Seabattle: Tallinn, Estonia

On the morning of April 12^th, Students from all over Sweden and even some other Scandinavian countries boarded buses toward Stockholm. We hopped on our ferry, the MS Baltic Queen, and headed toward the city of Tallinn, Estonia. I roomed with my American friends Keith, Isaac, and Clay. First thing first, we got to have a free taco buffet. Well, free as in included with the price of the trip. As with most “included with trip” meals (see lappland reindeer), I was rather disappointed with the spread. It was like a cold salad bar with random tortillas spread around next to some nasty, soupy, taco meat. Oh well. Beverages were included! Good way to start the night.

After dinner, we headed out on the deck and checked out the scenery. It honestly reminded me of boating around Lake Vermillion. Lots of pretty lake houses and little islands scattered around the canals heading out of Stockholm. It made me a little homesick. All those memories of fishing with Grandma, Grandpa, and Dad came rushing back. I miss the rat-a-tat-tat of a walleye bump. Oh well. Hopefully the fish are still biting by the time I get back home to Minnesota. Here's a link of the Route the MS Baltic Queen took to reach Estonia:

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Then we hung out in our room for a while. We watched some movies on the TV in our room and had a good time. Then we went to explore the ship for a while. We figured out where all the restaurants, pubs, clubs, discos and everything were. We wanted to sing karaoke, but there were just way too many people in the karaoke bar and there are only so many times you can here classic American songs butchered by English as second language students. So we headed back to the room for some more chill time.

In the morning, we were woken up by an announcement over the PA saying we were going to soon arrive in Tallinn, so we peeled ourselves out of bunks and get ready to explore the city. When we first walked outside of the ferry dock, I was a little worried. Everything looked very industrial and bleak. I didn’t think there was going to be very much to see at all. However, as we made our way over to the Old Town, I was pleasantly surprised. There were lots of old ramparts and tower scattered around the area along with lots of cool antique shops, cafes, and restaurants.

One of the restaurants we saw was particularly interesting. It seemed a little out of place, but I hadn’t had BBQ ribs in such a long time, it was tempting to eat there . . .

Later that afternoon, we got back on the boat, took a little powernap, and then got up in search of some dinner. Isaac, Clay, Keith, and I decided on getting a buffet which included meatballs with potatoes and gravy. Nothing like Grandma Jojo’s meatballs, but they were still pretty good. We then went around and checked out some of the bands that were playing in the ballroom and in the different pubs around the boat.

To finish of the evening, I enjoyed a nice Romeo y Julieta from Havana in the piano bar. We all went to bed pretty late, but were once again woken up by the PA, saying we were soon going to arrive in Stockholm, so we packed everything up and boarded the buses back to Växjö. Check Estonia off the list. Time for a nice nap on the ride home.