Last night, as our first cultural immersion we ate at a restaurant called Olde Hansa. It's this medieval restaurant that researches the actual recipes used back in the day and recreates these meals that accurately represent the time. The atmosphere was also completely accurate. The whole building's interior is similar to the time...there weren't even lights--everything was candle lit. They even had the chandeliers with candles in them. We had so many bizarre things, like meat bread, otherwise known as bread with meat in it. Then we had random spreads to put on bread, and baked cheese with herbs, that was essentially a pizza minus the bread and sauce. There was almond chicken, sauerkraut, beef in fig sauce, barley &nuts and a lentil sauce. I tried it all, and actually enjoyed it. What I found most surprising is that I enjoyed the lentil sauce and the beef in figs. Not to mention that I've never been a huge fan of sauerkraut, but this was actually quite good. Everything was served with these old fashioned cups, and they made their own beer and wine. I had the most delicious white wine I have ever had in my entire life. It was a sweet white wine, but had a taste of cinnamon &nutmeg in it. Might sound gross, but it was actually delicious. They also had cinnamon beer, honey beer, and herb beer, all made on the premises. Then for dessert, we had a custard in a pastry type shell...it was described as "gold" by the waitress [also wearing traditional medieval clothes] because it was so rare and expensive, hat it was considered like gold. Getting to Olde Handa was an experience in itself...we had to cross a highway, as well as railroad tracks, but because we didn't know anything about Estonia, couldn't find the crosswalk. So our professor had us wait until there was no traffic &just bolted across everything. What an experience...
Today we started off the day by doing an academic visit, and seeing Support Union of the Deaf blind and Helen School. It's a school that focuses particularly on deafblind children [hence the name Helen, for Helen Keller] but also on just blind and just deaf students. It was so interesting to see. The building itself was also extremely sterile, and reminded me very much of the Soviet Union, although I've never been there. This makes sense, considering that the Soviet Union forced Estonia to give up their independence and join their Union, and completely controlled everything. So there are still sections of Estonia that look like the Soviet Union, which is like a total time warp. Actually, the whole city of Tallinn is a time warp. There's the medieval part, then the Soviet part, then within the medieval part, the slightly more modern part and the extreme Russian part. It's insane how many different influences there are within just this one city. In the school however, it was completely sterile, and reminded me of a hospital. We even had to wear the little blue booties over our shoes throughout the building. The weirdest thing of all though, is that their sign language is completely different. I knew that, because in America, we use ASL [American Sign Language] but when talking to a teacher at the school who studied in Boston, she said that Estonian and American sign language aren't even closely related. For example, if she were to try to use ASL with the kids, they'd have no idea what she was trying to say. Isn't that weird?? So that was an interesting fun fact to learn.
After the tour of the school, we had about an hour and a half on our own. Of course, being a tour of 30 girls [minus Carsten, our adopted professor for this trip] we all went shopping. We found this awesome market that sold so many things, like scarves, knitted hats and gloves, etc. It was just rows and rows of venders. I bought two scarves, and mittens because Tallinn is quite a windy city. I plan on buying a hat tomorrow, not only because my ears were cold, but also because tomorrow night we're taking an overnight ferry to Stockholm, Sweden. Not to mention, after the knots I had in my hair tonight after the wind, a hat might also help to keep the knots away. I walked around with my roommates, Jessi and Aili, which was a lot of fun, especially since Aili is half Estonian. Aili is even a popular Estonian name: the headmaster at the Helen School was also named Aili! [Note that this is pronounced eye-lee, as in Miley, without the M.] This is actually quite a big deal, considering that after Estonia was taken over by the Soviet Union, many of the residents in Estonia are Russian. I believe that just over half of all Estonian citizens are actually Estonian. Just like during World War II, Estonia was actually declared "Judenfrei" or, Free of Jews. Disturbing right?! But anyway, we all went shopping together before lunch, which was great fun, plus everything here is so cheap because of the exchange rate. Not to mention that you can easily bargain down, which was awesome.
all the vendors selling their scarves and such, in the old city wall. the bricks in the background are what used to surround and protect the medieval city of Tallinn. the fence on the top shows the passageway that connected all of the towers so that soldiers could easily commute from one tower to another.
