bosnia: travnik and the last day in sarajevo

After leaving Mostar we drove straight to the airport in Sarajevo, to drop Bo off. It was sad to say goodbye, but we both knew we'd travel together again, we just didn't know when. I was sad to realize that my Bosnian adventure was almost over, my holidays always go by too quickly.

From there I drove another 90 minutes or so to a town called Travnik. When I'd been looking for places to go for my last night or two in Bosnia, I didn't want to go super far away from Sarajevo, and Travnik seemed to fit that bill perfectly.

Travnik is a town of nearly 20,000 people, with a long long history. Wikipedia tells me there is evidence of human habitation in the area going all the way back to the Bronze Age, but most people consider Travnik's history as really starting in the first few centuries A.D. There are plenty of pieces remaining from Roman rule, including coins, forts, graves, etc...

Like a lot of other areas in what is now Bosnia, Travnik was a fortified town. The remains of that fortification are easily the most visited spot in the modern town.

During Ottoman rule, most of the locals converted to Islam, and from what I saw, this hasn't changed, despite the Austrians being in charge for a while. During Ottoman times Travnik became so powerful that both France and Austria-Hungary established consulates there.

A fire at the beginning of the 20^th century destroyed most of the town, so what you can now see of Travnik is just over 100 years old. Apparently the basic industries of the city haven't changed much over the years, the economy still relies on farming and herding. There are a few factories, one of which makes matches, another makes furniture.

Travnik is built in a valley, with some of the town on the hill. My hostel was on that hill, I was rather terrified when I parked the car as it was a steep downhill. My hostel was awesome, I wish I'd had more time in the town to enjoy it.

After resting up for a while after arriving, I went to visit the main sight: the old fortress. It's often called Stari Grad, meaning old city, but I didn't feel like there was a city there, just the ruins of some walls of the old fortress. There was a small museum in one area, but it didn't have a lot to see.

Hands down the best reason to visit this fortress is for the views it offers over the whole area. I got to see a glorious rainbow of fall colour on the surrounding hills, it was beautiful. If I'd had more water and snacks with me I would've gone for a mini hike right then, as it was just gorgeous.

After taking in every possible view from the fortress I walked into town. I walked past a clock tower, which still looked very nice. It was tucked into a courtyard of sorts, I wasn't able to get close. I couldn't tell if visitors could go up into the tower, but someone must be able to in order to keep the clock working properly.

Wikipedia tells me Travnik is the only city in the country that has two clock towers, but I don't remember seeing another one. Obviously I missed the other one, as they wouldn't make that statement if it wasn't true.

My next stop was a mosque, the main mosque in the city. I've seen it called the Painted Mosque or the Decorated Mosque or the Ornamented Mosque, but I don't know which one is the official name. I was thrilled to find an unlocked door and an empty interior. Despite no one else being around, I put on a headscarf, because that's the right thing to do in a mosque.

I loved the windows, I loved the colours, I loved the thick carpets, I loved everything about this mosque. From what I've read since, this mosque is different from most mosques of the era in that there is no obvious exterior dome. 

I walked a little bit on the main floor, which is probably the men's section. I also went up to the women's section, which is a balcony that goes around three sides of the worship area, it was quite nice.

After the mosque I walked through town, but didn't see anything else in particular. There isn't much of note in Travnik, but the atmosphere is quiet and peaceful. I did find a bust of Tito in a small park, which surprised me, considering how 'well' he treated the people when he was in power.

The next morning I went for a hike. There is a very small chapel on a plateau area on one of the mountains, it seemed like a good idea to hike up there. Google maps told me it would only take 52 minutes to walk up there, but I knew that was going to be completely wrong, and it was. Going up took me 90 minutes, going down took about 40.

It was a steady climb to go up the mountain, with a number of switchbacks on the trail. I stopped a few times to catch my breath and just take in the views, because the entire valley was open for me to see. It was neat to get up close to all the trees with beautiful leaves, and see the colours of all the buildings in the town..

I might or might not have fallen a few times on the way down, because my legs were not at all in shape for descending, and the trail had a lot of scree. I didn't care though, the hike was worth it.

After showering, packing up and checking out, I put my pack in the car, then walked into the town center, as there was one more place I wanted to see.

As I did this walk I saw a city sign, the first one I'd seen outside Sarajevo. Yay for city signs!

