Onward to Tallinn

Just wanna keep you all updated! On Friday I spent the day exploring Helsinki with a German guy from the hostel. We went around and took lots of photos. It was my first full day in Europe. The highlight of the day was probably taking a ferry to go see a huge fortress on an island called Suomenlinna. For anyone who has been to the forts on Whidbey Island and in Port Townsend, this was like those but up a notch of awesomeness. There were quite a few dark tunnels to explore, and luckily my German friend had a "mini-torch" (apparently what they call small flashlights in the UK). Here are some photos:

Around the rest of Helsinki, there were quite a few Nokia stores and awesome cathedrals. I met a Finnish student who was studying medicine in one of the cafes in town, and he told me a lot about the city and country. He spoke very good English and sounded like a native speaker, which surprised me.

That night I met an English guy named Adam at the hostel who was travelling to Tallinn the next day. He hadn't booked his boat ticket yet so he booked the same one as I had. Crossing the Gulf of Finland only took 1.5 hours on a hydrofoil and we played cards pretty much the whole way. Once we made it to Tallinn we met up with Chris Raastad, one of my friends from UW studying here, and went to a choir concert in a yellow church. The concert was very good, consisting of both Estonians and Germans. That night all three of us went out to some bars in the medieval "Old Town" of Tallinn and had a few drinks. Old town here in Tallinn is awesome. It has cobblestone streets and awesome bars and cafes to hang out in and meet locals.

It just so happens that the largest athletic event in Estonia, a marathon, happened Sunday, so we decided to check it out. Chris registered for the 10k race that came after the marathon. In his race alone there were upwards of 13,000 runners. It took 10 minutes just for everyone to cross the starting line. Here are some photos:

Runners at the starting line:

Start of the race:

Tallinn skyline:

Last night I Couchsurfed with some awesome Estonians. They are very nice and fun to hang out with. They made me an Estonian drink which consisted of a bit of blackberry jelly mixed into a cup of hot water. They don't have hot water or a shower at their place so they bathe by heating water in a large pot and using a washcloth. I am eager to try.

Until next time,

Josh