Tallinn-oh wow!

Tallinn is beautiful!  I expected it to be pretty but so far, it has exceeded my expectations.  It reminds me in many ways of Rothenburg with its old city walls and cobblestoned streets.  We took a ferry today from Helsinki over to Tallinn and it was a pleasant two hour journey, calm seas and blue skies. Our hotel is the Radisson Blu and is only a 5 min easy walk from the old town.  It could not be more convenient and from our hotel window, we have beautiful views of the towers and all of the old town.  At the end of the hall, the windows look out over the sea.  I think we will have a wonderful several days here.  Tomorrow we have a city tour and then the afternoon is on our own.  Today we settled in our rooms after we arrived and then we went on an orientation tour. Our guide Natasha is excellent-very detailed oriented but she has a fabulous sense of humor.  She is from Russia so I look forward to having her the entire trip.  The old town is so quaint and well preserved. The square has all kinds of wonderful restaurants and cafes and good things to try. But when I heard one of the specialties was garlic ice cream I almost cried-I've always said that I won't starve on a trip because there is never garlic or onion in desserts...so of course, someone has to prove me wrong. Let's just say it is not on my must try list! We had a pizza at a neat restaurant on the square (I know we are not in Italy but hey, I love a good pizza when they can make it sans garlic or onion!) and it was really nice.  Estonia has just gone on the Euro so the prices have shot up and things are no great deals any more, which is sad. 
We look forward to wandering the streets in old town tomorrow.

 flowers we bought from a little old lady who was sitting in the cold.

 view from our window at sunset