First, a brief update: the height of the viewing platform on the church tower is 60 meters, so Sigma caps seem to tolerate drops of 50+ meters.

Our last day in Tallinn was quite eventless. After an excellent breakfast, we packed everything and stored the luggage to the hotel reception. Our target was Kristiine shopping center in western Tallinn, a couple kilometers from the hotel. The route was not scenic, mostly basic urban dwellings.

The shopping center itself was quite large, but most of the shops were chained — as usual with shopping centers… We found only a couple of baby garments there and decided to head back to the hotel.

Taking taxi brought us in front of restaurant Bocca near the northern end of the old town. Bocca is an Italian restaurant that shares owners with Restoran Ö. Food was excellent, and Aapo liked Sanna’s tortellinis very much. We skipped desserts, as we have been eating them a lot.

The next stop was a deli on Pikk street. The name escapes me now, but I’ve got it written down somewhere for reviews. We bought two filled croissants for the ship trip and found them excellent later.

The last visit in Tallinn was Merekeskus near the harbour. It was a huge disappointment: the reality and the advertisements’ atmosphere don’t match at all. Avoid it with all costs, the whole place is a get-money-from-stupid-tourists trap. To be honest though, it was also the only place that had still old Soviet memorabilia on sale.

After this horrifying experience we headed towards the harbour. Linda Line’s terminal is located a bit away from the other terminals — no good services, but no drunkards either. We were somewhat early, but managed to spend the time.

The journey back home was quite easy, first with the hydrofoil, then with tram and lastly with the commuter train. We were back home in less than three hours. Exhausted but happy.

Radisson SAS has a good reputation as a hotel chain and the hotel in Tallinn is not an exception. The rooms are big, airy and decorated well. There is enough space to unwind after a hectic day in Tallinn, being that in business or leisure.

If you get an upper floor room towards the old town, views are majestic. The other side of the hotel is not that interesting, mostly other skyscrapers and soviet architecture near horizon. The bed is good, but a bit too narrow for my taste. The amenities are decent, but slippers and bathrobe are available only in business class rooms.

The hotel is covered with free WLAN and there is also an ethernet socket on the wall — but no cable in the room. Maybe reception will lend you one, but I was satisfied with WLAN.

www.radissonsas.com, Ravala Puiestee 3, Tallinn, Estonia, +372 682 3000

It is 19.55 in Sunday evening, and I’m typing this in dark hotelroom, as Sanna is trying to get Aapo to sleep. That wasn’t easy yesterday and it won’t be today, either. There has been so many new things to Aapo that falling asleep is very, very hard.

Our trip has been quite a success so far. We left Espoo yesterday morning, took a commuter train to Helsinki city centre and continued with tram to the ferry terminal. I bought something to eat from the old market hall nearby before we joined to the passport check queue and finally were on our way to the ship.
Read the rest of this entry >