Tallinn and beyond

Spent last weekend in Tallinn with Airi. I'm going to say that she is an environmental lawyer who speaks several languages including English, Russian and Estonian. I think there is a few more...She had just moved into a new flat and was nice enough to arrange to borrow a fold away bed from her friend. The medieval city is amazing inclosed by ancient masonry walls. They then decided to run large roads and tram lines around it so that it feels very much like a sort of island. New parts of the city are popping up everywhere. It was also light on my wallet which was a nice change. I managed to pick up some lovely souvenirs from an independent design shop. They catered for the tourists but it was quite tucked away and stocked young designers who had designed cool-er t-shirts than the run of the mill ones found in the other tacky souvenir shops.

The Rotterman Quarter is worth a swatch if you find yourself in Tallinn. Apparently it is "owned" by a developer who started his career as a security guard. At the heart of the development are old industrial buildings which they have started to refurbish. There are some interesting contemporary buildings some of which I remember seeing in the A10 architecture magazine recently. I'll need to look up the architects later.

I left Airi on Monday morning and took a ferry back to Helsinki then hot footed it to Turku. Stayed at the Omena hotel again which just happened to be a refurbished Aalto building. The sun was already setting when I arrived in Turku and there was one Aalto building I wanted to see which was the Turun Sanomat Building 1927-29 for the Turku Newspaper. The structural frame made out of reinforced concrete, outer external walls with lightweight concrete. Apparently it was one of the first Aalto buildings that attracted international attention. It was closed when I got there, but the security guard was nice enough to let me have a walk around the car park courtyard.

Woke up early to catch the 8.15am ferry to Stockholm. I promised Fred, an old university professor that I would take the day ferry from Turku to Stockholm to see the Archipelago. It only cost 11 euros. The night ferry has a reputation for being a party boat for the 20 somethings who take advantage of the cheap alcoholic beverages. I was able to avoid it by taking the day ferry on a weekday. I'm glad that I did the very long journey. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was even better.

Got into Stockholm on Tuesday evening and went to the hotel. My friend Amy who I have known since highschool was coming to meet me in Stockholm. She had booked the hotel and managed to find a great deal on the accommodation.