Tere & Hyvästi

"Tere" is how you say "Hello" in Estonian!

 

From Copenhagen we hopped on a cruise ship, the Costa Luminosa, for two weeks of non-stop fun.  The first week we spent visiting the Baltic Capitols, and the second week was the Norwegian Fjords.

 

 

 

We docked one day in Tallin, Estonia.  Tallin has a cute little old town with old city walls and fortifications, churches, cobblestone roads, and embassies! 

 

The first thing we did was climb the tallest building in the WORLD.  (Well, from 1549 - 1625, that is...)  It is a whopping 159 meters tall! (522 feet.)  It is called St. Olaf's church.  Here is the view of Tallin from the top.

This is the Parliament of Estonia.  It used to be the Toompea Castle.

 

Here is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.  It is an Eastern Orthodox Cathedral, and built during the time when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union.

 

You can tell because of the traditional Russian domes on the top.

 

Fancy Mosaic on the front...

 

Another dome...

 

And look what we found!  The German Embassy!

 

Here is some of the wall of the old city.

 

We walked down the cute little streets and enjoyed the shops and flowers.

 

 

We even bought some ice cream .

 

If you know what flag this is, it's going to be the next place on this blog post!

 

 

That is right! (or wrong, depending on what you answered...)- That was the Finnish Embassy in Tallin. 

 

And so here we are in Finland!  We went to the central market, called the "Kauppatori."  There was a ton of stuff for sale - including freshly-caught fish, flowers, baked goods, fruits, vegetables, and berries!  

 

This is the Helsinki Cathedral.

 

It sits on Senate Square, which is a central public square in Helsinki.

 

We climbed up the steps and we ate our berries.  Delicious!!!

 

Then we walked to another nearby church. 

 

It is called the Uspenski Cathedral.

 

Here's the inside.

 

And then we went to play with Finnish children at a park.  Woo hoo!

 

Soon we had to get back on our cruise ship to our next destination. 

"Hyvästi" means "Goodbye" in Finnish.

 

On our cruise we shared a table with Andrew and Mary, some other English speakers from Mauritius. 

 

And here are our waiters!

 

See you next time when we stop in St. Petersburg, Russia!