Viva Estonia! in Magical Realism

My last morning in Paris, I had a million things I meant to do for work, but barely managed to get up, shower, pack, and get myself to the airport. Short flight from CDG to Tallinn, Estonia where I landed and took a cab to meet up with long-time fave on OD and PB Echoes to the evolution and her friend L. We checked in and met up in the common room of our hostel. It was immediately like we’d known each other for a zillion years. So fab. We took a nice long walk around town, got tickets for the Royal Ballet Gala and hit the Christmas markets. We were hungry so we grabbed some yummy snacks and exotic beers (honey and cinnamon!) at medieval themed restaurant Old Hansa:

After Dinner #1 we went to the Ballet, which was great. I have a really hard time sitting still in the dark without falling asleep, and the dances kept my attention for probably all but 5 minutes, which is a very high rating from me. After the Ballet we grabbed our coats and went to Three Dragons, basically a medieval cave that sold soup. We had soup and these pastry things, but since it was bring your own spoon, we drank from the bowl. After Dinner #2 we headed to the beergarden below our hostel, had a couple more beers, and went to bed around 1am.

The next morning we went on a city tour of Tallinn, which terrific but a bit rushed as we were heading to meet some of my winterswimming friends for a dip. Here are [Echoes] and L in front of a historic Tallinn building. Please note the old-timey aviator helmet and goggles on top of Miss [Echoes] head:

After the tour my friend Henri came to pick us up and bring us to a marina where the Tallinn winterswimmers swim. We had a nice dip, I did a lap of the marina and then we hung out in the sauna with Henri and my friends Aivar and Irena. I met them all in Argentina and it was so good to see them again. Henri is a world record holder for swimming the longest distance at zero degrees, and the open-water swimming man of the year for 2014, but also the nicest and most humble guy in the world. Henri and Irena just playing around in the cold water here, like it’s nothing. Tough Estonians!

After the swim we drove back to the hostel, got ready, and had some coffee with vodka and chocolate schnapps to warm up! We went out for a drink at Labor Baar where all the drinks came in trays of test tube shots. Like this!

After that we went out to dinner and then to a nearby bar which was nowhere as fun as the test-tube, but we happened to share a table with a young Russian guy from Moscow, Viktor, who we immediately bonded with. We ended up going back to Labor Baar for more test tube drinks, because…happy hour until 4am. Yep.

We took full advantage of the happy hour, went a bit crazy talking to people all around the bar, until around 4:30 another Russian guy asked to buy [Echoes]’ helmet. He offered us 50 euro, and she was like, “No way.” We said, “500 maybe” and he thought about it for a while and walked away. Then his friend told me he was going to the ATM to take out the euros…hahhahahaha. He came back, gave me the money, I counted it, and [Echoes] turned over the helmet. It was a sadness (no more beloved helmet) and a triumph (500 euro!):

The next day we woke up late (considering we hadn’t gone to bed until 7:30am) walked around town, finally grabbed a long awaited meal at Grandma’s for lunch:

Lunch was everything we hoped it would be, but by mid-evening we were completely zonked and craving atrocious food so we had dinner at a surprisingly nice McDonald’s while watching the snow come down. Overall a wacky and wonderful celebration of the Winter Solstice, and the longest night of the year.

Last updated February 03, 2015