My next sight was a house museum, the birthplace of writer Ivo Andric. 

He wasn't just any writer, he was a Nobel laureate, having won the prize in 1961. His writing focused on novels, poems, and short stories, mostly about life in Bosnia under Ottoman rule.

The home wasn't very exciting, to be honest. Since I'd already seen a couple traditional homes in Bosnia I was looking for something new, but that didn't happen. The museum had a room completely filled with his books and other writings, and a room with a traditional oven/heating system. It's probably worth taking a tour, so at least you get some information while walking around this museum.

After that I walked back up to the car and drove a little way out of town. I only went a little way because I wanted to see another spomenik. The closest one was in the suburb of Novi Travnik, on the edge of town.

The spomenik I saw honours the victims of fascism and communism. Like so many other spomeniks, the design of this one is unique. I'd almost describe it as a series of faces in the middle of a field. They're all quite large, though they don't initially appear that way. I didn't realize they're all bigger than me until I got up close. They're out in the middle of a field, I just hoped I wasn't trespassing on anyone's property.

From there I drove back to Sarajevo, and dropped off the car first thing. The guy in the rental office was surprised that I was a few hours, but I figured that was the best plan for me because I would've had to deal with city parking in order to keep it those last few hours.

Back in the city center I checked into my room, and relaxed for a while. At some point I went for a walk, just enjoying the city sounds. I got lucky with the timing of sunset, as my photo while standing on a bridge turned out really well. Sarajevo isn't stunning, but it is beautiful in its own way.

The next morning I did my usual pack up and check out, taking my bag with me. I was determined to finally see the history museum, so I made a beeline in that direction.

The musem was impressive, mostly because it is huge. Parts of it were under renovation, but there was still plenty for me to see. Since Bosnia has had people living here for millenia, the history on display had a loooong timeline. There were religious items, daily life items, and information. That was just the main building though, there were a couple other buildings too.

I also visited the zoology building, to see all the fauna from this area. From what I could tell, the entire fauna history of Bosnia was on display in this building. I enjoy the history of people more than that of animals, but this was still impressive. There was also a section on geology, so I got to see small bits and pieces of gems and minerals.

By the time I left the museum I was a bit museumed out. I guess that means it was a good, and comprehensive museum?

Back in the city center I headed straight for a convenience store to pick up snacks for my trip back home, then a bakery to have dessert before hopping on the bus to the airport.

I'll definitely be back to Sarajevo and Bosnia.

uzbekistan: khiva

Getting from Tashkent to Khiva in Uzbekistan wasn't quite as straightforward as I'd hoped. Uzbekistan doesn't have as much tourist infrastructure as I think it should, especially between some of the most popular places to visit in the country.

My day started when a taxi picked me up at 0600 to take me to the airport. My flight was supposed to depart at 0750, and we boarded on time. Then we sat. And sat some more while eating a snack. And sat.

Eventually we deboarded, and went back into the terminal. Announcements were made, but they were in Uzbek and Russian, so I had no idea what was happening. After a while we reboarded, and finally took off around 1015.

A few hours later the plane landed at Urgench airport. Since it was a domestic flight and I had my bag with me, I basically walked straight through the airport, out to the parking lot. 

My original plan had been to catch a bus into the city center, then catch another bus to my next destination of Khiva. Since the flight had been delayed, I no longer wanted to take the time to do that, and opted for a taxi instead.

I agreed on a price of $20 with a taxi driver, and off we went. He pointed out a few things as we drove (including cotton fields, one of the water hungry crops grown in this desert country,) and took me right to my guesthouse in Khiva. 

When he dropped me off he tried to raise the price, saying that I'd been by myself. I gave him the $20 we'd agreed on, and got out of the taxi. I hate it when people try to do that.

I was able to check in straightaway, something I always appreciate. I ended up taking a small nap, which wasn't my greatest move. I need to get better about checking in somewhere, dropping my bags and walking back out straightaway to start exploring, instead of wasting time.

The weather wasn't amazing, which was one of the reasons I ended up dozing off. It wasn't as warm as I'd expected, and it wasn't sunny. At all. It was windy, chilly, and constantly threatening rain.

My first area to explore was right across the street from the guesthouse, I think it took me about 3 minutes to walk to the entry gate. There is no entry fee just to walk around the area, so I opted to wait on buying an entry ticket. Also, the ticket office wasn't immediately obvious, another reason to wait on ticket purchase.

