I’m hosting Christmas this year for my parents and sisters (my brother is unable to attend, though still welcome), and that means making plans in advance. Now, you may be saying, what, so soon? (If you are a super last minute person, nobody who has ever hosting Christmas is saying that). Or perhaps you are saying, but it’s Halloween season right now?
Let’s take a minute and be old people and grump about Halloween season anyway. What’s the deal with that? And do you have to do a new costume for each party/festive occasion? Does Trunk or Treat have the dumbest name or what? Back in my day, we had one costume and we wore it trick or treating around the neighborhood, and we were told just to watch out for apples with razor blades in them, as if we wouldn’t just toss an apple out rather than continue carrying it around! Who eats apples for Halloween anyway? And the walking we did around the neighborhood probably negated a lot of the candy calories anyway, but if not, eating too much candy and then throwing up would have done the same.
But I digress. Oh! In further digression, have I told you about Trunksgiving before? You get your cars, you meet your friends in a large parking lot somewhere and each person has one side dish for Thanksgiving in their trunk and you eat them outside, tailgate style.
In the spirit of a random blog post: we aren’t doing much for Thanksgiving. We need some time off and some days to catch up on house stuff and other related stuff, so we will do a small Thanksgiving with Louie’s family, possibly at the Whittemore House so we can save our cooking chops for Christmas. Last year was a big deal for Thanksgiving even if it got derailed by COVID, and I feel like it happened too recently to do it again. We had debated traveling for the holiday, but Louie vetoed and wanted to stay in instead.
So back to Christmas. As much as Leslie and I have been joking about making things in advance (such as salads, it’s a family joke about how in advance you can prepare things because my mother is the queen of advance preparation and is where we learned all of our planning skills), I did make some holiday things this past weekend.
First off, it’s important to note two things: I had the entire afternoon and evening off on Sunday. And Louie was out of town for a work thing. I work so many hours that an afternoon and evening off TO MYSELF looked like the most decadent thing I could even imagine, so what did I do? Well, after finishing my makeup lessons and a family zoom call, I went to the grocery store and bought ingredients to make Alton Brown’s Aged Eggnog and Food in Jars’s Pickled Cranberries. And made them both in a matter of a few hours. I had lost some of my canning skills but I brought them back quickly enough.
Some of those jars are just the brine, or really, shrub, from the recipe. I made the pickled cranberries a few years ago during my canning heyday, and while we didn’t actually love the cranberries (they are totally fine, but not amazing), Louie absolutely loved the brine in mixed drinks. I actually haven’t tried it, but I figured it would be great to offer people, as well as supposedly excellent to mix with sparkling water as well for a holiday drink.
And the eggnog, I also went through an eggnog phase a few years back, and I haven’t made aged eggnog since. I am only having it age about two months in this case, slightly less, but it should be a nice treat for the adults who wish to try it.
Other holiday plans: having some time off after Christmas. And Louie is teaching a winter term class so I have some days off where he is working. On the one hand, I’m sad he isn’t off too because we could do something fun. On the other hand, I could just lounge around and catch up on my reading. It’ll probably be somewhere in between and I am also looking at a short getaway for us after his class is over, maybe somewhere with a hot tub where we can just get away from it all for a few days before the semester starts again.
So that’s my random holiday thought dump! How about you, what are you doing for the holidays? And an important question: how far in advance do you and your family start planning events?
Musicians probably already know this, but the rest of you may not. Sometimes (rarely) I get questions, like how do people know to call you? Or another question I got recently (okay, in response to a prompt, but still: how do I organize my time?)
Okay, so let’s start with my system. Currently I use google calendar for my everything, and I use My Music Staff to organize my private teaching studio. My Music Staff syncs with my google calendar so it’s all on there, but it makes it easier to keep track of attendance and for students to do their own canceling and rescheduling, plus it sends them reminders via text and email.
I get asked to play for things all the time! I’ll have days where I get asked for a half dozen things at once, and then perhaps a week where nothing happens. Sometimes I try to track these things, but it’s hard to stay on top of, and honestly, it’s pretty much throughout the year. So when I get asked to play something, it could be via text, email, phone, whatever. I try to respond as quickly as possible, and if the answer is, not sure, let me check, I’ll let them know that as well. I want to be the person people ask because they know I’ll respond right away.
