's definitely not at the top of most tourist hot spots in the city, but I liked it quite a bit.

There was a sign saying the entrance fee was 1 euro, but when I tried to pay at the cash desk the security guys waved me in and said it was free. Yahoo!
The museum is a complex, not just one building. Each building is a part of what was once the central gas complex for the city. Throughout each building there are descriptions of what you can see, what used to be there, and the people who worked there.
I loved seeing all the old machinery, and making sense of the descriptions of what happened. The people who worked in this plant worked really hard. Backbreaking hard work all day every day.

My favorite part was the building with the old coal stokes. Something about the aesthetic appeal, I don't know exactly what. I'm sure the people who shoveled all the coal into the stokes didn't care one way or the other. Or even notice the aesthetic appeal.
After exiting the museum complex, I crossed the street and walked back a block. I took another, smaller street and made my way to the entrance of the Kerameikos ruins. These ruins are another sight included in the 12 euro ticket I mentioned earlier.

Most of the area of Kerameikos is dedicated to graves, and their markers. Some were quite grand, some not so much. There was a small museum, which I walked through rather quickly.
There was also an area with regular streets and the stones leftover from homes. Not much was left of course. I liked the mosaic designs you could see on some of the floors.
Another section of Kerameikos shows what is left of the old city walls. Not much, but you can see how thick they were. I also came across an olive tree, very much alive.
The day before I'd seen turtles at Hadrians library. I saw more turtles at Kerameikos. I even saw two turtles having friendly 'relations.' Definitely not something I ever thought I would see.
I exited the area, and walked back toward the city center, toward the area in which I'd started the day before. I got to monastirki square, and looked in the same cafe for another snack size chocolate mousse. No dice, darn it. This time I walked into the monastery, which seemed crowded with stuff.

This ended up being a good thing. Instead of following the same street out the other side of the square, I continued walking on the street I was just on. Pretty soon it turned into a pedestrian zone. Lined with shops and and bakeries
One such bakery jumped out at me for no reason in particular. I walked in and had to choose what I wanted. So many choices, a tummy not big enough for all of them :) I ended up choosing two desserts in a cup. YUM.
This bakery was on one corner of a small platz. In the middle of the platz was another small church. It's hard to describe properly, but I would almost say the church was a bit sunken into the middle of the platz. People sat on the walls around the church.

No pictures were allowed inside the church, darn it. Because of that restriction, everyone took a photo of the mosaic over the door at the entry of the church. Plenty of ladies posing suggestively, which didn't seem right to me. Anywho, the interior wasn't super impressive. (Or maybe I'm just a jaded traveller.)
I continued walking down the street, which soon became unpedestrianized. That's probably not the right word, but I don't know how to say it wasn't a pedestrian zone anymore. The street took me to Syntagma Square, which has a fountain in the middle. Not a big fountain, and not impressive.

The square is across the street from the Greek parliament.
Again, my words fail me in how to describe how different things are placed. To get to the parliament building you have to go up steps. At street level, sort of under the parliament, is the tomb of the unknown soldier.
I've seen a tomb of an unknown soldier in a number of different countries. All different in terms of uniforms worn, and changing of the guards ceremonies, but all the same in terms of seriousness, and honor.
I got lucky, as the time I got to the tomb was just before the ceremony. I don't think guards changed at all, maybe they switched positions. Very cool to watch.
From the tomb I followed the street down, passing a park on my way to an arch. Hadrians arch I think? It was built as a welcome for a new empower way back in the day. You can see the Acropolis behind and up from the arch.

I walked along a fence to the entrance of another 12 euro ticket sight. The temple of Zeus. That isn't the official name of the specific area, as there are more ruins than just the temple, but people mainly come for the temple. Awesome. Not many of the columns are still standing, you can see a couple that have fallen over.
After walking around the whole area, seeing all of the ruins (including what remained of a bath house,) I walked back toward the arch. I crossed the street and followed a smaller street in the general direction up the hill.

Eventually (after getting completely turned around and walking in the wrong direction for a few minutes,) I found the entrance to my last 12 euro ticket sight. The theatre of Dionysus. You do get to walk around most of the seating of this one, all except what I would call the VIP seats, in the front row. From the top of the back seats there is a decent view over part of the city. Pretty.
After the theatre I was hungry. I found a cafe, and ordered moussaka and another Greek salad. (Again without olives, disgusting as they are.) My waiter pointed me in the right direction after I finished, so I was able to walk back in the general direction of monastirki square.
To get there I had to walk down some streets lined with cafes, some of which were full, and I could hear conversations quite well. The streets felt loud to me, not at all relaxing. I wonder if all the people were locals, or tourists, or both. And I wonder if any of the cafes had any really good food.

