Tallinn, Estonia June 15 2015

Today we are in Tallinn.  It is our first official day of excursions with Adventures by Disney and we are ready to go.  The ship is docking around 9:30 and all ashore is 10:00 a.m.

Tallinn is a town with winding cobblestone lanes and iron street lamps.  There was medieval markets.  It has great historic ambiance and a cutting-edge culture.  Did you know that Skype was created here?  Who knew……

Tallinn has an 800 year old past.  The Medieval Old Town is the pride and jewel of Tallinn.  Built in the 13^th to 16^th centuries, it has colorful, gabled homes, half hidden courtyards and churches within a city wall and guard towers which gives it a fairy tale charm.

The fat tower:

Entrance into the city:

The City Hall, town square:

We meet at 9:45 a.m. in Animator’s Palate so our Adventures by Disney group can get off the ship as quickly as possible as soon as the ship is cleared.

We take a privately guided city tour with our local host Tiina.  Tiina (yes, it is spelled with two ii's) is from Estonia and speaks excellent English and shows us the preserved past that is still visible in the modern city.  She gives us a lot of information about Tallinn’s history, the coat of arms and that the saying in Tallinn about the weather is:  “It’s like a babies bottom, you never know what you are getting.”  They have six months of winter (at least) and not much sunlight during the winter months, so they are very happy when the days are longer.

The weather looks rainy first thing, then cloudy, definitely really breezy, and then the sun comes out.  But the breeze is just as cool as it has been on the other days.  Layers are the key to the day.

After our walking city tour, we have almost an hour for shopping.  We head down to “sweater alley” as Dusty calls it.  There are tons of vendors and all of them have scarfs, mittens, sweaters, etc., etc., and Dusty said this is the best pricing for merchandise, that it will only get more expensive as we go along.  He is absolutely right.  The prices are incredibly low.  I buy some great souvenirs for the family.  They have sweaters, scarfs, mittens, gloves, hats and more.

Next we meet at City Hall at 12 noon and enjoy lunch right in the middle of old town.  I have the traditional Estonian dish of sausages.  They were quite good.

The we go to meet Old Thomas, the guardian of Tallinn.  He tells our group legends of the warrior and see some of the techniques he used to protect the city.  We learn from Old Thomas, some of the medieval weaponry such as crossbows, catapults and soft swords and then we get to try these out on one another.

Old Thomas lets us taste Tallinn’s version of Coca-cola.  (Think Epcot here where you go taste Coke from different countries.)  Everyone agreed, it was pretty disgusting.

Then Old Thomas gave us an Old Thomas Ice Cream bar.  It tasted to me like a Dove Milk Chocolate Bar.  Quite good, but I was freezing the whole time I ate it.

We watched a battle take place right in front of us between a medieval thief and the police and then we got to throw the thief in jail.

Next we got to climb the tower in Tallinn.  It was quite a steep climb but well worth it when you get to the top.

We run into a medieval knight and get our pictures taken.  I got the sword of death.

After that we headed over to Kadriorg Palace.  The Palace is closed today but they opened it up for Adventures by Disney, so we were the only group in the palace and had a private tour.  Built for Russian Empress Catherine I, the palace was converted into Estonia’s premier art museum upon the country’s independence and has a collection of Estonian and foreign art in the museum.

These are the "fireplaces" in the corners of the rooms, made with beautiful tile that keep each room in the house warm.

There are exquisite gardens outside.  It sits pretty close to the water and so once again it is quite breezy and cool as we walk through the gardens back to the coach.

We get our ABD pin for the day “You’re Tallinn Me” and we head back to the ship and arrive at 4:30 p.m.  All aboard is 4:45 p.m.  On our way back to the ship, Dusty explains that he has toner for anyone that wants it.  He proceeds to spray a mist of Aveda toner on our face to refresh us!  When Dusty says "What time is it?"  We have to respond by saying "It's Toner Time."

I took a short nap after getting back and then headed for character pictures with Elaine.

Dinner was in Animator’s.  It was the show dinner tonight.  Butternut Squash Soup was on the menu.  My favorite!

By then it is 11:00 outside.  There is sunshine out tonight!  Yes, at 11:00.  Took a picture of the sun and then headed back to the room to work on the computer and my travel blog.

A great day with Adventures by Disney.  Had a wonderful time with Dusty and James and the rest of the ABD family.