How do I decide whether to take a job? Mostly the question is, am I free, and does it pay reasonably for effort? And, if it doesn’t pay well, is it something I want to do for another reason (usually that reason would be, because it is a chamber music opportunity to play something that isn’t commercial but really feeds my soul). I also play things that pay a little lower if I know it keeps me on the radar for other things.
Oh, and it’s always important to consider the location of things: you have to factor in, is there enough time to drive there and not be stressed out about arriving on time? And on time means early for musicians, with different (often unspoken) arrival times expected depending on what the gig is. So I always put the address into google calendar so I know that too, as well as putting important information in the “notes” part of the event.
The question as to if I am free can be a little tricky something. Let’s say I’m not technically “free” but I need to move two students to do something that pays decently–I’ll do that. Unless I look and see that I’m moving those same two students several weeks in a row, maybe, or if I notice that it’s the week before a big performance for them. I might know they are students that aren’t flexible, or perhaps I know they ARE more flexible. So a lot of things go into consideration with that.
Let’s say it’s a several week long show, and yet it conflicts with a small gig or two that I already have (for instance, a wedding)–if it’s a lot of money for one larger job and it’s a decent amount of time away, I might ask the contractor for the one-off job about finding a sub instead. This is where things can get tricky: you want to be seen as reliable and not constantly chasing something higher paying or better, but yet there are obvious times where one job is worth finding a sub for. You have to weigh these options as well.
How far in advance are things booked? Well, I already have some things on the calendar for May, but nothing past that at this time. I’m sure wedding contractors have weddings on the books already for next summer but haven’t asked people yet. That usually starts happening after the new year. Easter and Christmas Eve usually book up 9-12 months early for me, and jobs in December will come up at any time from February on, with some early and others late. People definitely hire musicians last minute, but they also hire them early! I’ll get last minute gigs that fill in a gap sometimes, but other times everything on my calendar will have been there for months.
How do people know to find me? Word of mouth, internet, I don’t know! The more you play out, the more people you meet. My goals are to arrive early, be responsible and organized, be friendly and polite, and of course, to do a terrific job on my instrument. I never want to play a job and have somebody feel doubtful about hiring me again based on my skills or how I do the job. And I always try to give my best effort, regardless of what’s going on around me.
What kinds of things do I play? Everything! Weddings, funerals, church services, small orchestras for choirs, string quartet concerts, other chamber music, pit orchestras, regular orchestras, recording sessions, baroque ensembles (this is a new things to me!), background music for touring artists, and more! One thing I love about being a freelancer is the variety of stuff I do, though a LOT of it is weddings, the wedding business is booming apparently.
The one thing I haven’t mentioned is practicing: I usually don’t worry too much about getting music learned. Generally for difficult things you’ll get the music far enough in advance to learn it, and otherwise I’ll fit things into my schedule as needed. I make time to practice when I can, though it’s never as much as I “should” or as much as I used to when I was younger. Sometimes it would be nice to have more time to practice, but that’s really hard to make happen. I’m also a really skilled sight-reader and I have decades of experience behind me with repertoire, so often what I’m playing I’ve played in the past. So for a less experienced musician, this might be more of a concern, but I don’t worry too much: I figure I’ll make it happen, and I pretty much do. Occasionally I’ll have a performance where I wished I had been able to put a little more time in (usually some difficult chamber music piece) but I do have to treat this whole “thing” as a job, and sometimes that means you take the gig when you get it.
So, let me know if you have more questions! I never feel like an expert (being a classical musician means constantly questioning your skills) but as I get older I realize, maybe I am in some senses.
Back in early summer, I saw an advertisement for an event run by Terrain Magazine called the MO70, a Two-Day Pedal and Paddle Adventure. Louie had just been talking about how he wanted to bike more and we had also been talking about how we didn’t have any camping planned, so signing up seemed like a great idea.
Now, I’m a musician, as you know. So taking a weekend away can be tricky: I had to turn down a variety of things, but I really wanted to do this event so it was worth it. We started doing longer rides in the summer, with our longest topping out at 25 miles. We would have liked to have done more, but if you recall, my September was the busiest ever (I don’t know if I’m exaggerating or not, but seriously, everybody is saying that, what is going on) and biking long distances was not possible. We got one more longer ride in the weekend before the trip and that was it.
So, we loaded up the car the day before: light camping gear, bikes, overnight bags, etc, and bright and early on Saturday morning we drove an hour to Washington, Missouri to meet the tour. The plan was to bike on the Katy Trail (mostly) from Washington to Hermann, to camp overnight in Hermann, and then get into canoes from Big Muddy Adventures and canoe back down river to Washington on Sunday.
