Merry Christmas!
Our semester came to an end on December 19th with the completion of final exams. This was the first year that we have had a mandatory final exam week and overall things went well. We still have our grades to do since finals were the last week before break, but it was nice to be able to use all of the days leading up to the end of the semester instead of trying to cut things off early in order to get report cards out before the end of the semester.
Two days after the end of the semester, we headed off to Tallinn, Estonia! As you may possibly remember, we went to Tallinn during our Christmas break in 2010 and had a wonderful time. We had been hoping to be able to go back and things worked out this year so that we could. We were able to spend Christmas day itself in Tallinn and to take in the snowy beauty of the old medieval town. We were able to see several things that we were unable to during the first time we were in Tallinn, as well to enjoy doing certain things again.
What follows are a selection of our photos, beautifully chosen by Amanda:-), to document our trip:
This picture was taken while we sat on a bridge quite literally between Russia and Estonia. The bus we took crossed the border at the cities of Ivangorod (Russia) and Narva (Estonia) where a river divides the two countries. After passing through the Russian side of the border (which had some unwanted excitement when the border guard refused to believe that Amanda's terrible old passport picture could possibly be of the woman who was standing at passport control, but thankfully everything worked out), we rode across the bridge and then passed through the Estonia side of the border.
The Christmas market! Tallinn is well known for its annual Christmas market that runs from the end of November into the second week of January. We arrived somewhat late our first night so many of the vendors had already closed, but you can still see the lights and beautiful tree in the square of the Old Town.
We went to Kiek in de Kok, the largest of the medieval towers in the Old Town of Tallinn. Tallinn has 20 towers and around 2 kilometers of walls still standing from the late middle ages. Some of the towers you can visit. In this one there was a floor dedicated to torture and punishments, so Amanda and I each took our turn in the stocks.
A painting of the crucifixion in Kiek in de Kok that shows the Blackheads under the cross. The blackheads were an organization of bachelor merchants who also played a role in the military defense of Tallinn. This painting commemorates their role in a battle against Russia during the Livonian war in the late 16th century.
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the largest Russian Orthodox Church in Tallinn, seen through one of the windows of Kiek in de Kok.
Tallinn's old town is built up around Toompea hill, a natural place to build a fortress. A series of man-made defensive bastions run alongside the hill, and under the bastions is a series of tunnels. We took a tour of the tunnels. Above is a picture looking through a glass pane that shows the part of the tunnels that have yet to be restored. As you can see, this section is still filled with water in many places.
We climbed along the city wall in a number of places and went up the various towers that are open to tourists.
One thing that I had especially wanted to do last time we were in Tallinn but didn't was to visit the puppet museum. Tallinn has a well known puppet theater and attached to it is a museum of the many puppets that have been part of its history. This is one image of a room filled with puppets!
No trip to Tallinn is complete without a trip to Olde Hansa, Tallinn's premier medieval restaurant. We went there our first time in the city and knew that we had to go back (we actually ate there twice this time). Here I am about to enjoy a meal of duck leg with saffron sauce, gingered carrots, onion jam, sauerkraut, and barley.
A shot of the candle-lit hall that we dined in. The restaurant does its best to provide a medieval atmosphere and serve food that would have been available at that time.
The Niguliste (St. Nicholas) Church. This is one of the many old churches in Tallinn. Several of the churches are still in use, although this one is now only a museum.
Inside the church you can find the wooden coat of arms of many noble families from Tallinn's past.
A massive altar stands at the front of the church.
The church is perhaps most famous for being the location of the Danse Macabre, Tallinn's most famous painting. Completed in the late 1400s, it is uncertain as to how large the original painting was. The current painting contains about a dozen figures, but it is known that the artist also painted a similar work for another church that contained over 40 figures. The figure portrays the dance of death, showing society in descending hierarchical order (starting on the right with the pope, then the emperor, then king, then queen, then cardinal, etc.) with an image of death in between each figure. The dance of death was a common medieval art theme, reflecting a world that was still being periodically ravaged by the Black Plague.
This photo with me in it gives some sense of the size of the surviving part of the painting.
In the square in the Old Town there was a stage set up for various Christmas-themed performances. We saw a group of folk dancers one day. It was bitterly cold, making their performance even more impressive.
The Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin, known as the Dome Church. Like many of the churches in Tallinn, it was originally a Catholic Church that became Lutheran after the Reformation.
The organ in the back of the church. We got to enjoy a Christmas Eve concert in this church which was a wonderful experience.
The main altar, with Christmas trees guarding either side. On the walls are coats of arms of local nobility dating back to the 17th century.
We also went to the Estonian History Museum. I took advantage of a display that allowed you to try on some models of medieval soldiers equipment.
The upper area of the history museum. Estonia has a long and interesting history. Settled thousands of years ago, it first appeared in European history with the Danish conquest of it in the early 1200s (giving Estonia its connection to the Viking age). German crusaders conquered Estonia later on in the 1200s in an effort to convert the pagan Estonians. The Germans were overthrown by the Swedes by the 1600s who in turn were driven out by the Russians when Peter the Great conquered Estonia in 1710. Estonia was part of the Russian empire for the next 200 years. After the Russian Revolution Estonia fought against Russia from 1918-1920 to gain its independence and form a republic. However, the Soviet Union occupied Estonia again in 1940 and remained in control until the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991. As a result of all of this, as the history musuem noted, Estonians have only ruled their country themselves for about 40 of the last 800 years.
People left letters to Santa Claus (or to Ded Moroz, Tallinn's population is nearly half Russian) on the tree in the Old Town square.
The Holy Spirit Church is a church we visited the first time we were in Tallinn but its beautiful wooden art drew us back again.
The gorgeous altar, made by Bernt Notke, the same artist who painted the Danse Macabre (and also made the sculptor of St. George and the Dragon in Stockholm that we posted a photo of over the summer)
St. Catherine's Passage- a narrow walk way through part of the Old Town.
Another view of Tallinn from a different section of the wall.
On Christmas we walked about Toompea Hill. It was very, very snowy which made both of us happy. One of the towers on Toompea Castle, which sits on the hill above the Old Town.
A view of Tallinn from one of the scenic lookouts on top of Toompea hill.
Amanda holding the spire on the tower below.
We also walked out to edge of the town along the Baltic Sea. To get here we climbed slippery steps leading up to the top of Tallinn's old theater hall (now empty). The building won an architectural award when it was built.
Fat Margaret- the round cannon tower that marks one end of the Old Town. We had never been out to this end of the city before and the name of the tower was particularly appealing. :-)
For our last night in Tallinn we saw The Hobbit and then headed back to Olde Hansa once more. This picture is of some of the musicians who performed medieval music for the hungry diners.
Our trip was a lot of fun and great way to take a break after all of the labor of the previous semester. This new semester will have its share of new activity as well. In fact, the second week back we will both help lead a high school field trip to Moscow. This will be similar to the one from two years ago. Since I am teaching Russian History this year and Amanda is going to spend a semester on Russian literature with her 10-12th grade class, we are going to Moscow for several days to see some of the historical/literary sites. As before, this will also tie in with the annual basketball tournament hosted by Anglo-American school in Moscow that IA usually participates in. I'm sure we'll have photos and more about this trip in the future!
Matt
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