Beautiful sights and chilling museums in Tallinn Day 2 -- 8/2/17

We awoke to a very rainy morning in Tallinn, so we let the kids sleep in. The rain was forecast to clear around noon, so we were in no hurry to walk around in the rain.  As we headed back into the Old Town, the kids were very hungry, so we ducked into a regional fast food chain, Hesburger.  Dan and I didn't partake, but the kids said it tasted very similar to McDonalds.

We headed to a different entrance to the Old Town and passed a different park, Canute Garden.  It had many varied uses over the years, but it now is the home to several interesting sculptures.

Dan discovered a monument to Dostoyevski, which is fitting, as he is currently reading Crime and Punishment.

We entered at the Fat Margaret Tower (fat, due to its thick walls), which was the tower that guarded the medieval entry gate to the Old Town.

The three girls had to pose for a picture in front of The Three Sisters, a house (now a hotel) dating from the 15th century.

A little further down Pikk Street, we found St. Olav's church, which is the tall spire you could see in the hotel view pictures yesterday.  I read that it has a fantastic view from the top of the tower, so I convinced the entire family to climb all 234 stairs to the top.  We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into.  I don't know why I hadn't realized they would be medieval stairs.  There was only one way to get both up and down, so people passed you frequently on their trek back down.  The stairwell was very narrow.  We paid a fee to climb the stairs, though, so there was no turning back.  Here is a view of the stairwell as we climbed on one of the rare straight parts.  The majority of the time, it was very twisty.

We made it to the top, and the view was definitely worth the climb!  I'm sure they were all hating me on the climb, but no one complained after we saw these views.

We attempted a selfie, but Dan and I can't ever get these right.  We are just too old.

Here is a picture of the downward climb, when I had my wits about me and more lung capacity.  It gives you a good example of the twisted design of the majority of the steps.

Now, for the first stop in the chilling museum portion of our day.  We continued down Pikk Street and came across this unassuming, lovely building, which was actually the headquarters of the KGB during the years of Russian occupation.

The basement of this building contained holding cells in which people displaying "anti-Soviet" tendencies were interrogated (and tortured) before being sent to Gulags in Siberia.  These cells were opened for public viewing in 2017.  This was meaningful to both Sidney and Lyndon, as they have both read books relating to Siberian work camps.  Both girls read I am David in Mrs. Sloop's class in 5th grade.  Sidney and I also read Between Shades of Gray (nothing like those other Shades of Gray books), which is a historical fiction novel that details Lithuanian families being deported to Siberian work camps because their patriarchs are well-educated, liberal individuals who might question the Soviet establishment.  Needless to say, this was a very sobering experience.  We tried as best as we could to explain everything to Hadley and Jack.  Here is one of the holding cells.

This is a cell with the bed frames and sink reattached to the walls.

This was a closet that was used for "creative interrogation techniques".  Jack is standing in it in order to show how tiny it is. They would hold people in this closet for hours and days.  Survivors have reported  that it was too cramped for adults to stand up fully or sit down on the floor, so you had to crouch in the dark.

This is one of the doors to the holding cells.

Here are the Russian blueprints for the basement level.

This was the inside and the door of one of the solitary confinement cells where people were held for days.  It was so torturous that survivors declared that they begged to be sent to Siberia rather than be held any longer.

We ventured back into the daylight and continued our walk through the Old Town.  We came across some protesters against Putin in front of the most popular bakery in town.  The situation with Russia reclaiming part of the Ukraine hits very close to home to some Estonians, as they are fearful that a similar situation will happen with Estonia.

We headed toward the upper part of the Old Town, which has traditionally been the seat of Estonian government.  These are the steps leading from the lower section to the Upper Town (Toompea).

The Maiden Tower is part of the original walls of the Upper Town.

This section of Toompea has the reputation of being very haunted, so the town has placed these monk statues around the square.  The kids thought they look like dementors from Harry Potter, so they wanted a picture with one.

There is a beautiful Russian Orthodox church in Toompea.  We had never visited a Russian Orthodox church, so we went inside.  They wouldn't let you take pictures inside, so we bought a postcard.

It was really breathtaking.  There are no pews inside the church, as the parishioners stand through services.

After the tour through the Old Town, our next stop was the Museum of Occupations (Okupatsioonide Muuseum), which details the occupation of Estonia from 1939 to 1991 (by the Soviets for 1 year, the Nazis for 3 years and again by the Soviets until 1991).  The entrance to the museum is strewn with suitcase sculptures to show the large numbers of people who fled the country or were deported during the occupations.

Estonians served in three different military organizations during WWII:  Finland, Nazi and Russian armed forces. The museum had a display of all three uniforms.  Dan and I had never seen a Nazi SS uniform up close before, so this uniform in the middle was particularly disturbing.

Here is a telephone booth during the Russian occupation.

This was a surveillance measure used by the Soviets in Estonia.  They installed peepholes in the back side of a wall, which would only appear as a pinhole on the other side, but gave a wide range of view of the room.  Here is the peephole side.

Here is the side with the pinhole.  The hole is between the two brass rivets.  It is almost impossible to see.

We headed back to the hotel for a bit after the Museum of Occupations to let the kids swim in the pool.  We decided to go to a restaurant called Lido for dinner.  The best way I can describe it is an Estonian version of K&W Cafeteria.  The food was delicious -- good old Estonian home cooking.

After dinner, we walked back to the Old Town to shop for some souvenirs.  Here is a picture of the kids in the Town Square.  It was still this light outside at 10 PM.

We hit the playground again on the way back to the hotel.  I was able to get a better picture of the playground equipment.

Tomorrow morning, we board a ferry to Helsinki.  We really enjoyed Tallinn and highly recommend it.  Everything is very clean, and the people were very nice.  We didn't have any trouble with a language barrier.  It is definitely worth a two day stay, instead of a quick day trip.