We had our tent, two sleeping bags/pads/pillows, and each a backpack with items to wear, toiletries, and headlamps. We got new bags for the bag of our bikes which you can see in the photo above, and that was useful for keeping important stuff we would want for the day: OTC meds such as advil and pepto bismal, sunscreen, wallets, etc. We debated rain gear but there was a 0 percent chance across the weekend so we decided to risk it and that was fine.
Our gear was loaded onto a shuttle and we would see it later that day. Otherwise, they had beer and snacks and other cold drinks for us along the way, and some people started on the beer right away (fun for them I suppose but I cannot drink in the morning and function over the day).
We set off as a group then: it was a few miles on roads to get from Washington to the Katy Trail, first up to a bridge over the Missouri and then a bit on a gravel road that was a little less fun, and then to the Katy. The group stopped a few times along the way to let everybody catch up.
The ride was pretty easy at first, of course. The bridge was fun to bike over, and it was really nice once we got to the Katy. I had been thinking we were biking a part of the trail we had never been on, but then we stopped for our first break in Dutzow, where we had been before.
They had various drinks to choose from (the shuttle brought coolers along) and I enjoyed a cold gatorade and a snack. We continued on then, mostly in a large group, though a bit spread out.
Our next stop was Marthasville, for another quick snack/bathroom break as needed. And then at Peers, and then finally lunch at Treloar.
They brought sandwiches we had preordered (from a few choices) from the Gramophone, and we enjoyed those with cold drinks, chips, and cookies. It was a nice break! We felt like the ride was easy so far with all the stops and it was a nice day.
The rest of the day was much harder, as you might imagine! First off, there weren’t any more planned stops between Treloar and McKittrick, and I had overhead them saying it was about 10 miles, but no, it was about 15. We got much more spread out and it got hotter (almost 90!) though thankfully minus the summer humidity.
But we persevered and just made a few stops along the way. We chatted with some other people, had a nice time, struggled a bit, and finally got to McKittrick where I had been dreaming of a nice cold beverage from the cooler…only to find out that the coolers were gone because the shuttle had had to go pick somebody up. NOOOOOOOO!!
So we had to continue a few more miles from McKittrick into Hermann. This meant getting off the Katy again and going a few miles on a highway, over a bridge, and then downhill mostly into the campground. This was hard, especially the bridge. I was exhausted and there was a big uphill to get to it (or it felt like a big uphill, who knows), but once we crested that, it was fine. We were riding with a small group still, and we were so happy to see the shuttles when we got into the Hermann City campground.
They were out of gatorade, sadly, but I had a sprite and a cold water and it was glorious! According to my phone app, we had biked 38 miles that day.
So then we grabbed our camping gear and set up our tent in the middle of a field. We took showers, and then just hung out the rest of the day. They provided a nice dinner of bratwursts, sauerkraut, potato salad, etc. (notice an Oktoberfest theme?) as well as plenty of drinks (and I did enjoy a couple of beers in the evening).
For some reason I didn’t get a picture of our tent! I usually do that every time we camp, but I didn’t do it this trip.
We enjoyed hanging around the fire and chatting with a variety of people. And then by around 9 I was utterly exhausted and turned in early!
You’d think I would have slept well, but no. I woke up a bunch, and tossed and turned all night. So did most people we talked to. I suppose it was the new place, the fact that we were just sleeping on thermarests, it was a little warm at first, and then the camping area was really light, tons of streetlights around.
So when morning came, it was both too soon and also a relief, ha! We packed up quickly and then enjoyed some coffee (though a dangerously small amount for the group) and breakfast burritos. Then we all biked to the riverfront to board the canoes.
It was a lovely morning: not too warm, just comfortable for me in leggins and short sleeves, and you can see we had large canoes. We paddled for several hours and then stopped at the Paddlestop Brewery in New Haven for a barbecue lunch. Louie and I split a beer there as well: it was a fun little place!
And then we continued paddling after lunch until we finally got back to the waterfront park in Washington where we started. We did enjoy the canoe, but we were pretty tired of paddling by the end–I think the morning was more fun than the afternoon, but the scenery was lovely, and it wasn’t too hard to be with a big group like that.
