***
Baltics trip
Day 12 - 27th May - Tallinn, Estonia (Part 3)
After the museum, we walked to the sea.
A clear blue sky, which you'd be hard-pressed to find in some locales
Skulptor Jaan Koort
Path to Memorial to the Sunken Ship Rusalka: a Russian battleship that sank in 1893.
Memorial
Crazy girl in sea.
nw.t: "It's swimmable but it's dirty like fuck"
We then headed back into the Old City.
The "Nordic Hotel Forum" held the Monaco consulate, and a Monaco restaurant as well.
I had a Strawberry McFlurry. It tasted like a sundae.
City wall
Sign for "Katariina Käik" (St Catherine's Passage), a medieval street/alley
Entrance to alley
Alley
Tombstone from the Friary. The light was very very bad.
We then headed to the Dominican Monastery Museum.
Entrance to the courtyard
Courtyard
Spooky angel hanging from a tree
Stair to the museum
At this point YC decided to head off on his own.
There was but one man situated at the Dominican Monastery Museum, and he couldn't speak English. He also seemed somewhat deaf, as he kept shouting German phrases at us. Luckily there were some English information panels, so we weren't entirely lost.
Relief of angel
Hall
Angel head
Corridor
Carvings at end of corrior
Surprisingly there was a furnished library/study room, and one interesting book (presumably not studied by our guide):
Aquinas for Kids: "Light of Faith. The Compendium of Theology by Saint Thomas Aquinas"
Vaulted hall
In this hall our guide suddenly started shouting very loud to demonstrate its acoustics for us.
[Addendum:
nw.t reminds me of this tidbit: "his eloquent description of the Reformation "Catholic Catholic Catholic Catholic... Luther. WOOSH!""]
Stuff in the corner
Courtyard we saw through the barred windows. We tried to find out how we could get there, but our efforts didn't bear much fruit, and we didn't find a secret staircase down.
Heads in study
"The Monk's Bunk" - hostel along the street
Trying to find our way into the courtyard, we were met with yet another gatekeeper who demanded another entry fee. Luckily this one spoke English, so we found out that the museum had split into two - what are presumably the "Dominican Monastery Claustrum" (the former place) and the "Dominican Monastery Museum" (the latter, with 3 ambulatories and the garden).
On the upside, we got to stamp our own ticket in the form of a coin around our neck, which we got to keep. Presumably no one bothers to resell their tickets.
Carved stones
Courtyard
Bird
Church walls
This was supposed to be an "energy pillar". Sensitive people were supposed to feel something. Unfortunately, neither of us remembered the Elvish word for 'friend', but I told wt that if he disappeared into it or if a pair of hands grabbed him in, I wasn't coming after him.
Ettic stones plaque and illustration: they were used to mark houses
Strange Chi-ro ettic stone
More ettic stones
"Figural Relieves" (sic), Adam and Eve, 16th c.
Idolatry of a blindworm, 16th c.
Lintel stones
Random screwed up story:
Tallinn TV Tower
"At the base of the tower, some bullet holes remain visible, dating from an attempted Soviet takeover in 1991. A handful of radio operators were ready to lose their lives in 1991 to protect the free media of the reborn Republic
of Estonia. They placed a matchbox between the elevator door and frame in such a manner that the elevator wouldn’t work, thereby forcing the Soviet troops to climb every one of a
thousand steps up into the tower. The operators also had the oxygen-removing fire-fighting system at their disposal. This story is well-known and held in reverence in Estonia."
This can't quite beat celebrating the Red Army soldiers who died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
