Their Friend's Couch

Good morning!

Yesterday, i woke up, ate breakfast, and then we set out for the Russian Emperors' summer palace a few blocks away.

On the way, i commented on the number of residences that these people had, and Anatoli said that because Estonia was part of the empire, they liked to stay here sometimes and they had to have somewhere nice to stay! I wondered why they couldn't have just stayed on some friend's couch.

The palace was beautiful anyway. It was much smaller than any of the St. Petersburg palaces, but it was quaint. The ballroom was magnificent, again. There was a guide speaking English in there, so we stayed and listened a while. He talked for a half hour! In one room! He did say, though, that that ballroom is considered the most original imperial palace ballroom, because like I said before, the other palaces were purposely ruined during the siege of Leningrad.

We browsed the art gallery inside, and then the gardens. It was all very nice.

After that, we went up the hill to the Estonian president's office. There was some hullabaloo afoot, so we hung out awhile to see what was up. It turned out that the Maltese president was visiting and would be exiting any time now! So, we waited. I got pictures of both presidents!! Pictures which I still can't upload to Facebook. Grrrr.

After that excitement, we walked to a monument commemorating a ship that sunk in a battle during WWI. It's called "the mermaid" and I have no idea why, because it has an angel on top... It was pretty though, and commissioned by Nicholas II. I'm tellin you, these Tsars are hard to get away from.

Then we made the long walk home, and I took a nap!

We woke up in time for dinner, so we walked to Old Town and ate at a Caucasian restaurant. We are just eating our way across the northern Middle East! I like it! I had kabobs, cous cous, grilled corn, and bread with housemade butter. Sooo good.

Then we went walking for a lookout, because it was getting kinda close to sunset. We found some, and on the way, happened upon a little cafe (kohvik in Estonian) and decided to get dessert there! We had a traditional Estonian dessert of which I forget the name. It was ground up seeds and flour in a soup thing of cream, pears, and beer. Sound gross? It wasn't actually!

After our dessert, we decided to stay for a magic show! We went out and walked around a little, but then we came back. It was like a children's theater inside the kohvik, and the magicians were so funny! I'm glad we went. :)

After that, the sun was down, so we pretty much came straight back. A couple of our group was going to the airport last night, so we bid goodbye to them and went to bed!

Today we're going to the Estonian museum of Russian and German occupation. It should be interesting! Then I have to pack and make sure my suitcase isn't too heavy!

I can't believe we leave tomorrow!!