We got the canoes out of the water, retrieved our gear and bikes, loaded up the car and said our goodbyes. It was a super fun trip and we would be happy to do it again! It was well organized and well run, and we enjoyed the food. We always felt safe and well taken care of, and we enjoyed meeting new people and chatting with them.
Day 16: We decided to have a lazy morning and sleep in a bit. It was nice. We had a bike tour booked for 2 pm, and needed to take a train to it, so we hung around the apartment/Airbnb until it was time for a late breakfast/lunch. We went to a place called Cafe Cafferino Oba that served coffee and breakfast, which ended up being greek food. We both had some good eggs, veggies, bread, yogurt, etc, with coffee.
Our guide had given us specific instructions on what train to take to meet him, so we walked to Central Station, and found a train to board. It was pretty easy.
And then it was a short walk from there to the meeting place.
I’d booked a day trip with biking to Seurasaari, a picnic, and a sauna. It looked like a lot of fun and actually ended up being our favorite thing!
We met the guide, Luca, at a sort of garage where he kept the bikes and gear. I had asked about riding an ebike instead so I got one of those, and Louie and Barbara, the only other person on our tour, got regular bikes. We headed out towards Seurasaari, which is an open air museum outside of Helsinki, on an island.
We were very visible with our helmet covers! I loved riding the ebike: it was like riding a regular bike but with help on the hills, so I could go just as fast uphill as on a flat ride.
When we got to Seurasaari, we had to park our bikes and walk as the island doesn’t allow bikes. We did a quick walk through, looking at the outside of some buildings while Luca talked about the history and culture of Finland.
We ended up at a large picnic area with a grill, and Luca started a fire (with wood that you could just use) and we helped prepared a vegan Finnish lunch, with various appetizers he had made, and vegan reindeer sausages.
The food was delicious: some sort of vegan cheese dip, pate, gazpacho, the vegan reindeer sausages, grilled onions, blueberry drink, and more. After eating more than we probably even wanted, we finished walking around the island, and then headed to the next stop: sauna.
We had talked as a group about the various kinds of saunas that we could try and collectively chose what Luca called the “hippie sauna” which was a sauna on the edge of the Baltic Sea, where you could get in the sauna and then jump in the sea. Oh, and most people would be completely nude.
It was called Sompasauna, there would be no pictures, and yes, most people were nude. You quickly learned that nobody cared and just to keep your eyes down, and that WOW it was amazing getting really hot and sweaty in a wooden cabin and then jumping into the freezing sea was amazing once you were really hot! I could have stayed there longer, but we had to get back as our time was almost up, so we left after probably an hour or more. (I didn’t have my watch on during this part).
Anyway, we biked back to where we started (I was really glad I had my ebike as I kept up really easily!) and then said our goodbyes. It was a really terrific day, the sauna was absolutely amazing (I just loved the feeling of floating in the Baltic Sea, so much!) and we had a terrific time. One regret is not getting to spend more time really exploring Seurasaari, but we did see plenty of open air museums on this trip, so it really wasn’t a huge loss, haha.
We weren’t really hungry for dinner as the lunch had been quite late, so after we got back to Helsinki we went to a place called the Beer House, and ended up having a few snacks there like reindeer jerky and cauliflower wings. We also ended up trying Taco Bell that evening: Leslie had teased me that I should try a bean burrito there, and I did, though it wasn’t really a bean burrito but was a “vegan burrito” instead. Louie and I split it back at the apartment and it was nice and hit the spot.
Day 17: Suomenlinna
We decided to go to the fortress of Suomenlinna on our last full day in Helsinki. We didn’t get the earliest of starts again, but we did manage breakfast rather than lunch, ha! We went to Cafe Ekbert and had some delicious pastries and cappuccinos.
We had a cinnamon bun, an almond croissant, and a little sandwich with cheese and eggs and sauce.
We took the ferry to Suomenlinna then: you catch it at Market Square down by the water (obviously). You pay using the HSL app, and the ferry fits a decent amount of people plus up to two cars/small trucks.
We walked around the island then, using some information from Rick Steves, but also just wandering and seeing what looked interesting.
After a few hours, we took the ferry back and continued wandering. We enjoyed a salmon pie and a little pastry with grits on it (unsure of the name) overlooking the water.
We looked at the map and tried to walk through some parts of Helsinki that we hadn’t been to before.
We had one more concert to attend that evening, a staged opera by Mussourgsky called Khovanshchina conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. We had seats behind the orchestra. The music was beautiful and well played, but we were exhausted and just couldn’t seem to follow the plot, and I convinced Louie to bail at intermission rather that stay to the bitter end.
