"No steak for you" in Tallinn

I sat alone in the dark restaurant, filled with chatty tourists and waiters dressed in medieval garb. It had been about 10 minutes since I sat down on the wooden bench at my table decorated with a single candle by which to read my menu. After the waitress gave me "something to read" (i.e. the menu), she disappeared. I picked what I wanted (fat juicy steak), but she was taking so long to come back to me that I was nearly ready to walk out of the restaurant. Just as I pushed the bench out from under me, she reappeared and asked for my order. "Fat juicy steak - medium rare," I said. Then she asked me something I have never heard before: "did you bring your own weapons or do you need to borrow some?" I replied, confused: "Uhh, no...no weapons". She came back with a knife and fork.

Inside Olde Hansa restaurant

When my food arrived, I was in for another surprise. "You will eat the game plate - elk and deer. Because you can eat steak anywhere. This is Estonia." Really? Is it even legal to change my order like that? I was a little irritated (especially since she annoyed me by ignoring me when I first arrived), and although I wanted the steak, I was willing to give the Bullwinkle and Bambi plate a shot. And I was NOT disappointed. The meat was really tender and not gamey at all, and the side dishes were really good as well. So my anger towards her turned into gratitude for forcing me to eat something I didn't order. And I wasn't so mad when she gave me "something to read" (the bill).

I recommend the deer (top and bottom) and elk (middle)

For some reason I have always wanted to go to Tallinn. I don't know why, because I really knew nothing about it, but I just wanted to. Partly it was that I could go to Helsinki from there by Ferry, but also maybe because I really liked Riga (Latvia) and I thought they'd be similar.

I finally got the chance when there was a need to instruct a training for a week in Tallinn. Because of my trip to Istanbul the weekend before and my trip to Oktoberfest the weekend after, I wasn't able to add any days to the trip, so my co-worker Aga (from the Warsaw office as well) and I decided that we had to explore the city as much as we could after class.

We were very lucky that on the first afternoon, one of the girls in the class, Triinu, whom I knew from prior trainings, wanted to give us a tour of the Old Town. We gladly accepted, and we walked around the city, learned some nice things, and ate some good food. I keep saying this, but it's always nice to have a local show us the town.

Tallinn is famous for all the red roofs in Old Town

The wall surrounding the city

The city has a very medieval feel to it. It's very "castley", there are dragons on the Town Hall building, and people are dressed in clothes that make you feel like you're in a Robin Hood movie (these are the tourist attractions, not what the residents actually wear). Besides this medieval history, the city has a recent history quite similar to other countries in Eastern Europe - sometimes occupied by Germans, sometimes by Russians. Then it formally declared independence in 1991, after 51 years of German and Russian occupation (and 70+ years after it became a country for the first time)

Planning ahead for their 500th anniversary, in 2418

Town Hall in the main square at night

Even with this history, the feel of the city is definitely more German than Russian. After Russia formally took the city in WWII, a lot of the German influence stayed. The food is more German-ish, the buildings don't seem so "Russian", and it feels like a "warm" place, even though it borders Russia.

One interesting event in 1989 was a demonstration for more independence...a human chain of 2 million people was created across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. When I picture this, I think of a giant game of Red Rover.

Independence Square

As for the food, it's a lot of meat and steaks (not just beef, obviously). One thing that impressed me about a restaurant called "Peppersack", in addition to the menu being in several languages, is that they also labelled items indicating if they were gluten or lactose free. I immediately loved it. Plus the waitress was cute and had a nice tattoo on her back. And the Germans at the next table gave me their guidebook when I told them I had no idea what to see in the city. And they had a 90s soft rock music soundtrack.

Pork and beans

Another of the class participants took us out for drinks and dinner another night, which was very nice of him. His name was Mart, and apparently he is known for being a partier in the office. We stayed pretty low-key, but afterwards, I met up with some local Couchsurfers, who came to the bar for a beer, then took me to another bar with them. I was getting tired, so I didn't stay long, but it was nice of them to meet me and keep me entertained. It's becoming a nice habit to reach out to Coushsurfers in every city I go to, to get some local insight on the cities, and just to have something interesting to do.

Some other interesting notes:
- Skype was born in Estonia

- Estonian language is similar to Finnish or Hungarian (it's smooth and melodic), but nothing like Latvian, which surprised me, since it's their next door neighbor

- People are really tall. I think I was the shortest person in my training by about a foot

- Although it's cheap compared to other countries on the Euro (taxi to the airport was only 8 Euros), not everything is cheap...souvenir magnets were 5-10 Euros! (normally I pay about $3). And that's why I didn't buy you one, sorry.

Overall, a very nice experience.  The people were very nice, the old town is very charming, and it definitely met my expectations.  It seemed easy to get around with only English...so if you ever have a chance to go, and to add on a trip to Helsinki, I definitely reommend it! (I didn't get a chance to go to Helsinki, but will next time).