The Glassy Sea |
Friday 25 May, was a sea day. That's normally pretty quiet and
not much of note to talk about. But the sea was a bit unusual. This cruise has
been very smooth, with virtually no rough seas. Today was exceptional, as we
had never seen such smooth water. It literally reminded me of the line from an
old hymn about the "glassy sea." Extremely smooth and glassy looking.
Fabergé Ornament |
The other interesting event was Karen won a raffle. The prize was a Christmas ornament hand made by Sarah Fabergé, from the family that makes the fantastic decorative eggs, and other things.
On Saturday we landed at another well preserved medieval city, Tallinn, Estonia. A more modern city has grown up around the old walled medieval city. We walked from the cruise terminal through the newer city in to the old city.
The first landmark we came to was Fat Margaret,
a 1529 round tower on the medieval wall.
Inside the wall, the first church we saw was St Olav, but it
wasn't open that early. From there we walked along Lai Strasse,
passing many medieval houses and other buildings. That brought us to the Town
Hall Square, a typical center of the city.
In our usual quest to see medieval churches, our next stop was
Holy Spirit Church, perhaps the oldest building in Tallinn. It was not
originally a church, but a 14th century Alms House. As is the unfortunate case
in many European cities, especially Eastern Europe, it is no longer an active
church.
From there we walked through an outdoor market area and arrived
at St Nicholas. We did not pay the admission to go inside to see a major piece
of art, the painting, Toten Tanz.
View from St Olav Tower |
Brotherhood of Blackheads |
Steps of St Olav Tower |
Next we walked along an art street, Lange Strasse,
to the upper old town. In that area is the Russian Orthodox church, Alexander
Nevsky Cathedral. Across the square, the Estonian Parliament meets at Toompea Castle.
Nearby is the Dome Church, the oldest church in Tallinn and perhaps in Estonia.
There was a sign outside which said, we thought, there was to be an organ
recital at 1:00 PM. So we walked a little way to a Greek(!) restaurant for
lunch, which was good. After lunch we returned to the church, but they knew
nothing of an organ recital. Oh, well.
Alexander Nevsky |
We then headed to a city viewpoint, Kohtu Viewpoint.
It did provide a good overview of the city. On the way down from the viewpoint,
we passed a public archery field on our way to Kick in de Kök. And from there to Freedom Square before returning to
the Old Town.
Coffee and Pastries |
Tallinn skyline from ship |
At Master's Courtyard, we stopped for coffee and pastries at a
chocolate shop. Not sure how we passed on the chocolate. We then followed St
Catherine's Passage, a very narrow shopping alley. That brought us to another
section of the city wall, which we walked along, mostly next to not on. Karen
bought a typical Eastern European knit shawl and Dick visited another church,
this one Orthodox. Then it was time to head back to the ship after another fine
port day in another new (to us) city.
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