 When I got to monastirki square, I found the metro entrance, figured out how much to pay for a ticket, then hopped onto a train. I took the train all the way to the port where people find ships/ferries.
I stopped in another bakery and bought myself more treats. I like Greek bakeries :)
My original plan was to walk around the port, enjoying the scene. It turned out to be not very exciting.
Since I'd taken the train out to the port, I didn't want to turn around and go back straightaway. I found several churches, they were beautiful, and empty. As I walked the streets, I saw very few other people. Nice to get away from the crowds for a few minutes.
After a little while I did make my way back to the train. An easy ride back to monastirki square. I walked up the tree street just as I had the day before, because I knew where I was going.

I was quite excited to get back to my hotel and see the Indian/Pakistani/Halal restaurant across the street. I'm pretty sure I was the only person not from the subcontinent in there, as I could see several looks of surprise when I walked in.
There didn't seem to be a menu, instead I was asked what I wanted. I asked for palak paneer, which they had. I ordered a sweet lassi too. My idea of heaven :) My food came with another Greek salad (this is Greece, regardless of what type of cuisine is normally served in the restaurant,) and the guy delivered a dish of briyani as well, and said it was on the house. I ate as much as I could, which was a lot. By the time I left, I felt fat and happy.

I went to sleep pretty early back in the hotel. Then I had to wake up at 0200, leave the hotel at 0230, and walk to Syntagma Square. From there I caught a bus to the airport, and made my 0530 flight easily :)

tennessee and virginia: bristol

My friend Nancye used to live in Utah, but during the past year she had moved to Bristol, Tennessee. I had never heard of the town, but if you are into car racing, you probably know the name. I drove from the north side of Chicago to Bristol in one day. Not a fun drive, but not awful either. The worst traffic was when I crossed the river from Indiana to Kentucky, as they are building a new bridge. All the rerouting is really confusing. Note to google maps: fix your directions to nancye's house, you had me turn the wrong way onto her street!
The first night we stayed up chatting and catching up. She was a year ahead of me in high school, but we have a lot of friends in common and still keep in touch with many of the same people. She also suggested a place to meet for lunch the next day, and told me some places I could visit in town.

I had good intentions. I intended to get up a few hours earlier than lunch, explore a little, then meet Nancye for lunch. Instead, I slept a lot later than I expected, and barely made it to lunch. 7 minutes late. Argh. A lovely sandwich place. We sat outside, it was nice. Her office wouldn't mind working with this restaurant for some events, so she chatted briefly with the manager.
Then she went back to work and I walked around for a bit. Bristol is not a big town. I'm not sure how it works, because the town is located in two states, Tennessee and Virginia. State street, basically in the middle of town, is the border between the two states. There are boundary markers all the way down the street. Pretty nifty. Apparently there are two high schools, both named Bristol. Sales tax is higher in one state, income tax is higher in the other. At one end of the street there is a big sign over the whole street: Bristol TN VA, a good place to live. The sign has been there since the 1920s if I remember correctly.

While walking around I found the chamber of commerce, which has postcards. 50 cents for each. That's crazy! But seeing the photos showed me the existence of the boundary markers on the street, which of course made me want to take my own photo. In addition to these markers up and down the street, there are state flags down each side of the street. Tennessee on one side, Virginia on the other. During this short visit I wasn't able to figure out if people from each side have a strong sense of state pride. Hmmm, things to wonder.
I also found a fudgery. I don't know if that's a real word, but they had a lot of fudge, so I was happy. There should be more fudgeries around the world.
I saw the old train station, it's still quite pretty. I don't know if trains till come through the area?
In Cumberland square park I saw a couple memorials. I think one was WW2, the other was a big plane.

This park was across the street from the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Apparently, back in 1927, a guy working for a record company came through the area and recorded a number of groups. These recordings are considered the birth of country music, as the style of music was different from what was heard around the rest of the country. There is an entire museum built around these recordings. You can listen to several of the recordings, watch a video explaining what happened, see some of the equipment used back then, etc... It's a small museum that can take quite a lot of time if you want. I didn't rush through, but I  didn't dawdle either.
Twice during my walk I ended up talking to people on the street because they started the conversation. You've probably heard something about friendly southern folks. One guy was rather impressed with himself, I found out (without asking) that he did high level security clearances for the government. 

