The Wanderer

One of the things I like to do when I arrive in a new city is to walk around aimlessly my first day to get my bearings and a feel for the city. It's nice to wander freely with no idea about what is an "important" thing to see. This way, you discover things, rather than rush from one recommended site to the next.

I started with the old city, since that's where I was staying and I haven't mastered levitation yet.

When I walked into Tallinn's old city last night, I had the feeling that I had been here before. It took me a few minutes to recall where I had seen this architecture previously, then I remembered -- Germany! Germany, you say? Yes. Before Tallinn's independence and before it was a Soviet state, it was a Hansa city, so Tallinn's old city is basically a German medieval city.

Which makes this the "Rathaus" a.k.a. Town Hall...

I found quite a few cute little coffee shops, a sign that you have left Asia and arrived in Europe.

After a coffee, it was on to the new city.

This is the library, but at first I thought it was an ultra-modern religious building. I guess it was the stained glass window that threw me.

And multi-colored allysum, for my parents who grow it in their flower gardens. (That's allysum, not asylum -- easy to confuse the two.)

This is approaching the "back" of the old city.

And back inside of the old city.

And home again. These are the pretty painted beams in the dorm room of my hostel.