As I walked through the gates I could see a group walking along, including two women wearing wedding gowns. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were having wedding photos taken, I guess it was a double wedding. Very cool to see.

The old city of Khiva is still surrounded by its walls, which were first mentioned in history in the 10^th century. The khanate of Khiva is one of the areas that now make up Uzbekistan, but was independent and geopolitically powerful back in the day. 

The old city of Khiva is what visitors come to see, the modern part of the city isn't very interesting. (Though I do wish I had explored a bit more.)

I spent the next few hours wandering around the area within the walls. I found a short, very fat minaret that was never completed. I found a tall, skinny minaret that provides a good view of the entire old city. I found a couple mosques, and a couple madrassahs. I found quite a few museums, some of which sounded far more interesting than others.

I did pay one entrance fee for the day, to enter a mausoleum. I don't know why, but this mausoleum wasn't included in the ticket that covers the majority of the inner walled area. The tiling on the walls and ceiling was incredible, multiple shades of blue mosaic designs. I also noticed that prayers were being sung constantly, by one man who sortof sat in the corner.

I entered the Jama Masjid, the 'Friday Mosque' and could immediately see how old it is. Throughout the prayer area the roof was held up by carved wooden columns. Some of the columns were in better condition than others, not surprisingly. There were no windows in the walls, so it was really dark inside. I'm not sure what kind of lighting is normally used.

I noticed that I must've been traveling during low season, as the souvenir stalls were very lackluster. Many of them weren't stocked at all, and those that were open had very quiet vendors.

Another indication that I was traveling in low season was the closure of some buildings. I could be totally wrong, and those buildings are closed for another reason, but they just seemed so sad and empty.

It was impossible not to notice that every building was made in the same colour. A beige colour, very bland. The only colour came from the beautiful blue mosaic tiles used for decoration on the front of madrassahs, mausoleums, and mosques. With the gray sky, it seemed a bit ho hum.

Eventually I walked back out of the walls and went back to my guesthouse. The owner gave me some ideas for where to get dinner. Fortunately, one of the places was nearby, as I just wasn't in the mood for walking a long way. (I was cold, and not mentally ready to be cold, if that makes sense.) Food was good, and I came back to the guesthouse full and ready to sleep.

The next morning I got to experience a fantastic Uzbek breakfast. I ate a crepe, half a piece of French toast, sweet potato, another vegetable, rice, mashed potatoes, pickled something, bread, cookies, and tea. Not only did it all taste good, it was presented really well.

After a few more hours of relaxing, I went out for the day around noon. Yes, I wasted half a day doing a whole lot of nothing. I went back to the entrance gate, and paid for the city ticket, a whopping 100,000 som. (Which worked out to $11/12 US dollars.)

The ticket office also sold postcards, so I took advantage to get a few of those. The photos weren't nearly as good as I thought they should be, but I don't make the postcards.

I started my sightseeing by walking to another palace that I thought was included in the ticket. (My guidebook said it was.) It turned out not to be included, and the additional entrance ticket would've been 40,000 som. 

Since I hadn't yet seen anything included in the first entry ticket, I decided to skip the extra palace, and hope that I didn't miss anything spectacular.

I walked back to the old city area, and found a palace inside there, called the Ark. (Not the one Noah sailed when the world flooded.) I'm not sure what each section of the Ark was, I felt as though I was seeing a series of stages. I'm sure I could look it up, but I never got around to it. 

The appearance of each stage was quite fantastic, with nice decor, and wide open areas. Each tile design was different, and the undersides of the ceilings were awesome.

I found stairs which led me to the top of part of the Ark, which provided views over the entire old city. I loved it, and if it hadn't been so windy I would've stayed up there for at least an hour.

After leaving the Ark I visited a few of the museums spread out over the old city area. I saw the history museum, a music museum, and more. Despite the season (winter,) there was no heating in any of the buildings, so I was cold. The biggest museum I visited was the handicraft museum, which was mostly a wide open and empty space. There were small rooms around the area, also emtpy. The undersides of the ceilings were decorately with different designs, which were very very photogenic.

After checking out all the museums I found a set of stairs leading me to the tops of the walls around the city. I walked as far as I could in either direction, though some of the construction seemed rather soft in areas. It was nice to see the old city from a different level, and gave me some exercise.

