So happy to be here!

People i met here who contributed to, and improved my trip: David (Spain), Javi (Spain), Svetlana (Russia)

So i arrived in Tallinn and went straight to the British embassy in search of a new passport. The good news was it could be processed within a day or 2, the bad news was it would cost $180.00. I left with the forms and had some thinking whether i wanted to pay this much or try and glue my current passport back together!

My first impression of the city was extremely positive, calling it beautiful is underestimating what it actually is. The city has a castle region - Toompea - where the Parliament building and Alexsander Nevski Cathedral are located, along with great vistas across the surrounding areas. Down into the new town the streets are cobbled and narrow and have an intriguing charm to them.

It seems that the hostel i stayed in is mainly for Spanish and Italians and i spent my 19 days hanging out mainly with a Spanish guy called David. We spent several nights in a pub called Nimeta, Havana, Nimega, a karaoke bar, Hell Hunt and also checked out a few of the local discos - Venus, Hollywood, and the casino. The nightlife is not too bad and the women are spectacular, although there is not the same variety of a larger city such as Warsaw. Still, there are enough places to stay until the sun comes up and that can give you one hell of a hangover! Impressive restaurants that i went to included a huge place called Beer House which was a German style beer hall and Restaurant Africa which did a great beef and prawn dish.

After 2 nights in Hostel Alur, they told me it was fully booked for the weekend and i had to leave. On begging them to let me stay they explained that David was using their only camp bed. After more pleading they agreed to let me sleep on the floor of the sauna! Once David left to take up a house connected with his teaching job, i got the spare camp bed. It actually worked out pretty well as the sauna had a shower, toilet, stereo and food table, so i bedded into my rather perculiar surroundings! When a bed became free, the owners were happy to move me back upstairs and seemed rather bewildered when i said i wanted to remain!