Estonia

We went to Tallinn, Estonia this past weekend! All I can say is, it is a must see. Just go visit; you can thank me later!

We left right after school on Friday. Our flight was at 5:50 Saturday morning, and the trains don't go all night to Vilnius so we had to take the train Friday night. Our past experiences sleeping at the airport were a bit chilly so we stopped at McDonald's first and ate dinner. And we sat there for about an hour. It was only midnight, but I'm an old lady and was already dying. So, we finally went to the airport. I got a sudden burst of energy around 1:30 and FaceTimed Kenzie and Sym! It was good to see them. After that I did get a little tired so I fell asleep, thanks to my awesome coat that kept me warm. Paris woke me up when it was time to go to our gate, and then I found chairs there and fell asleep again. Paris woke me up again when we were boarding.. It was funny because my roommates were kinda looking at me like I was an animal about to attack. You never know with tired people!

Our first flight was fine. I was in the very back and got a row to myself! We had a layover in Riga, Latvia and switched to a tiny plane. It was practically empty so I got to sit alone again. Apparently I was still tired because I don't even remember taking off..

Since we were up most of the night, we went straight to the hostel and took a nap. Haha but after that we went to see the Christmas market! Laurra, the head teacher from Vilnius suggested a restaurant for dinner. She said the Elk Soup was amazing, so we wanted to try it! Not gonna lie, I was a little nervous this would be another Black Pudding experience, but it was delicious! You don't even need spoons, you just drink it. I got apple pie too. The restaurant was very medieval too. 

Elk Soup and apple pie.

After we had food in our stomachs, we enjoyed the market! Europe does Christmas right. It was beyond magical! Christmas music was playing, there were dancers on a stage, and hot cocoa and other things were being sold from the shops. I don't even need to mention the tree!

The restaurant with Elk Soup

We just looked around the market that night. Tallinn is the furthest North we've been, and it was cooolllddd. We went back to the hostel so we could have a decent amount of energy the next day haha. 

The next morning we headed out around 11 and found a pancake house a previous volunteer told Paris about. I'm glad she did, because that was the only meal I bought for the day! The pancakes were HUGE and so delicious. Besides that though, Tallinn is BEAUTIFUL! It felt like a fairytale. I was blown away by everything!

Pancake with apples and vanilla sauce. YUM! 

Me and Des :)

Our relationship ;) 

Unfortunately, Cameron had a serious stomachache, so she opted to rest at pizza place while Desteny, Paris, and I continued to wander. They were nice enough to let me drag them to a view point that I really wanted to see. Luckily, it's a popular spot among ILP volunteers so I just looked up what it looked like and then googled it. There's a quote on a wall that says, "The Times we had." and I wanted to find it so bad! Turns out it was on Toompea hill, which is luckily easily to find. 

Cathedral!!

We found it! 

Beautiful, beautiful Tallinn.

We met a really sweet exchange student from Australia. She's been in Tallinn since August! It was fun talking to her and she even offered to take our picture. 

Pretty building

Built in 1345 :O

The rest of these pictures aren't top quality.. Probably because it was so cold my hand shook every time I took off my glove to take a picture! Haha I couldn't help myself. You should feel luckily because I actually took out a lot of pictures for this post! Otherwise you'd be scrolling for a while......

We enjoyed our last few hours by walking around the market and appreciating Estonia. There is something about Eastern Europe. Please just put it on your bucket list! 

When it was time to go, we met back up with Cameron and went to the airport. Right outside of our gate was a floor that lit up when you stepped on it! I think I tried to light them all up about four or five times haha. It was very entertaining! Our flight was empty again, so all four of us sat by each other (but still got our own rows). The flight was only 50 minutes, but I still finished my book. The last train leaves at 9:00 for Kaunas, and we landed at 8:45. Fortunately after some negotiating we got a taksi (taxi) for sixty euros! Which is 15 euros for each person, which is about the same amount we would've spent taking the train and taxis to and from the train station. Score!