First stop, Helsinki!
When researching things to shoot in Estonia I learned that V. I. Lenin actually lived in Helsinki for a while when he was on the run from the Czar after a failed revolution. I just had to track down his former residence, which you can see in the photo above.
Lenin's door
Vintage porn in the bathroom of a restaurant
After two fairly bright nights in Helsinki it was time to catch a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia. Here are some shots of the islands surrounding Helsinki.
JP with angel wings
The last bit of land before heading out to sea!
And now for beautiful Estonia. This was by far the highlight of our trip. We spent five days in the capital city, Tallinn and took several excursions out of the city as well. Tallinn is a wild and medieval city with surprises around every corner. It is both authentic, and visually stunning. I honestly think it has ruined other European cities for me. It is that cool!
I had no chance of getting this building to fit in my camera lens
Here's a couple shots from a distance
Another massive cathedral
From the inside
Above, two hedgehogs; below, a whole bunch of doors
Jp at an abandoned Olympic park on the cost of Tallinn. The Soviets built it for the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow because they lacked a place for the rowing event. It is a classic example of "commy cement"
WWII memorial
On our last day in town we rented a car and went off looking for an abandoned missile base using satellite images from Google Earth. I have to admit, actually finding it was a bit of an ego boost!
Here's a sneak preview of the missile base, but that's all you get!
On our last night we found a micro-brew bar. One interesting thing about this city was that all of the good bars were unadvertised and some were downright hidden. One bar we visited on advice from a local had a key pad at the door and you had to have the code to get in.
Once in Helsinki we had a coffee, crashed out under a statue
for a while and then caught a plane
back to Prague - that will be the focus of the next post. See you in July!