I let Saturday start slowly in the apartment. I made a few final edits to my post about the trip to Helsinki, listened to a couple of podcasts, and spent some time reflecting on the trip.
I finally headed out once I figured some coffeehouses would be open. Tallinn’s cafés generally get a later start than I’m accustomed to in the States. I decided to give Must Puudel—Black Poodle in English—a try. Google describes it as a popular retro-style café and lounge with a vintage Soviet-era interior and a cozy atmosphere. I won’t argue with the cozy part. The music also seemed designed to appeal to English-speaking tourists, with a steady stream of popular songs from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.
I ordered a croissant with smoked salmon and an Americano. Yes, that’s my go-to coffee drink: simple, tasty, and a little stronger-tasting than a regular cup of joe.
Now for the disappointing part. I stayed for two cups, but the coffee was terrible. What kept me at the table for about an hour was everything else—the breakfast, the music, and the feel of the place.
From there, I headed up to Toompea, the upper part of Tallinn’s Old Town. I believe this was one of the areas my walking tour was supposed to cover on Thursday before the skies opened up and dumped a serious rainstorm on Tallinn.
After climbing the hill, I found myself in the middle of Estonia’s political heart. Toompea Castle has evolved over more than 800 years, and its buildings reflect that history, from medieval fortifications to the Baroque-era palace and the modern Riigikogu, Estonia’s parliament. The present complex includes the parliament building, the White Hall and other parliamentary rooms, offices for members of the Riigikogu, and the Chancellery’s working spaces. The Baroque palace on the eastern side dates to the 18th century, when Catherine the Great ordered a new provincial government building constructed there.
Just outside the castle complex stands the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, an imposing Russian Orthodox church built between 1894 and 1900 during the period of Russification under the Russian Empire. Its prominent location and distinctly Russian Revival architecture made it a powerful symbol of imperial rule—and a controversial one for many Estonians.
The controversy hasn’t disappeared. In the 1920s and 1930s, Estonia debated whether to demolish or transform the cathedral. An actual demolition proposal reached the Riigikogu in 1928, and architects even developed plans for replacing or transforming the building. Those plans never came to fruition.
Today, the debate has resurfaced for a different but related reason. Estonia’s relationship with Russia has become much more complicated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the cathedral’s ties to the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church have prompted renewed calls to sell it, relocate it, demolish it, or turn it into a museum.
I can understand why the cathedral provokes complicated feelings. At the same time, I have to admit that the building itself is absolutely stunning. If Estonia ultimately decides that the church can no longer function as it does today, I hope it chooses some version of the museum idea rather than destroying the building. Its history—even if at times painful—is precisely what makes it worth preserving.
Because I saw some different countries’ flags flying outside some buildings, I verified that Toompea also houses several foreign embassies, including those of Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, and Germany.
And, of course, I couldn’t visit Toompea without taking some pictures. From the top of the hill, you can look across the beautiful rooftops of the Old Town, toward the more modern center of Tallinn, and out toward the Baltic Sea.
After taking in the views, I headed back down into the lower part of the Old Town, mostly just to absorb its beauty. I’ve got only one more full day here before I head home.
Before returning to the apartment, I stopped at a restaurant specializing in ramen. Rebecca and I don’t eat out much, so this felt like a treat. Thank you, Casey, for suggesting that I try the place. I got a miso vegetarian ramen dish with tofu.
I ordered takeout, partly because my introvert side was tugging at me and partly because I wanted to get back in time for video chats with Rebecca and my friend Lee Urton, my co-blogger at Intellectual Roundtable.
Rebecca and I shared stories about our days and talked about the heat spell the Twin Cities was experiencing. Then Lee and I talked about all sorts of things, including books and the questions we’re going to pose on the blog over the next week:
- Sunday: Could food labels be better?
- Quick Fire Tuesday: Where did you go this summer?
- Thursday Throw Down: Canning or freezing?
- And on deck for next Sunday: What are your strengths?
We ended our conversation by telling each other what we saw as the other’s strengths. Lee pointed out something that’s probably true for both of us: we’re not always very good at recognizing our own strengths.
That was a nice way to end the day—and a pretty good reminder that sometimes other people see things in us that we have trouble seeing in ourselves.
(To be transparent, I had no tour guide today. Much of the historical and political information comes from what Google provided after I searched for information about buildings that intrigued me.)
