On the Road Again

Departed Australia on Sunday Sept 1 and arrived in Tallinn, Estonia over 30 hours later via Singapore and Helsinki. Flight to Singapore was uneventful and with a 7.5 hour stopover decided to leave the airport and caught a cab to the Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observation wheel. Maree and I had been there before on our last trip but decided to visit again as our son Robert had not seen it. The views from the Flyer were spectacular and it took about 30 minutes to complete the one revolution. After the ride we decided to have some hawker food at a food court under the Flyer. Unfortunately something amongst the chilli prawns and satays caused some problems for me which made for an "interesting" 12 hour flight to Helsinki followed by a 90 minute ferry trip to Tallinn arriving at our hotel at approx. midday. My first afternoon in Tallinn commenced at one of my favourite food haunts called Kompressor which serves the best ever pancakes - both savoury and sweet. Also sampled a beer at a German-themed brewery restaurant (getting in some practice for the Oktoberfest in Munich !!!). The medieval Old Town square is just as enchanting as ever. Yesterday was our first full day in Tallinn and we started by visiting the seaplane harbour museum - the seaplane hangars were built in 1916-1917 as part of a system of naval fortifications to protect St. Petersburg. From 1918-1940 the hangars were used by the Estonian Air Force and the seaplane hangars were the largest freestanding reinforced-concrete domes in the world, and the only ones without inner support columns. Included in the museum is the submarine Lembit, commissioned by the Republic of Estonia in 1937 from a shipyard in England. It is one of the few submarines to survive intact from the pre-World War 11 era, and it holds the world record for the greatest period of time spent in water - 75 years. We explored inside the submarine and it was very interesting. Also part of the museum is the icebreaker Suur Toll which is moored at the port. It is the largest surviving steam-powered icebreaker in the world and will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2014. From the seaplane harbour we made our way to the nearby ominous Patarei Prison, originally built as a sea fortress in the early 19th century. It served as a prison and execution site through the Soviet era and was finally closed in 2002. Most of the sprawling complex has been left as it was and we inspected the dank hallways, cells, administrative areas and medical wing. Hundreds of people were executed in Patarei with the last execution taking place in 1991. We had lunch yesterday at a Russian restaurant (Troika) on the square in the Old Town and I had braised wild boar that was delicious washed down with some Estonian beer and finished off with an icy vodka. Dinner last night was at a favourite venue, Vanaema Juures (Grandmother's Place). I had roast elk and it was great.