16/07/08 - Welcome to Estonia in a monsoon!!

After scouring Cina and Magnus's house for all our clothes that were
scattered about busy drying, it was time to say goodbye and end our
period of luxury from yet another fantastic host. Then it was onto
the ferry, across the Baltic Sea and into Tallin, Estonia. From the
top deck as we sailed in we were greeted by overcast weather, 20
minutes later as we drove off the ferry we were in the middle of a
torrential downpour!!!

Never mind, quite happy to drive streets of Tallin for a while, we
decided that supermarket shopping is best when the rain is like it is.
At the supermarket complex, Marea's nose sniffed out a very nice
smelling fish soup that someone had from the food court area.
Unfortunately either the Estonian server had no idea what fish soup
meant, or the fantastic smelling food was something entirely
different. I thought poor Marea was going to find and chase down the
unsuspecting person and find out exactly what she had on her plate!!
Nonetheless, without our 'fish soup' we were still able to find some
very nice food to each with a little pointing, charades, and watching
what the other customers did. It was definitely a bit different to
the easy ride we had in Scandinavia where everyone seemed to
understand English.

A little tired, and still digesting everything we took in from
Helsinki, we decided a trip out into the Estonian countryside was in
order for a night before we return to Tallin to explore it properly.
So we have headed east to the Lahemaa National Park, where we have
found a little spot by the sea at the end of a peninsula that is
shared only by a big monstrosity of a brick structure that would have
only been built 30 years ago, but now lies in ruins. My guess - a
Soviet Union look out point from Communist times?? The graffiti
inside definitely refers to Russia.