Thursday, December 13, 2007

from Tallinn, Estonia: walls

Was I appearing displeased with the weather? No, after the brief showers of the first day, the weather has been easy. Until my last day here. Suddenly it was a problem: bright skies with the occasional puffy cloud, gusts of wintry air, temps, finally, seasonally appropriate for this far north. A real bummer.

I could hardly get myself going. Too daunting. Bright skies? I should be out with my camera. But it’s so cold!!

One way to get yourself moving is to set a reasonable goal, right? For instance: perhaps I should walk the perimeter of the Old Town, hugging the walls. No more, no less than that. Let’s see how vast or how small Medieval Tallinn really was.

The answer: one hour’s worth of walking, with a pause at a store or two.

Photographically speaking, you’re not going to get much from me hugging a wall. Picture after picture revealed yet another fragment of…wall. But it was a valuable exercise nonetheless. In that short expanse of time, I passed a school, a small park, graffiti, beautiful art shops, gates, and stalls of woolen goods, sold by Russian men and women who appeared somewhat bitten by the frost.

So, walk with me. And forgive the monotony of the stroll. Look beyond the crumbing stone.

I start at the gate, right by my hotel:


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Then, slip in through this narrow space...


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And continue. From the outside, btw, it looks like this:


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Sometimes, it seems to grow out of buildings. Or, perhaps they built around it.


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And look what is protected within. A school. Kids, thinking about snowmen.


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Okay, some more wall. With parks, shops, all of it:


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And there you have it. By 2:30 I was cold and my walk was complete. Now, I have plenty of work with me (I aspire to be good and to get things done) and my book could use a few hours (both the one to read and the one to write), but for God’s sake, it’s my last day! I’m to be out of my hotel by 5 a.m. tomorrow! Let me not fritter the last hours here!

Still, it’s so brisk...

I had contemplated doing something completely decadent, like signing up for a spa treatment in town – scrubbed with (Baltic?) salt, wrapped in algae, doesn’t that sound absolutely terrific? Sure, but my travels are decadent in their own right (so says my occasional traveling companion). It cannot be all about pleasure and indulgence.

So I set out to shop for others. There is the market of course. No one back home put in a request for a reindeer sweater (I asked; truly I did). So I went back to my favorite art stores. And chocolate shops.

Tempting?

(I took a trial bite. With tea.)


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In the evening I went to eat at a place that wasn’t listed nor recommended, but it had a tempting look and name: the Embassy of Pure Food.

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It was the best meal that I had in Estonia. Now mind you, you can't scream and shout at the little things, like service, or warm white wine, or warm-ish potatoes. Those are insignificant things. And maybe Estonians demand that their potatoes be served cool because they have been thus just about everywhere. But what I look for in food is a clever idea and fresh and honest ingredients prepared in a reasonably healthy way. For instance, if you serve sour cream, don’t also serve tons of butter and heavy cream, all fried, on one plate.

The Embassy of Pure Food presented a wonderful seafood appetizer and they actually knew where the scallops came from. And their salmon was yummy (with an artful cabbage chip – who would believe that you can be clever with cabbage?), and the setting -- a restored old building – couldn’t be nicer, and the cost was right down there.

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So I leave Estonia with a note on how good the food was. Travel is remarkable in its unpredictability.

2 comments:

  1. Nina, thank you for bringing alive the beautiful country my good friend, Neeme Jarvi, born in Tallinn, Estonia, has been telling me about. (Neeme is THE Neeme Jarvi, Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 1990 to 2005, and one of the world's leading conductors.) Every time we get together, the conversation will eventually come around to a story about his beloved homeland. Although Neeme is now an American citizen, Estonia is still where his favorite stories originate. Not your typical reserved Estonian, Neeme is a very jolly fellow.

    Your incredible photos and keen observations have deepened my understanding of my friend's country. From the nighttime photos of your first impressions of a Medieval city, to your candid photos of the people (the man on the tram and the two young girls on stage stand out), to your photos of food and restaurants -- especially the stunning photo of the staid couple on the other side of the dining room with the Rembrant lighting, to colorful houses against gray skies, to that story-filled row of suitcases, to your sun-filled tour of Old Town.

    Fragments. Maybe. But all those fragments, in the photos and words you have given us this past week, have added up to a remarkable picture of a most interesting country.

    Thank you for taking us all along on an unexpected but most delightful trip.

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  2. Thank you so much, dande. I always like it when something on Ocean triggers a reflection on a commenter's own experiences.

    Wow, an Ocean reader knows Neeme Jariv! That's so cool. The only conductor/director I ever came near to was Leopold Stokowski and his beautiful two sons, during an ocean (the water one) crossing on the Queen Elizabeth. I was thirteen and wanted very much to be noticed by the sons. No such luck. They were too "wordly" to pay attention to a young gawky Polish girl sailing back to her homeland.

    On a separate note, I always thought that people who left their countries also left behind the burden (or the prize) of carrying the national psyche, demeanor, disposition of their compatriots. People back home say I am not very "Polish" anymore. I think they are correct.

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