If we had stayed until the end, it would have been too late to have a nice dinner, but of course, we felt conflicted (me less so I really thought I would simply fall asleep if we stayed, ha!) So left and went to search for dinner. The hall was amazing though, the pictures are crazy, aren’t they?
We found a place that served Finnish food and stopped by, they could serve us! Ravintola Skörd, not far from our airbnb. They offered a 4 or 6 course menu, we chose the 4 and split up the choices so that we could taste all the foods. It was another great meal! The trick was that all of the foods were from Finland, in fact, everything except salt, the server said. She was terrific as well, nice and friendly and funny, and a great server. We loved the meal, and enjoyed some Finnish wines made from berries, but they weren’t sweet like you might think, they were dry even.Â
After dinner we just walked back to the apartment.
Day 18: We had to check out by around noon as well as leave around then get to the airport. We went to the original cafe we had found on the first day for coffee and pulla, Kulhma Kahvila 48, and then just walked around for an hour or two, figuring we would be sitting plenty in the future!
And then we caught the tram from our airbnb to Central Station, and caught a train to the airport. One thing I possibly regretted is that we didn’t have seats together on the flight: Finnair makes you pay extra for seat choice and I had figured they would put us together. I had figured wrong. We both had aisle seats near each other, but neither of our seat mates would swap. It was fine though, we just enjoyed movies and read of course, but it would have nicer together. Next time I suppose I’ll just shell out for the extra leg room both ways.
We got home exhausted but uneventfully. Our global entry worked great, though since we checked a bag we lost time waiting on it, but it wasn’t an issue as we had a long connection in Chicago.
We ended up with quite a lot of “loot” from the trip: chocolates and such. And Salty licorice for Louie. We’ve been slowly making our way through it.
My favorite so far was the Karl Fazer chocolate with lemon!
Anyway, overall we had a great trip, it was seriously fantastic and amazing. Having had some time to reflect, there were minor things we would do differently but nothing major. I thought we stayed in great places, the itinerary was good if exhausting, the excursions added great value to our vacation, and we just really enjoyed ourselves. I highly recommend any of the cities we visited and would be happy to share even more information with you, so feel free to reach out with questions.
It has been A MONTH. Nothing bad at all, but I am running on fumes. I got to have the evening free last night, but that was about all.
I am just running from thing to thing, keeping to do lists and barely keeping up, and really feeling like what I’d love to do is snuggle up in my warm bed and sleep…
Last weekend was great fun though. We took the weekend and did an organized bike/canoe trip, and had a blast! I’m going to spend a little time this week writing a more organized post on that (another thing on my to-do list, but FUN so I’ll leave it there now.
Then I hit the ground running. I tell you: it’s been teaching, gigs (so many weddings, funerals, etc), practicing (another baroque concert coming up!), rehearsing for various concerts, and trying to keep up around the house (grocery shopping, cooking, laundry are my main tasks). It’s been a balancing act, and the thing being balanced out is well being, most likely. I don’t know. I’m probably trying to do too much, but the thing I’d most want to cut back on is teaching, and teaching is my main source of income, so it’s a tricky situation. Do I give up more regular income to have the chance at other things, or do I just keep cramming it in? I keep thinking to myself, maybe I won’t grow my studio for the next year or so and see about dropping down a little more over time, and then see how that works out.
We’ve also had a friend staying with us this past week, which has been nice but is, you know, one more thing! Meals are a slightly bigger affair and don’t have as many leftovers, and honestly, I have hardly even been here, but I can’t just run in and out as easily.
I know this is “famous last words” and “never really happens” but I do think November will be a little more relaxing. I have a few weekends with much less stuff, though who knows, more things may pop up that I want to do, but I am hopeful that we will get some bike rides or hikes in, as well as getting some work done at the old house.
And it’s not all “bad”: I’ve made time for plenty of books this month: reading is easy to fit in in small breaks, over lunch, and of course at night. It’s something that I find relaxes me, and it’s easy to pop my kindle into my tote bag for the day and read a little bit if I get somewhere easy or need to “kill time” between gigs or something.
I often thing it might be worth doing a post about how I plan and organize my time, but I don’t know if I do anything that exciting or unique. Would that be something you’d like to read, or are there question about being a musician/teacher/freelancer that would be interesting to read about? Perhaps there are aspects of my life that are more unique than I realize?