After coming back down off the walls and walking through the area again I passed a couple school aged kids. They saw I had a camera and asked me to take a photo of them. Who was I to say no?

After the kids, I decided I was mostly done for the day. I walked back to the same cafe where I'd eaten the night before, and managed to clean my plates.

The next morning I got to have the same fantastic breakfast, then pack up my stuff and check out. The owner of the guesthouse had arranged a shared taxi for me to get to my next city, and it showed up on time.

california: san diego

I flew from chicago to san diego via pheonix. Easy flights.
I met Stephanie when both of us worked at a resort on the Pacific island of Saipan. We've kept in touch ever since, she is now married with two kids. Hard to believe it, but our time in Saipan was a long time ago. 2005! Ten years ago! Stephanie picked me up at the airport, we went straight to lunch.
Lunch was at a place called Lucha Libra, a gourmet taco place. Steph told me it was a local place, and is now a busy place because it was featured on a cooking show, or best of list. Now everyone wants to eat there. I don't know how I feel about the "best of" lists, because hidden places become overrun.
It was good food, and the line moved really quickly. They have their own salsa bar, how awesome is that?
Then we went to Steph's house, where I met one of her children, and the nanny. The baby was 8 months old, and seemed happy when I held her. Awesome! Steph collected some of the stuff she had for newborns, and we took it to one of her friends who had just had a baby. (4 days ago.) Awesome. Instead of buying all new stuff, people who are having children should be able to reach out to friends who have already had children and use a few things. Newborns are tiny tiny humans, but they need so much stuff!

After baby time Steph took me to a place called Blush Desserts. YUM. They make macaroon ice cream sandwiches to order, yahoo! You get to choose what flavor of macaroons you want, as well as what flavor of ice cream you want. I got a bit greedy, and ordered a red velvet cupcake too, more yum. Clearly, Steph knows me too well :)
Then we picked up Steph's other kid, a 3 year old. He talks, a lot. Steph told me when he started preschool a year ago, he cried for 3 months straight. I wouldn't have known it from the child I met. He is a happy kid, he wanted to tell me everything he knows about everything.

We went back to Steph's house to hang out for a while. I really enjoyed the view, which looks out over Qualcomm stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers. While we were there I met her husband, a nice guy.
Then Steph took me over to her sister's house, where I fell asleep at 8pm! To be fair, 8pm San Diego time is 10pm Chicago time, which is 11pm Bloomington time, and I'd had another early flight after sleeping in the Chicago airport again. I deserved to fall asleep early :) Oddly enough, the people who lived in the house weren't yet home when I fell asleep!

The next morning Steph picked me up and we went to breakfast at a place called Bear Buns Bakery. Steph had a meeting, so I sat in another area, writing a letter. I loved my chai latte and red velvet cookie. Yum.
After breakfast, Steph dropped me off at the trolley stop at Qualcomm Stadium. There isn't a lot of public transport, but this was perfectly convenient for me. I rode the trolley into the city center, getting off at the stop for Old Town. It's a historical park/district, mostly for tourists. Too many kitchy shops for my taste, but great for people watching. There were a few good (and small,) museums too. I really liked the old schoolhouse. It reminded me a lot of the one room schoolhouse in Bloomington, Indiana. 

Nearby was an old synagogue, no longer used.
Eventually I hopped back on the trolley, transferred to a different line, then caught a bus. All of these took me to Balboa Gardens. A huge, beautiful area in the city. It took me a while to find the central area of the parks. The pin shown on tripadvisor and google maps is not where you find the majority of people.
It was hot and sunny, but I still loved walking everywhere. My first find was the cactus garden. Despite my attempts to be nice, the cacti did not return my love. (I was still digging prickles out of my fingers a couple weeks later! Tiny little prickles you can't quite see, but you can feel.)

I loved seeing some of the cactus flowers, you don't get to see those very often. Beautiful.
By the time I found the central area of the gardens, I was really dehydrated. I got really lucky when I saw a server coming into his shift at one of the restaurant cafes. I asked him where I could find a drinking fountain, he brought me a big cup of ice water, then brought me a to go cup with more ice water. Random acts of kindness are amazing.
Sadly, the Japanese garden was closed for a private event. Argh.
After the garden, I walked to a bus stop for a bus that would take me to a trolley stop. The trolley took me back to Qualcomm stadium. As the trolley got closer and closer, I saw more people with football jerseys boarding the train. I figured out there was a game that night, between the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers.

