I turns out that it was a good thing that I didn’t go with the Polish guys last night. They ended up getting back at about 7am because they had gotten lost on the way home, stuck in the cold for hours. So I guess maybe it was karma, I can make that joke since they are all fine. I got coffee and a pastry at a coffee shop recommended by the lady at reception and checked out of my room. They had a luggage room, so I left my stuff there for the day. My train didn’t leave until almost 11pm, so I still had a full day ahead of me.

Nursing Home in Stocholm

I took a boat tour of Stockholm, and it was totally worth the price. I think it was about 15 dollars for an hour and a half guided tour.  We saw many buildings and historic places that I would have never been able to access, or even have known about had I not taken the tour, so I would recommend it to anyone going to Stockholm.  One of the coolest sights was a statue that was supposed to go to the United Nations, but was not sent because it was a bit of a religious symbol and they were worried it would not be displayed.  It is a cool fountain that goes into the sea:

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Tags: boat,Stockholm,Sweden,Tour
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When I arrived in Stockholm, I had no idea where I was going.  I exchanged some money in the port, and just followed the crowd.  This led ot a metro stop where I hopped on the train to the central train station.   From there I found Gamla Stan (Old Town) and had no idea where my hostel was.  I had booked it online, but wrote down the wrong address (Smart huh?).  I knew it was near the Royal Palace, but had no idea where.  I met a guy who knew where a hostel was, however it was the hostel I tried to book at, but it was full.  I gave them the name of the hostel I was looking for, and they gave me a map and directions.  (It was owned by the same people)

I found it pretty easily, and dropped off my luggage and hopped on the web for a minute.  It didn’t work well, so I gave up on writing any posts and decided to roam the city.  I saw the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace, and it was pretty cool (and done in English!).  John was in the Royal Guard in Norway, so I guess he had to do the same thing for them.  I could see it getting annoying after a while, but hey, its a job.  I tried not to be the annoying guy taking pictures of the guards from 5 feet away, and tried to be as respectful as possible.  The ceremony was really interesting and you could tell they took it seriously!  The bugler and drummer were very good and they explained the importance of their tunes/beats and how they passed signals using instruments.

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Tags: Stockholm,Sweden
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I woke up late and checked out an hour late.  It wasn’t a problem since its not the tourist season.  I left my bag in the common room and wandered the old town.  It really is beautiful.  I saw the old churches and just walked the streets.  The Russian orthodox church was really cool, and I even saw the old KGB building where they’d sealed the basement windows to conceal the interrogations, its scary that the Soviets had to have that much control.  They really must have been doing something wrong if they needed a presence in each city to torture that many dissidents.  There are a lot of pictures from around the city in the Tallinn photo gallery, but none of them do justice to the city.  I really want to see it in the Spring and head to Tartu also!

After wandering around for a bit I headed back to the hostel to kill some time.  I was hanging out with the guy who works at the front desk and is also the Estonian Men’s Cricket National Team coach.  We talked about Estonia a bit, and ate some chocolate that was paid for by returning the bottles from the previous night for the deposits.  A little while later I see Ian walk in and apparently he was staying there for a bit trying to get his visa to Russia.  (It is now about a month later, and he is just working at the hostel now and hanging out in Tallinn)  It was soon time to head for the boat to Stockholm, and I made the trip through the slush and rain.

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Tags: Club,Cruise,Drinking,Estonia,Tallinn
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CIMG0899.JPG

The boat ride to Tallinn was short, it was only 2 hours long.  We crossed the Gulf of Finland which was for the most part frozen over.  I stayed inside since it was snowing/raining out.  There was a duty free shop on board but I decided it was too early to even think about drinking (not that it stopped anyone else).  When we arrived, I converted some money at the port and left to find my hostel.  I had booked it online the night before, and had written down the address and approximately where it was on a map in my handy Europe on a Shoestring book.  (The book was great when I was in a jam)

After wandering around for a while I found it; the entrance was on the wrong side of the building, so the address was on one road, and the entrance was on the other.  One great thing about Tallinn’s old town was that everything is close, and it is surrounded by a wall, so you really can’t get too lost.  That comes into play later in the story…  Once I found the hostel, I dropped my stuff off and relaxed in the lounge.  I met up with some Americans, which was a change thus far in the trip.  I ended up going to the Tallinn City Museum, which was a joke.  It was a tiny museum that was more toys than anything else.  They did have a nice model ship, but everything was very cheesy and targeted at kids I think.  There were play mirrors and at one point they were displaying a 30 year old coke bottle (garbage if you ask me…).  They also were shameless when it came to selling souvenirs and food.  After that, I headed back to the hostel and we watched Pineapple Express in the common room.  Many people hadn’t seen it yet, and were apprehensive, however everyone was laughing by the end.  Seth Rogan is the man!  Afterwards I played in an impromptu fooseball tournament and ended up wining it.  I was pretty rusty at first because I hadn’t played in about 4 years.

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Tags: Estonia,Fight,Tallinn
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Tuomas Grilli

Lihapiirakka

Ian and I also discovered the greatest sandwich ever created.  While wandering the streets, we found a small sandwich shop on a major bar street a block from our hostel.  Neither of us could pronounce the name, so I took a picture of it with my camera and showed it to the woman working.  She asked if we wanted a lot of toppings, not knowing what she was asking, we decided to just say ‘Yes’ and nod our heads.  It was a small sandwich, and the only ingredient we could figure out was egg.  This was the greatest sandwich ever created.

The next day, Ian and I made it to the National Museum.  It was massive, and covered the entire history of Finland (minus the hockey).  I went with Ian and we spent about 5 hours there and seemingly went through the museum backwards.  There were many artifacts from the viking times and old currency from throughout the world.  I learned about the fierce rivalry with the Swedes, which I will try not to cover here…

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Tags: Finland,Food,Helsinki,Museum,Sandwich
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