Two ladies in an olive oil shop were quite passionate about olive oil.
Nancye arrived home not long after I did. We picked up subs from a place called Zero's and went back downtown for some live music. Bristol is the birthplace of country music, but is no longer the center of the industry, which is Nashville, TN. Howeva, people in Bristol still love live music, and there are plenty of ways to hear it. We took our subs, and a blanket, and went to a small park in town to listen to a band. Apparently this happens several nights a week, and plenty of townfolk show up to listen.
The next morning Nancye went to work again, and I did a much better job of getting out of bed at a reasonable hour. Why is this so hard to do when I go to sleep at a normal hour? 

My first stop was Bristol motor speedway. If you're into car racing, this is a well known place. (I'm not, so I'd never heard of it, but I figured I should visit a place so well known in the life of some people.) Twice a year a whole lot of people come to Bristol to watch cars race in circles around a half mile track. I don't get it. The ends of the track are very steeply banked. You can see how steep it is when workers are on the track, they can't stand up straight. I think I read that a car has to be going at least 80miles per hour in order to make the turns! I think you can take yours which involved going around the track in a car, I had no desire.
As the track is only half a mile, it's not big. So the stands around it go up more than out. I imagine it gets very loud during the races. I was excited when I saw one of the grandstands is named after me: Johnson grandstand (and terrace too!)

I hopped in my car (the same fabulous Prius) and drove to another area of town: to Steele creek park. Along the way I stopped at a hole in the wall for lunch, grilled cheese. Yum. Also on the menu was a bologna sandwich. I had no idea anyone would order that, let alone eat it!
Steele creek park isn't huge, but I liked it. The entry fee was $2, not bad. I'd looked online, and it seemed that I could find trails going around a small lake. It took me a minute, but I found what I wanted. The trails on one side of the lake were steeper than I expected, but well done. They were mulched, and easy to follow, but I still felt I was getting a physical challenge of sorts. Very pretty, except for the bugs. I hate bugs.
The other side of the lake trail was very flat, made of cement in some places. Due to the time of day I was there, this side was also very sunny. I didn't have much water with me, I wasn't feeling so great when I finished. 

Thank goodness for the water and Gatorade in the car :)
After I got home, Nancye picked me up and we went to a short yoga class at her gym. Nice way to stretch into the weekend.
The weekend we filled up with two day trips. (Read the other posts.)
The following Monday Nancye went to work and I went into town again. I mostly walked the streets just to see what I could see. I made another visit to a bakery I already loved. There is no such thing as too many brownies.
I had lunch at a place called Manna, a bagel sandwich and soup. In hot and humid weather I never want heavy food. They had plenty of yummy sounding items on the menu. Nancye tells me it's a great place to go on sunday mornings, when everything else in town is closed.

In the afternoon I met Nancye on her campus, she gave me a tour. King university is a Presbyterian school. There are approximately 1000 students on campus, half of which are athletes. There are another 2000 students online. Tuition is not cheap, but the campus is beautiful. Some of the athletic teams are national champions! She introduced me to one of the coaches, who happens to be Ukrainian. Awesome. At the bookstore I loaded up on postcards, much more affordable there.
After the tour we left campus and drove to yet another area of town. We visited the south holston dam. It's very different from any dam I've seen before, I liked it. I don't know how much water the area holds, or what happens when the rain is strong. There are flat trails around the area, we went for a stroll. There weren't too many people out there, it would be a great place to go running.

The next morning I packed up, and met Nancye on campus one more time. She gave me a King University swimming t-shirt, and we said our goodbyes.
Then I got 'on the road again.'

estonia: tallinn

I finally got to visit my third Baltic capital city, yahooooo!

I flew to Tallinn, Estonia on a Friday evening, on Air Baltic. The connections were tight, but lots of people fly from Kiev to Tallinn/Vilnius, so the later flights usually leave a few minutes late as they wait for people from the flights that first land in Riga. My flight landed before midnight, and it was a quick and cheap taxi ride to my hotel in the city. I think this taxi ride was cheaper than I'd had in either Riga or Vilnius.  Score a point for Tallinn already!

My hotel had 24 hour reception, I wasn't waking anyone up to checking, yahoo. The lady gave me all the information I needed about the hotel, and let me know where I could find maps and brochures about the city. I'd already realized Tallinn has done a great job of making things easy for visitors, providing information everywhere. Plus, it seems people speak three languages: Estonian, Russian, and English.

