Tallinn

 On Friday, August 4th, after we discovered that the hotel buffet was much more expensive than we had thought, and after going to Green Hippo, which wasn't open yet, we had breakfast at Fazer Cafe, just down the street.  That turned out to be perfect.  I was having trouble with the Helsinki transit app, so I connected with roaming data on my phone and had Siri tell us where to walk to get to West Terminal 2 in a little over half an hour, to catch the 9:00 Eckerö ferry across the Gulf of Finland for a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia, a trip of two hours and fifteen minutes.

The walking route from the ferry terminal to Tallinn's old town was torn up in places, with confusing detour signage, but we managed to get there just as a downpour started, then just as quickly ended.  That is what the weather would be like all day:  ten minutes of rain; twenty minutes of sunshine; ten minutes of rain, etc., etc.  I had my umbrella looped around my wrist and could easily get my camera into and out of the protection of my windbreaker.

We joined the "free" old town walking tour in front of the tourist information center,  We were a little early, so the guide (a 19-year-old Estonian named Harriet, who, after being an exchange student in St. Louis, has a perfect American accent) showed us where we could get good coffee.

It was a good, infoormative tour, so we gave Harriet a good tip,

One of the stops on the tour was in front of the Russian embassy, which is closed, but still a center of attention.

The tour ended, after nearly two hours, in the main square.  We had time to visit the world's oldest pharmacy, then the Holy Spirit Church (1360), where someone was practicing the organ.

Then we went to Rataskaevu 16, where we had a very good lunch.

Eckerö Eckerö

Teleskivi Creative City had been recommended to us as an interesting place to visit, within walking distance of the old town.  Kadriorg palace and park were, unfortunately, too far to go, given that we had to check in for our ferry back to Helsinki by 6:00.  We went through the market by the train station, but I'm not sure that we actually found Teleskivi Creative City.  We certainly didn't find anything of interest happening, and were getting rained on.  So, we decided to go up on the city wall, instead: not exciting, as far as city walls go, compared, say, to Girona.

We walked back to the ferry terminal and boarded our ship, which left at 6:30, arriving back at West Terminal 2 around 9 p.m.  It was still light out, of course.

Since there was a ticket machine at the tram stop, I bought a couple of 24-hour tram passes.  I was having problems with the HSL transit app, and since not all tram stops have ticket machines and the day pass would pay for itself with four rides, it was simple to buy the passes and catch the tram to Kampintori square.  It turned out that taking the tram the next day to Senate Square or Market Square from our hotel would be more complicated and slower than just walking there, so in the end we didn't get our money's worth.  On the tram we talked with some Finns, including one woman who was a long-time resident of the U.S., back to visit, and a man who appeared to have imbibed a little too much.  They were all rather sarcastic about the polls declaring Finland to be the happiest nation on earth.

From Kampi, we walked about ten minutes to Hotel Indigo, where we we hoped to be able to eat a late dinner.  Our hope was fulfilled, though we were the only ones in the dining room as it approached ten o'clock.  We weren't expecting much from the simple meals we ordered, but they were actually very good.