Tallinn and rural Estonia

We arrived in Tallinn Estonia on the Ferry MS Superstar on 16 June 2013. The trip took two hours.. We spent the time nn the forward lounge drinking sparkling wine and beer. We have spent a lot of time wandering the old fortified part of the city of Tallinn. We also went on two one-day  trips and ended up completely exhausted.  Tallinn is a lovely old place at the center of the city. However, the outer suburbs have lots of those hideous Soviet condominiums. Tallinn's population is about 380,000 and the total for Estonia is about 1.8m.

The country is now independent for only the second time in its history having been ruled by a number of countries over the centuries. Most people we have met, both travelers and locals, speak good English. We will be traveling to Latvia tomorrow by  bus where we will be for three weeks.


We are sharing over forty photos of our Estonian visit. The one featured here is of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the old town of Tallinn.

You can view the photos by clicking on here.

Helsinki 15 June 2013

We arrived at about 6:35a.m. on Saturday 15 June and the sun had been up about 3 hours by then. From the air, the countryside looked so green and neat that we wondered if we were looking at golfing greens. We got into our hotel early but went out on the streets to see the sights. ended up down at the main shopping area near South Harbour and the City Hall. There was a Saturday market by the harbour side opposite the City Hall. Lots of market stalls selling food and the usual market goods and trash. We had a couple of  Finnish  sausages (very nice).
The pictured flower stall was a stand-out. Our hotel accommodation was really comfortable and the breakfast was magnificent. Pity the room was a bit small. we enjoyed our walks but we had only a limited time there. We will be back for a few more days later in July. It may nearly be midsummer but we and the locals needed to wear jumpers, jackets etc as there was a cold breeze coming off the Baltic Sea. Just about everyone we spoke to had a good command of English. It is a very tourist friendly place. You can see some of our photos in our picasa album and visit the "Helsinki First Visit" album.

LATER Sorry the Helsinki album is now shared - my mistake.

Taking a break in Singapore - 13 June 2013

Well it is time to tour again. On 12 June 2013 we arrived late at Singapore.  Up early next morning to visit the newly opened Gardens on the Bay. It consists of  a large open garden with many themes and two massive domes. They both have micro-climates; one featuring plants from around the world, Flower Dome, and the other, Cloud Forest, featuring the higher altitude plants of the tropics and featuring a massive artificial waterfall. Google for greater detail. It will be worth the effort.
A selection of our photographs of the day can  be viewed at our Picasa site or go straight to the album for this attraction here. The photo featured here is of some of the artificial "supertrees" in the open gardens.