We ate lunch at the African Kitchen, and let me tell you that it was an experience. I really have no idea why there is an African Kitchen [that actually serves authentic African food] in Estonia, or how it stays in business, but nevertheless, it's there. Here was another interesting meal...the most interesting item being Antelope. Of course I tried it, and another surprising result: it wasn't that bad. I'd even venture to say that it was good. It was cooked in kind of a stew, so it was very tender, and though the spices were not quite what I'd use in an every day dish, it was still pretty good. The whole décor was also completely decked out with African designs. We sat on pillows and everything; it was like an African culture shock, within an Estonian culture shock. The most disappointing thing of all, completely opposite of culture shock, was in the middle of medieval Tallinn, there was a McDonalds. Not only was there a Mickey D's, but it was pink. How disappointing is that?
After our adventurous lunch we took a 2-hour guided tour around Tallinn. Let me just tell you, despite the gale force winds, and occasional 5 minute showers, Tallinn is still the prettiest, most historical city I've ever seen. We got to see the city walls that used to surround the medieval city of Tallinn, as well as the towers that completed the circle. Out of the 40 connecting towers, about 23 still exist, which is amazing. The medieval city is also split into two parts: The Upper Town and The Lower Town. These two sections are divided by a wall named The Wall of Hostility, and it separated the rich from the peasants. That showed us the medieval part of the city, and then we saw the Russian influence. The most popular religion in Estonia is Lutheran, the second being Russian Orthodox. So we saw the Russian influence in the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky, which has cupolas that very strongly resemble Russian architecture.
Estonia is also connected with Denmark. As noted in a previous blog entry, it was in a battle in Estonia that Denmark received their flag. Some years after that, Denmark took control of Estonia, so many things in medieval Tallinn are based on Danish words, principles, or architecture. For example, there is now the Danish Garden, which is supposedly the closest part to where the Danish flag fell from teh sky. The watchtower that looks over the water, and helps guard Estonia is part of the original Danish fortress that the Danes had started building when they had control over Estonia. The name Tallinn even means "Danish Castle/Town," symbolizing the fortress that the Danes built there. Tallinn even uses the same Danish flag as its city flag, occasionally. So all in all, Estonia is closely connected with Denmark.
One of the churches we saw today has Estonia's "Don Juan" buried in it, which is quite an amusing story. Apparently, he never went to church and loved women and alcohol. So he requested to be buried in the front of the church so that every time someone would walk into church, they would step on his grave and alleviate his sins a little by stepping on him. Nobody knows when his sins will be absolved, so his grave continues to be stepped on by everyone who walks into the church. The funniest, most ironic part of the whole story is that he is still a Don Juan. Any girl that wears a skirt into the church, Don Juan is technically still under them, and under their skirts. Amusing, huh? My whole class got a kick out of that. Also slightly humorous is that they have signs that say "no pick pocketing" [though in Estonian, of course] &show a picture of a pick pocket-er trying to steal a woman's purse. Good intentions of course, especially to make tourists aware, but still quite amusing.
We also got to see the oldest operating pharmacy in Europe that actually created "the cure" for stomachaches, which, believe it or not was marzipan. Amazing, I know. I would have a stomach ache every day if marzipan was the cure. So of course, they also have a "marzipan house" where you could buy marzipan. Needless to say, I visited, and bought myself a little bit of marzipan. It was stellar. Definitely put a great spin on a slightly rainy part of th afternoon. There was also a "viewing spot" of Tallinn, which gave an AMAZING view of the whole city. You could see all the way out to the sea, as well as the distinct red-tiled roofs that Estonia is known for.
some of the remaining connecting towers that created the protective walls around medieval Tallinn
the Russian influence: the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky
Me, in front of the Marzipan house! Delicious!! [Clearly, I was excited...]
the gorgeous view of Tallinn, where all of the red-tiled roofs are apparent, as well as the sea in the background.
After the tour was over, we had the rest of the evening on our own, so Aili and I went to wander around and had dinner at this little place on a side street. Our dinner was really good, and very affordable. After that, we took the long way home, just to see more of this gorgeous city. Unfortunately, tomorrow is our last day in Estonia, but we leave tomorrow afternoon on an overnight ferry to Stockholm, Sweden. I'm pumped for the ferry, apparently it's more like a cruise: it should be awesome!! Tomorrow will still be awesome though, we're going to visit another school, as well as the New Synagogue and Jewish School. It was founded in 2007 &is the first synagogue to be built in Estonia since WWII. This is what I'm looking forward to the most, because even though it was founded just 2 years ago, and it deals with such a minority of the population, it is still considered one of the best schools in Tallinn. I also find it fascinating because all of the Jews were killed off during WWII--so what made the Jews decide to come back to Estonia? I'll find out more tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be able to update soon, this time from Stockholm!!
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