Tallinn, Estonia.

After we disembarked our ship in Estonia, we met up with our tour guide.  We rode around on a bus to the various sites.  Our first main stop was Kadriorg Park and Palace.  The Petrine Baroque palace was built by Peter the Great for Catherine of Russia, his wife and was begun in 1718 and finished in 1725.  Peter died before it was complete and Catherine didn't take much interest in it after that.  It was used as a summer home for subsequent Russian royal family members.

We only saw the grounds which were beautiful.  It is considered the crown jewel of Tallin.  The interior has been used on and off as an art museum since 1929.

Next we stopped by the Song Festival Grounds where the Estonians gather every 5 years for a song festival.  It is attended by as many as 400,000 people which is about 25% of their population.  I began in 1869 and is still going strong.

There is a larger than life statue of Gustav Erneraks, their most famous musician, composer.  He sits at the back of the stadium grounds as though waiting for the next song.  The Russians hated this display of nationalism and tried to stop it but the people just became more determined to continue.

They thought of it as their song revolution and it spawned an even bigger protest, the Baltic Chain on August 23, 1989 when 2 million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania held hands a formed a human chain from Tallin Estonia across Latvia to Vilnius, Lithuania which was 600 km or 430 miles long to demonstrate for their freedom from the Soviet Union.  Two years later in 1991 they succeeded.

A very interesting site in Tallinn was the Pirita Convent.  It was a monastery for both monks and nuns dedicated to St. Brigitta.  The permit to start construction and gather materials was acquired in 1417.  It was consecrated on August 15, 1436.  During its heyday Pirita Convent became the largest Catholic monster in Livonia.  It was attacked by Russian troops under the leadership of Ivan the Terrible in 1557.  They sacked the monastery, looted its riches and burned it down.  It has been abandoned since then but adjacent lands were used for the cemetery.

The Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn is an exceptionally complete and well-preserved medieval northern European trading city on the coast of the Baltic Sea during the major period of the Hanseatic League from the 13-16th centuries.

The upper town with the castle and cathedral is the administrative centre, whereas the lower town preserves to a remarkable extent the medieval urban fabric of narrow winding streets, with fine public and burgher buildings, including town wall, Town Hall, pharmacy, churches, monasteries, merchants' and craftsmen' guilds and the domestic architecture of the merchants' houses.  It survives virtually intact from the 13-14th centuries.

Here on the narrow streets of the Old Town, our guide tells us about the merchants and their guilds and how the town was run.  Our guide reminded us that while religion played an important role in the development of the country, most Estonian's are not religiously inclined now.  Religion is not important to most citizens today.

Below is the town hall which was the center of activity for the village.

This pharmacy has continuously been used as a pharmacy for centuries since the 1500's.

We were thrilled to run into a set of sister missionaries.  They must have acclimated to the weather as they were wearing light sweaters.  I wore my jacket and proceeded to purchase a headband to cover my ears soon after our encounter.

Below I am wearing my now favorite headband.  I love this wide, cozy, beautiful headband.

The day before we arrived in Estonia, we had a day at sea.  Our ship, the Norwegian Getaway, is one of the larger ships in the fleet.  At the time of its christening in Miami on Feb. 7, 2014, it was the world's ninth largest cruise ship with a passenger capacity of 3969 and a crew of 1640.  It is the largest ship we have ever sailed on and it took some time to find our way around.  

Amenities include pools, spa, several theaters, a climbing wall, small bowling alley, jogging track, casino and lots of restaurants, bars and entertainment.  All of the shows were excellent but some required reservations and some were an extra charge but also included a special meal.  That was our least favorite event, but we enjoyed the family group we sat by so all-in-all it was a pretty good experience.

Cruising the Baltics in September was a chilly experience so the pools and hot tubs were not appealing to us.  We never have personally used those amenities on a cruise.  We are more interested in scenery and walking on the deck no matter the weather.  And we love visiting all the new countries,  cities and cultures.

                          Here we are sailing away from the beautiful city of Tallinn, Estonia!