We decided to take an weekend trip to Tallinn, Estonia, just across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki. It ended up making the most sense to keep our airbnb in Helsinki and just double book accommodation for one night, and then we didn’t have to check out/check in anywhere and we could travel exceedingly light.
We woke up very early after our fantastic evening meal at Grön, grabbed our backpacks, had a quick cup of coffee and caught the tram to the ferry terminal. Did I mention how amazing it was that there was a tram stop right outside of the airbnb we stayed at? It was a ten minute ride to the terminal and we got there around 6:30 am for our 7:30 am ferry. We didn’t have to wait long until boarding began.
The ferry wasn’t as large or fancy as the one from Stockholm to Turku, but it was still perfectly nice. We quickly grabbed some comfortable enough looking seats by a window and then settled in for the two hour boat ride.
We got some breakfast, coffee (which was pretty terrible!) and just relaxed for the ride. We were both tired but excited to see a new country!
The ferry landed at 9:30 am and we headed into the old town, just a 10 minute walk from the terminal. Old Town Tallinn is one of the best preserved and most intact medieval towns in existence today. The city itself is the capital of Estonia, and has a fascinating history–read a bit of it on Wikipedia if you like!
We arrived earlier than the cruise ship crowds, so we walked through the town a bit without all the crowds–we were headed to drop our bags off at our hotel and then to meet a bike tour to, oddly enough, get OUT of the city first and get some biking in and learn a bit about Estonia from a guide.
In Estonia they speak, obviously, Estonian. Many people we interacted with spoke excellent English as well, lucky for us! They use the Euro, just like Finland, though things were cheaper, especially outside of the Old Town (which is super touristy and has the corresponding prices, though it is amazing and beautiful and worth seeing!). Estonia is the first country I have been to that used to be part of the Soviet Union.
We started the bike tour near one the town walls. Back then towns had really high walls to keep out intruders. It sometimes worked too.
Our guide was named Marcus and was a young Estonian man. He was very knowledgeable and friendly, and did a good job. We learned many things about Tallinn and Estonia from him, most especially that Estonians really hate Russia and Putin. They are (understandably) still mad about having been part of the USSR and they are worried about the future, and they really value their independence.
We biked outside of the Olde town, mostly along the sea, which was a lovely route. We visited the Olympic Stadium from the 1980 Moscow Olympics, built by the Soviets and now crumbling and overgrown. We learned that it cannot be torn down because it is “historical” but yet the government won’t approve the money for renovations.
Next we biked to an area with shops, where Marcus told us the Finns would take the ferry over and fill up their trunks with cheap booze to take back. It seems that Estonians think Finns look down on them (and Finns think Swedes look down on them!)–though Marcus was clear to point out he liked the Finnish people he knew, so it was more of a country stereotype than a real feeling of animosity.
We enjoyed views looking back at Tallinn, as the road had curved around.
Next we biked to Kadriog Park, which was built by Peter the Great. It is really beautiful, though hard to get a photo without people in it! I guess we were all saying that, haha.
After that, we biked back to the place we started. It was a nice bike trip, though not exceptional. I was glad we did it for the opportunity to learn more from a native Estonian and to get outside of the old town a bit, but it wasn’t a “must do”.
We were starving then, and had trouble deciding where to eat that wasn’t too touristy or too crowded…we ended up at an Indian Restaurant with nice patio seating called Elevant Resto, and enjoyed some nice Indian food (not so different than what we get here).
After lunch we walked around the Old Town more, just wandering and taking pictures and looking at things.
We headed back to the hotel then. We were staying one night at the Merchant’s House Hotel, and it seemed like a nice place. They had a sauna as well, and we signed up to use it for an hour (included with the stay).
The courtyard view from outside our room.
I ended up not staying in the sauna very long at all: I probably did things all wrong, I was already feeling tired and head-ache-y and then I didn’t know what to do and ended up sitting up high away from the steam and immediately felt not good, so I left Louie to it on his own (he didn’t mind) but I learned I should sat lower (duh, heat rises!). (Spoiler alert, we will have another sauna experience that is better). Anyway, I went back to the room to clean up and relax, I think I took a nap as well. Louie came back an hour later having enjoyed himself thoroughly so it all worked out, though I felt like a sauna failure.
We were going to a short opera next, called the Emperor of Atlantis, put on by the Estonian National Opera. We had to walk about 15-20 minutes to the venue, which was in the Telliskivi Creative City part of Tallinn. It was a really nice walk.
