by Marina Martin on June 30, 2008
in Countries
MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED
DATE: JUNE 30, 2008
PLACE: MOLLY MALONE’S, HELSINKI, FINLAND
I had never been on a boat before, so we hopped a ferry from Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland to spend an afternoon before flying from Helsinki back to Herzogenaurach, Germany. The ride was very comfortable and the view wasn’t too bad, either.
View from Tallinn to Helsinki Ferry
Once we disembarked, we wandered the residential neighborhood a little bit in search of a place to eat. Not finding much, we walked in the opposite direction and found a big street fair right on the waterfront where I bought some gifts and we ate reindeer.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Hotdog
Torikeidas: Home of Edible Reindeer
The Molly Malone’s in Estonia happened to have a sister bar in Helsinki, so we slowly wandered our way through the city and made our way towards it. We happened to pass an English-language bookstore, and stopped in to find some new reading material for the upcoming flight from Germany back to Seattle. I ended up getting Don Quixote, but I was amused to find a Sweet Valley High book:
Sweet Valley High
Aside from the fact the city generally smelled like sewage (others claim it does not usually smell this way, so maybe we were there on sewer-cleaning day), walking around was very pleasant. There were lots to see, including choreographed dance performances and dancing boogers:
Dancing Children
Dancing Booger
The weather was excellent, which didn’t hurt. We finally walked to Molly Malone’s and slid into a booth for a couple of cold pints of Guinness. Yum!
Molly Malone's in Helsinki
Guinness at Molly Malone's in Helsinki
Me at Molly Malone's
At the end of the afternoon, we hopped in a cab and headed for the airport, which had a significant amount of shopping and, more importantly, a Moomin!
Damon with a Moomin
All in all, Helsinki was a fun afternoon.
As always, thanks to Damon for photographing the trip. Make sure to check out all his photos from Helsinki.
by Marina Martin on June 29, 2008
in Countries
MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED
DATE: JUNE 29, 2008
PLACE: MOLLY MALONE’S, TALLINN, ESTONIA
We hopped off the bus from Riga and meandered to our hotel. Despite it being later in the day, there was a lot going on outside … Tallinn is a young and bustling city. I didn’t have much in the way of expectations, but it quickly became one of my favorite cities in the world.
Unlike the pouring rain in Latvia, the weather was gorgeous in Estonia. In fact, it was warm enough for a ponytail, but I didn’t have any hair elastics, so Damon improvised with a shower cap:
MacGuyver Ponytail
Estonia is a very walkable city, with a big cobblestone square full of restaurants and pubs — including Molly Malone’s, where we watched the 2008 Eurocup Finals and had a few Guinnesses. It was Germany v Spain, and while I expected a mix of fans from both sides (given that we were in Estonia), we were practically the only two people in the entire packed pub that wanted Germany to win. (Germany lost. Guess we didn’t want it badly enough.)
Guinness at Molly Malone's
Me Having a Guinness in Estonia
City Square
Molly Malone's
Every major city has a sex museum, and I usually avoided them, but we decided to check out the Erootika Museum (if only because Erootika is very fun to say). It was a sex museum. Nothing I hadn’t seen or heard of before 
Brochure for Erootika Museum
Ticket for Erootika Museum
Me at the Erootika Museum
Despite it being a walkable city, it’s not necessarily a safe-to-walk city, as I learned when I nearly fell through a sidewalk grate into a deep hole. Watch your step.
Estonian Texas Honky Tonk
Estonian Hot Wings
Hoochi Mama
Estonia in its current form has only been a country since 1994, and it’s definitely odd to see a sign that says “Estonia’s Oldest Pub, Est. 1994.” Despite its painful past, Estonia has an amazing vibe … it’s strong and vital and seems, from my not-very-educated perspective, to be doing a strong job of respecting its past while embracing its future.
In the morning we hopped a boat over to Helsinki to complete our whirlwind weekend tour.
As always, thanks to Damon for photographing the trip. Make sure to check out all his photos from Tallinn.