The next morning I woke up earlier than expected, considering I hadn't fallen asleep until after 0100. The only downside to my hotel is that weekend breakfast wasn't served until 0900, which is a bit late if you want to get out of the hotel and spend as much time as possible wandering around the city.

Instead of waiting for breakfast, I went for a walk. One of the brochures/maps listed two things I wanted to see that looked to be nearby: a fish market and a bakery. (I always visit a bakery soon after arriving in a new place. I figure it's important to find out as fast as possible if I'm going to like baked goods in any particular location.) The brochure said the bakery opened early, I wanted to see what they offered. Also, the fish market was only supposed to take place on Saturdays. I read the entire brochure, this two things were the closest, best options, but there were others that sounded interesting.

I was shocked when I walked out of the hotel. It was snowing, and windy. I was NOT mentally prepared for either of those, even though i'm pretty sure the weather app had mentioned snow over the weekend. Wind is the tougher of those two types of weather, my hair flies everywhere, and dries out my skin.

Sadly, I ended up being disappointed in both the bakery and the fish market. It turned out the bakery didn't open until 0900 on weekends, (that is definitely NOT early) and when I found the location of the fish market, there was nothing there. ARGH. 

I probably could've walked back later in the day, but I didn't. Instead of those spots, I continued walking. I walked through a small part of the old city, which is the main tourist area of the city. Those streets are completely deserted at 0730 on a Saturday morning. (not a surprise.) It was fun to walk and see the beauty of the area without heaps of people everywhere. I got to take a few photos, and take my time finding the right angles :)...by this time it had stopped snowing, in fact the skies were totally clear...but it was still cold, so my fingers were having a hard time working the camera...
side note: i'd be the first customer for any company or person who invents a camera that isn't so susceptible to cold...lithium ion batteries are great in that they're easily recharged, but they lose their energy rather quickly when it's cold (even when it's at just 0C/32F) so you have to carry extra batteries, and keep them warm...i do a fair amount of traveling in freezing (or colder) weather, i would be so happy if dying batteries weren't such a concern...wheneva i see national geographic photos of cold places, i always wonder how many extra batteries those photographers carry around, and how they deal with the problem...

I found another bakery on my way back to the hotel. This bakery was open, yippee! I took a while making decisions, there was so much that looked so yummy. Estonia is definitely a country I want to return to, for the bakeries if nothing else!! Even though I knew I was going to be eating breakfast within 15 minutes or so, I bought a few pastries. YUM.

The hotel breakfast was a buffet. I've had better, I've had worse. It's always nice to have the meal included in the price of the room. There were cucumbers and tomatoes, cheese and meat slices, tea/coffee, hard boiled egss, etc...

After breakfast I relaxed in my room for an hour or two, then went out again. I walked around the other side of the old city, around the bottom of Toompea hill. Very pretty. I saw a few statues along the way, I don't know what they were memorializing.

It didn't take me long to get to my first destination: the Museum of the Occupations. It's similar to what I've seen in Riga, and Vilnius. There was a lot of information, about the time from the first Russian/Nazi invasions, through the fall of communism, in 1991. Information about all aspects of life, and those who were affected by everything that happened.

There were a couple cars on display, I think they were made in Estonia. There was information about Germans, Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Roma, Latvians, and more. There were displays of the money through all those years. There was a display of doors from various prisons during those years. There was a selection of technology during those years, radios and the like. It's not a big museum, but it's definitely possible to spend a lot of time in there if you read and look at everything. It can also be overwhelming if you read and look at everything.  People during those years lived through a LOT.

Along the way to my next stop, I found Freedom Square. There is a big memorial to the War of Independence, which happened during WW1. I must admit it was a bit strange to see something big that was not related to WW2.

It took me a while to walk to my next stop. A palace/park area a bit out to the east. (It was an easy walk, straight down a street, but it wasn't close.) The park wasn't that great, probably because it is the end of winter, and spring hasn't really shown up yet, so it's just empty. Behind one palace was a landscaped garden, it's probably very pretty when everything is blooming. Not too far behind that is the office of the President of Estonia. (or is it prime minister? I don't remember).

I made sure to follow a different street back into town, just because.

When I got back to the old city area of the city, I simply wandered. My first stop was another bakery/cafe, this one totally different from what I'd visited that morning. I ended up eating a small chocolate, a cakey sort of thing with fruit, and a chocolate cakey sort of thing. YUM. All for less than 5 euro, woo hoo.

