Before we get to today time in Tallinn, we have one thing left over from our stay in Warnemunde Germany.
As I mentioned on that post, Warnemunde is the jumping off point for trips to Berlin. It’s a long day and we had done it before so didn’t repeat it this time. However, many of our fellow passengers did, in fact over 500 went to Berlin on Wednesday.
Holland America (HAL) books a train for their excursions, these are expensive in the $259 to $359 per person range depending on the tour. Others opt to go with a private tour operator to save money or just for the convenience of having a smaller group. When we did the Berlin trip we actually booked a private small group tour and it was great.
The ship was supposed to leave Warnemunde at 9:30PM but that time came and went with no movement, we went to bed not knowing what was going on. We found out the next morning.
The HAL chartered train had a mechanical problem and pulled over to a side track to fix it, scheduled to take about 20 minutes. While that train was stopped, a regular commuter train from Berlin, with 27 HAL passengers on a private tour zoomed by them. A little way up the track, the commuter train either hit, or was hit by a tree. (severe storms were in the area).
Both trains are now stopped and were delayed by several hours. HAL will wait for their own tours, regardless of how late they get to the ship, but they don’t make that guarantee for private ones.
In this case HAL did wait for the 27 passengers on the now 2nd train into Warnemunde. I’m not sure if the 27 people were transferred to a different train or the engine was replaced on the ‘tree’ train.
HAL opened the buffet at 2AM for the passengers and 500 hungry people came storming in. The 27 who came later were offered room service. All in all quite an adventure for all those involved.
So now to today.
We’re in Tallinn until late tonight because our next port Helsinki is so close, really only a 2-hour trip so no need to leave early.
Tallinn Estonia is like a storybook town, frozen in time. It was originally settled in 1180 and has been continuously occupied because of its prime Baltic Sea location.
Estonia was a Soviet satellite country until 1990, when it achieved independence. Something they are very proud of. Russia is literally their next-door neighbor and because of the Russian occupation, there are many Russians still living in the country. This of course makes Estonia vulnerable but they do belong to the EU and NATO.
We didn’t have a tour planned for today however we did want to go up and see the ‘Occupation and Freedom Museum’ that detailed the occupation of the country by the Soviets and the countries eventual liberation. The museum was all the way on the other side of the old town but it was a pleasant, uphill walk. We got there and of course…it was closed. They were having a private function. Rats!
Well, it is a very pretty city so we walked around, had lunch and window-shopped amber jewelry. The jewelry was everywhere.
It was a beautiful day for once. Warm and sunny. There was a threat of rain in the late afternoon but we were already heading back by then.
I’ve posted some pictures below and I swear I took the exact same pictures when we were in last time.
Tomorrow we’re in Helsinki Finland. We’ve been there before and honestly, it’s not a must see kind of city but we’ll probably take the HOHO bus around and see if anything interests us.
No comments:
Post a Comment