Getting out of the trolley station and stadium area was quite different than when I'd been there in the morning. Near game time, traffice patterns for both people and cars are different. For security reasons, people getting off the train have to walk a specific way (that takes you through turnstiles to make sure you have a ticket!) and I was worried about how to get out of the crowd; I wasn't going to the game. It took me a bit, but eventually I was able to go where I wanted.
Traffic was already pretty heavy at that point, but Steph and I were able to figure out where she would pick me up through texting. Thank goodness!

I ate dinner in the house that night with Steph and her family.
The next morning Steph dropped me off at a street corner across the street from the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego. A few minutes later, one of my cousins picked me up.
My cousin is a chaplain in the Navy, currently stationed at MCRD. This was a Friday, and he'd arranged tickets for us to see the graduation ceremony for the recruits who had finished basic training. Our seats were in the VIP pavillion, under cover. Thank goodness, as I was sunburnt, and it was again (as is normal,) sunny and hot.

Impressive. I love the mix of tradition and youth. Since my cousin is an officer, and most of the folks on this base are younger and enlisted, he was saluted approximately every two feet. I got to see his office, learn how the recruits are organized, and watch the ceremony. Awesome.
After the ceremony he took me to the gift shop on base, where I got to buy postcards and a mug for his unit.
Then we drove to his house. San Diego traffic is nuts. Not very well organized, full of freeways, too many cars and people. Just as we got to his house, his wife was leaving to take one of the kids to the doctor.

This was only the second time I've met these kids, they didn't remember the last time three years ago. This visit was awesome, as they were old enough to have real conversations, and understand how we are related.
The original plan was to have a picnic dinner with Grandma later that afternoon/evening, but plans changed when my cousin got a call from work. He had to go back to help with what they call an AmCross situation. This is by far the worst part of his job, when he has to help deliver a message to one of the recruits. The message is always a bad one, about the death of a loved one.

When recruits are going through basic training, they don't have access to email, and other electronic communication, so these AmCross messages are delivered by the folks in charge.
We had dinner after my cousin came home again, after going for a short walk to a neighborhood playground. My cousin and his wife said this was a great neighborhood in which to live. Their kids can walk down the street without worry. They know other kids in the neighborhood, and other families. Most excellent.
The next morning breakfast was my choice of cereal. Definitely a Johnson tradition, one that I love.

During the morning, my cousin's wife went to an education fair/school registration. The family had just moved from Colorado, so they still needed to figure out where the kids would attend school in a couple weeks. From what they'd already learned and heard from others, the system in California is rather broken, and definitely not as fantastic as what they'd had in Colorado.
At some point, I hopped in the truck with my cousin and the kids. We stopped at In n Out Burger, my first visit to that chain. I think it's a California/west coast thing? Grandma likes it. The menu is small, and simple.

We brought the food to Grandma, and my cousin's wife joined us when she was done with the school stuff. It was really nice to spend some time with Grandma. She is my Grandma, but is great grandma to my cousin's kids. Awesome.
After a while, I had to go back to the airport. Everyone trooped downstairs, and we asked someone to take a family photo. Very very cool. I wish family photos were taken more often. By everyone. Being able to look at these photos years later is a fun thing to do.
Then my cousin took me back to the airport, and I flew back to Chicago.
This is when I should mention the EXCELLENT people who worked one station of TSA. While I was going through security, a small bag in which I keep foreign currency and various cards fell out of my bag. I didn't notice it, and made my way into a nearby store selling books and newspapers. A few minutes later, I heard someone saying my name, I perked up.

He asked me if I was planning to buy anything, and I said no. At this point I was scared, thinking he was asking me if I was stealing. I wasn't, of course. He kept asking questions, and I could tell he was looking for a specific answer, but it took me a while to figure it out. Eventually, I did. I'm sooooooooo grateful for his effort in finding me. I was able to say what my bag looked like, as well as name a few items in the bag, including currencies. THANK YOU SAN DIEGO TSA.
My flight landed in Chicago at 0100, not a great time. Another night of sleeping in the airport. Thank goodness, I'm good at this.

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!