I found the town hall, and the open platz right there. It's pretty, and probably packed with chairs and tables for cafes during warmer months. I was surprised to see quite a few chairs and tables outside, all full of people. Even though the sun had come out by this point, it definitely wasn't warm. At all.

I continued wandering, looking at restaurant menus, and stepping into souvenir stores. (Remember my fascination with postcards.) Eventually I found what I wanted for a place to eat dinner, and postcards to buy for a reasonable price.

I walked up the so-called 'short leg', the shorter street leading up to Toompea hill. It's steep, but not bad. Immediately I saw Al

exander Nevsky Cathedral, an Orthodox cathedral. It's pretty, I found the exterior more interesting than the interior. You can tell there are plenty of tourists here, as there were a number of signs telling people to be quiet, not to take photos, and I've forgotten what else. The iconostasis was pretty, but the ceiling wasn't as decorated as I expected.

I looked at my map, and saw that it showed several different lookout points. They were supposed to offer nice views over the city. I found three of them, looking out in three directions over the city. There were pretty clouds, and still some sun, so I think my photos turned out okay. I had a hard time getting a selfie, as the wind was still crazy, so my hair was going all over. Argh.

My iphone shut down because it was so cold, (remember my side note earlier in this post??) and my mapmyrun app had just told me this walk was already 15km long, so I went back to my hotel to warm up and charge the electronics. After an hour or so, I headed out again, and found the restaurant I'd noticed earlier. I was craving steak. It ended up being okay. Not great, not awful. It did take care of my craving, so I was happy.I ordered a non-alcoholic mojito (I'm allergic to alcohol,) but when the waiter brought it to me I could tell there was alcohol in it from the smell. He made the switch, thank goodness. (Alcohol sets off my asthma badly, and I had no desire to speak time in another hospital.)

Instead of going back to the hotel straightaway, I went back up to Toompea hill, I wanted to see the lookouts at night. Pretty, but not stunning. The city isn't lit up as much as I expected. From there I went back to the hotel. On the way back, a guy asked for money, then followed me for several hundred meters, continuing to ask for money. He was drunk. When I said no, for the 5^th time, rather forcefully, he called me a b—ch, then stalked off. Really? Did he think that hassling me would make me give him money? Argh.

The next morning I was up early again, I decided to go for another walk before breakfast. This time, I didn't have any plan as to where i was going.  I walked around the edges of the old city, and found a statue of two frogs, sitting on a fencepost under an umbrella. I'm sure there is a story behind it, which of course I don't know, but I thought it was cute...

Not too far away was the opera house. It was nice looking, and the exterior colours were different from what I'm used to.  Green and yellow. 

From there I cut back into the old city.  I finally got out my map and took a look to see what else I wanted to see. I know it sounds silly, but I was a little excited to be using a real map, not google maps. It doesn't happen so much anymore.  (Partly because I haven't had a guidebook, and therefore no map, for my out of country trips recently.) Then my fingers told me "it's cold!" Another sunny day, but also cold.

I found what I was looking for, a small street called st catherine's passage.  I think back in the day it was a 'regular' street.  There are still small arches made of grey brick over the street, very picturesque. 

There are small workshops of artists, and since I was there early, only one was open.  An older man was working with glass, very very cool to watch for a few minutes.  

This street took me to the walls surrounding the old city.  I found an entrance that allowed me to walk up to a second level, and follow along the walls for a couple hundred meters in each direction.  (After paying a small entrance fee, of course.) I liked looking over the roofs of the city, the views were pretty.  Nothing outstanding, but very nice.

Back down at street level I followed that street, to a few others,
(I was surprised to still be finding new streets to wander in the old city, as the area isn't that big) and eventually walked past another Orthodox church.  This one was smaller than Alexander Nevsky church, but had the same slightly touristy feeling, even though it was an active church.

From there, I weaved through streets again until I got back to the bakery I'd visited the day before.  This time I bought more, I wanted some tasty items to bring back to Kyiv.  YUM.

Breakfast back at the hotel was the same as the day before.  YUM.

Another hour relaxing and packing up after breakfast, then back out to walk for a couple hours.  I don't remember anything specific, I was just happy to be outside, walking around a pretty city.  

When I got back to the hotel, the front desk lady called a taxi for me, it arrived a couple minutes later, and 15 minutes later, I was back at the airport.  This trip was way too short, I definitely want to come back to Estonia!