Capital of Estonia, Tallinn is now known as a sort of "Silicon Valley of the Baltic Sea" after many IT start up where born there, the most famous of them being "Skype" (!). Consequences of my limited culture, I used to think that Estonia would only a sort of small Russia, but actually this country has some historical influence of the danish, german and especially swedish cultures.
We learned that some cruises were regularly connecting Stockholm to Tallinn for a very reasonable price - unfortunately because people could buy duty-free alcohol and cigarettes, and some of us showed a strong interest in visiting one of Eastern Europe countries. And I think that none of us regreted this journey!
11 of the Atlantis students took part in this experience
, and Johan drove some of us to Stockholm with his van, which reminded me the feeling of going on holidays to some summer camps, when everybody is very excited about keeps talking, joking or singing in the bus! The way to Stockholm was a lot of fun! Then after some visiting of Stockholm, let's go to the boat. The principle of the trip is this: we get into the boat at 6PM, the travel time is about 15hours so we sleep on the boat, arrive at Tallinn around 10AM, spend the day in Tallinn and then go back to the boat at 5PM the same day to go back to Stockholm. It seems like a short time period - actually it is, but Tallinn is still not a big town and it is the cheapest way to visit but still enjoy it.
The boat is a curious thing. It is nice, but ugly at the same time. The nice part was the entire sauna - steamer - jacuzzi thing for 4euros, it makes you feel like business men talking about their successful investments and a luxurious boat, some thesis proposal were born during this moment! The ugly thing is to realize that the boat is just meant to buy the all the duty-free stuff, watch some sort of shows, gamble at the slot machine or play blackjack. Moreover you are stuck on the boat so are obliged to eat at 200% retail mark-up restaurants, so let's say that this boat is for a certain kind of people. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, it was a good time to relax, think about something else that classes, get to know each other even more.... and a wonderful karaoke night!! (there are some serious compromising files in some cameras!!).
Arrived at Tallinn, I really felt that "russian" feeling. The town is really nice, it kept a very medieval style, and some building really reminds you pictures of Moscow or St Petersb
urg. The street covered of snow were also very nice, and I expected more snow in Sweden so it really made me feel abroad! This was the occasion to buy a really nice Chapka, and finally have my ears covered from the icy wind. All day long we have been wandering in the town, discovering some new architecture. It thought that you can still see consequences of the soviet era by the way people don't show any emotion in the street. They keep being very serious even if the people we talked to in the shops were nice! We also visited the oldest pharmacy in the world and saw the tallest building of the world... or at least it was the tallest in the 15th century I think. We decided to have lunch in a medieval restaurant where the menu looked attractive. The decorati
on was very funny, and the waiter very nice if we just forget that he was trying to sell us more and more drinks all the time, being not clear if it was for free or charged!! That was a nice gastronomic experience, it was good! (Despite the cockroach that wandered in the table, but my experience as waiter immunized me of these type of fear (sic)).
Finally, we had to rush to the boat after of course being some "souvenirs", and we were back for some 15hours of karaoke and shows. Even if the trip only lasted 3 days, it was really nice and I keep a good memory of Tallinn, plus that I had this "back from holiday" feeling that motivates you to get back to work (or not sometimes...). Tallinn, you and me it's just a matter of time before we see each other again!
We learned that some cruises were regularly connecting Stockholm to Tallinn for a very reasonable price - unfortunately because people could buy duty-free alcohol and cigarettes, and some of us showed a strong interest in visiting one of Eastern Europe countries. And I think that none of us regreted this journey!
11 of the Atlantis students took part in this experience
, and Johan drove some of us to Stockholm with his van, which reminded me the feeling of going on holidays to some summer camps, when everybody is very excited about keeps talking, joking or singing in the bus! The way to Stockholm was a lot of fun! Then after some visiting of Stockholm, let's go to the boat. The principle of the trip is this: we get into the boat at 6PM, the travel time is about 15hours so we sleep on the boat, arrive at Tallinn around 10AM, spend the day in Tallinn and then go back to the boat at 5PM the same day to go back to Stockholm. It seems like a short time period - actually it is, but Tallinn is still not a big town and it is the cheapest way to visit but still enjoy it.
The boat is a curious thing. It is nice, but ugly at the same time. The nice part was the entire sauna - steamer - jacuzzi thing for 4euros, it makes you feel like business men talking about their successful investments and a luxurious boat, some thesis proposal were born during this moment! The ugly thing is to realize that the boat is just meant to buy the all the duty-free stuff, watch some sort of shows, gamble at the slot machine or play blackjack. Moreover you are stuck on the boat so are obliged to eat at 200% retail mark-up restaurants, so let's say that this boat is for a certain kind of people. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, it was a good time to relax, think about something else that classes, get to know each other even more.... and a wonderful karaoke night!! (there are some serious compromising files in some cameras!!).Arrived at Tallinn, I really felt that "russian" feeling. The town is really nice, it kept a very medieval style, and some building really reminds you pictures of Moscow or St Petersb
urg. The street covered of snow were also very nice, and I expected more snow in Sweden so it really made me feel abroad! This was the occasion to buy a really nice Chapka, and finally have my ears covered from the icy wind. All day long we have been wandering in the town, discovering some new architecture. It thought that you can still see consequences of the soviet era by the way people don't show any emotion in the street. They keep being very serious even if the people we talked to in the shops were nice! We also visited the oldest pharmacy in the world and saw the tallest building of the world... or at least it was the tallest in the 15th century I think. We decided to have lunch in a medieval restaurant where the menu looked attractive. The decorati
on was very funny, and the waiter very nice if we just forget that he was trying to sell us more and more drinks all the time, being not clear if it was for free or charged!! That was a nice gastronomic experience, it was good! (Despite the cockroach that wandered in the table, but my experience as waiter immunized me of these type of fear (sic)).Finally, we had to rush to the boat after of course being some "souvenirs", and we were back for some 15hours of karaoke and shows. Even if the trip only lasted 3 days, it was really nice and I keep a good memory of Tallinn, plus that I had this "back from holiday" feeling that motivates you to get back to work (or not sometimes...). Tallinn, you and me it's just a matter of time before we see each other again!
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