Day 11: Goodbye Helsinki!

Before getting to today's happenings, we'll give more details about our trip to Tallinn. Too worn out yesterday to elaborate on our great day. As we mentioned, the ferry ride was more like a ship ride. Very smooth sailing with beautiful, clear skies. We stayed out on the deck for as long as we could handle the wind! Chilly....even though the rest of the day was very warm with all the walking and sightseeing.

The Old Town of Tallinn is nestled right in the middle of the modern, larger Tallinn. The tall skyscrapers and hotels mingle with the church towers and old city walls in the skyline. It's quite unique. We walked around the wall until we got to the main gate. The narrow cobble streets and clay rooftops instantly bring you back to when this town was the heart of Estonia.

We visited a bakery for lunch and began to explore. The first church we visited allowed people to go up to the top of the tower for a small fee. We both thought that the views from up there would be worth it! The winding stairs were very old and there was only space for one person so meeting someone coming the other way was tricky! Kristi made it about 1/2 way before saying "no way!" and headed back down. (I don't really do heights and those little windows didn't help!) Lynn made it to the top but only peeked her head out. The edge was only protected with a few thin wires. For someone not weary of the height and edge, the views of the town are probably priceless. Not for these 2!!!!

Throughout the day, we visited several other churches (no tower climbing however!). We also visited the City Museum and tried to visit the oldest pharmacy and it's museum but they are closed on Mondays. The antique shops were neat because of the old Soviet and war memorabilia.

The ride back was nice. We caught a taxi back to our hotel. Our feet were not in the mood to walk the almost 2 km. back to our hotel!!

Today:
After a good night's rest, we got up this morning for one last walk around Helsinki. We headed over to a market with vendors selling handmade items. Then, we made our way down to the harbor and around Senate Square.

We packed up, said goodbye to Raddison Blue, and headed over to the hotel by the airport. The check-in desk gave us the same room we stayed in when we first arrived. It's a nice room with a great view of the runway. It's fun to see the planes landing and taking off.

Our flight to Frankfurt leaves pretty early tomorrow. We have about a 3 hour layover in Germany before we head home to NC. We commented about how it seems like we've been here so long yet doesn't seem like we should be leaving just yet.