Tallinn / Helsinki
June 2, 2011
Distance Traveled Today: 50 miles
Distance Traveled So Far: 12, 656
It’s so considerate when relatives bring fabulous people into the family. I’ll always be indebted to my cousin John for giving us Milana. She and I just hit it off the first time we met, and we’ve been great pals ever since.
We had a wonderful day here in Tallinn.
First we climbed back up to the Upper Old Town to see a couple of beautiful churches and a couple of spectacular views. The Catholic church is interesting because it’s almost exclusively decorated with dozens of huge, ornate and beautiful coats of arms from , we assumed, rich noble families. We then winded our way through parks down to McDonalds where we fortified ourselves with fountain caffeinated sodas.
Near the edge of the Old Town was my favorite church, a soaring but spare and simple structure from the late 19th century.
After that we spent the afternoon on the top deck of tour buses traipsing all around Greater Tallinn, learning all about the city throughout its long (and rather titanic) history. Sitting on a tour bus listening to a canned audio tour probably sounds like hell on earth to some, but it’s the type of square, traditional touristy activity that I actually love.[1]
After that we went to a mall where I got in trouble for taking photos (why?) and then we had some Estonian Mexican food (Milana is a very good sport about indulging my Mexican food fetish).
Then it was movie time. Unfortunately, we saw The Hangover 2, a cynical and unfunny money-grab. I should have known better. But the first one was legitimately funny. This one was a bore. Ken Jeong did what he could to add some humor, and I must say that Ang Lee’s son seems to have some real screen presence. But the movie is awful. It also confirms my lack of interest in ever visiting Bankok.
Milana and I are on a streak of seeing indifferent or bad movies together. In May we saw Water For Elephants in Vilnius (yawn) and last September we saw Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in New York (yawn yawn).
I walked Milana back to her hotel and we had to say our goodbyes, as we both had to pack and be up early for our departures the next morning.
Reasons I Think Bradley Cooper is a Good Actor
- ….uh, who CARES? Have you SEEN HIM?
[1] I actually took the tour of the U.S. Mint when I was in Denver and I loved it.