It was confusing when we arrived, because the opera apparently started in the main lobby, so we got drinks (very inexpensive, like $5 for a glass of wine) and a snack (olives in a jar!) and sat at a table. The show began with live music and singing in German, and we had no idea what was going on–I had verified before purchasing tickets that there would be English subtitles, but for the pre-show there was nothing. However it was nice, and then we all walked into the main hall, where the rest of the orchestra was set up and the opera began.
Again, I’ll refer you to Wikipedia for more information, but the opera was fascinating and intense. It was written in a concentration camp and definitely was making fun of Hitler and it was just amazing and so upsetting to think of. Upsetting being not even the right word to describe the despair I sometimes feel thinking of how much death the Nazis caused and how much art and music was STILL being made, even while people were being killed. Human beings are amazing and human beings are absolutely horrific.
We would have gone again to catch things we missed, but we weren’t staying in Tallinn another night. But I am so happy we caught the show!
After that, we had 9 pm reservations at Rataskaevu 16, a highly rated restaurant in Tallinn (very near our hotel too).
I was quite surprised when I used the bathroom to see there was a window to the earth below!
Our dinner was fantastic and the perfect end to a very long and exciting day. After dinner we were exhausted and slept well.
Day 15:
We had planned to get up early to “beat the crowds” and do Rick Steves’s walking tour, but we were too tired. We did get up early enough to get the tour in before check out, but not to really beat the crowds.
First, hotel breakfast. It was in the basement of the hotel, a fascinating almost dungeon like place. They had a cold buffet and you could order hot foods as well: I was happy with the cold stuff.
The walking tour covered the lower old town where we were staying and headed up into the upper old town as well. There was so much to explore, but we did hit the highlights.
We saw the Russian Orthodox Church, some important government buildings, and had a great overlook of the lower old town. It was a lovely morning to walk around, and it wasn’t overly crowded in any case. After that, we checked out of the hotel (stored our bags there though) and caught a Bolt (Estonian’s version of Uber) to the Estonian Open Air Museum, which was a few miles out of town. Bolt is the only company that can drive into the Old Town, and they have a few places set for pick up and drop off, one was the well near the hotel (and outside of last night’s restaurant.)
The drive to the museum took us through what I would consider the more “normal” parts of Tallinn, which just looked like you would think a city where people lived and worked would look like. The driver was very quiet, perhaps he didn’t speak English or didn’t speak well, but he got us where we needed to go.
Like all of the open air museums we’d seen, there was more than we could take in in an afternoon, but we had a terrific time learning about the history of Estonia, how people lived, and enjoying the outdoors. The thatched roofs were a highlight and were truly fascinating.
We had lunch at their cafe which offered “authentic Estonian food”.
Brown bread, soup, potatoes, and something else…I sadly can’t recall.
Mashed potatoes with groat and pickles.
After eating, more exploring!
As you can see, there were a wide variety of homes and variety of eras. Some were more decorated inside, others had different displays inside. Some had people in them to answer questions, though we did run into some language barriers.
We met this cat: he seemed friendly and Louie was petting him but then he scratched Louie! We learned later his name was Vasso and we bought a magnet with a picture of him on it, haha.
One of the bathrooms had a lot of information about bathroom use historically, which was super interesting.
We really enjoyed the afternoon at the Museum, and not pictured was an apartment building with various apartments showing the way people lived during the Soviet era. I just didn’t get good pictures of it, not that you couldn’t take pictures.
Anyway, we finally left, took a Bolt back to the hotel and then walked down to the terminal to catch our ferry back to Helsinki.
We had the “Delight Buffet” for dinner, which was a nice buffet with unlimited food and drink. They had wine or beer you could serve yourself–the choices were beer, white wine, or red wine! As well as a nice variety of fish, cooked entrees including meatballs, salad bar, breads, vegetarian caviar (did you even know that is a thing? yes, it is!), and more. We enjoyed a table right by a window as well, and spent most of the time there, even after we finished eating.
We landed in Helsinki around 9:30 pm, and squeezed into a tram to get back to the Airbnb. I mean really squeezed: more and more people kept getting on and it really seemed like nobody else would fit and then more people did! We luckily were near a door as we got off the tram before most people (they were likely mostly going to Central Station which was a few stops further.) We got back to the Airbnb without incident, and felt like we were arriving home!
