Our Neighbors

Last week Thursday morning we had the Elders and their mini-missionary over to our apartment for breakfast. From left to right around the table are Brother Lampila who will begin serving a full-time mission in Finland in October after he spends three weeks at the MTC in England, and Elders Draper, Angelos, Nelson, and Robins. Elders Nelson and Draper are assigned to the Helsinki outreach center and Elders Draper and Robins are the South Zone leaders. During the time Elder Perry was Europe Central Area President he recognized the need to bring more young people into the Church. So outreach centers are being established throughout the central area. The concept is to create centers for students to come and study, relax, play, enjoy activities with one another, etc. We have them in Helsinki, Tampere, and Oulu. The Helsinki center is located in part of what was formerly the mission office, CES-Institute rooms, and assistants' apartment. There are two Finnish senior couples providing additional leadership to the centers.
We enjoyed breakfast with each other and then played the game UPWORDS in Finnish for their language study time. Of course Brother Lampila had a distinct advantage so we had three teams. He was on his own and then Robins and Nelson were one team and Angelos and Draper were the other team. Interestingly, the final scores were all within 8-10 points of each other. Elders Angelos and Draper had the high score. Everyone could identify new words they had learned while playing. Even the native Finn learned a new word: halo.

Linda Line Catamaran--Our Boat to Tallinn

Sunday afternoon we drove to the Helsinki harbor and traveled the 80k across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia in 1 1/2 hours. As temple missionaries, we have Mondays free and can travel anywhere within the temple district which stretches from Siberia to the Baltic States and Finland. We strolled around Tallinn Sunday evening, had dinner, and stopped by an outdoor rock concert for a veryshort while and then stayed overnight at the Scandic Palace. (Next time we will make sure the hotel is air-conditioned before making reservations.) We spent Monday walking in the Old Town shopping and looking at historical sites--stopped to eat lunch and enjoy the sun at an outdoor cafe. A young Russian-Estonian we know from the temple dropped by the cafe to visit with us for a little while and accompanied us for about a half hour as we explored some of the city. It was a unique experience. The city seems to not have suffered from World War II bombings as much as other places we've been. Our tour book says: The contrast between modern Helsinki and the turrets and spires of Tallinn's compact medieval Old Town is like chalk and cheese. We had a wonderful time there and recommend it to all who are tempted to visit. If you can avoid it, don't go on Mondays though.

View of the Old City from Toompea Hill

Quoting from our Finland tour book: "The highlight of Tallinn is undoubtedly the walled Old Town--a UNESCO World Heritage Site--and the lofty Toompea Castle." It is a tangle of narrow, cobbled streets and impossibly quaint medieval houses and is a delight to explore. We had a wonderful, relaxing day and a half looking at historical sites and shopping in stores and at the Sweater Market. Of course, we had to see Stockmanns. The prices seemed about 20% lower than in Helsinki. We had dinner at a traditional Estonian food restaurant. If we return for another visit, I'll be eating Indian food.

View of the Old City with Modern Tallinn in the Background

View of Old City and Cruise Ships in the Distance

Our Travel Companions: Kirsti and Pertti Vorimo

Us

Typical Street in the Old City

Kiek in de Kok

This medieval fort was constructed in 1475-1481. The six story cannon tower played a key role in the Livonian War. It still has nine of Ivan IV's cannonballs embedded in its walls. I never heard of the Livonian War until last Monday. I used to get all my important knowledge from Reader's Digest. Now I depend on Wikipedia: The Livonian War of 1558-1582 was a lengthy military conflict between the Tsardom of Russia and a coalition of Denmark, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Kingdom of Poland, and Sweden for control of Greater Livonia (the territory of the present-day Estonia and Latvia). In the foreground you see some enterprising young people were charging a small amount for people to test their archery skills.

Niguliste Church

The tour book promised that Tallinn's most famous work of art is displayed inside. This 13th century Gothic church is now an art museum. It was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt during Soviet times. Most of the museums in town were closed on Mondays. But we found plenty of interesting things to see and visit anyway.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Tompea's dominating landmark is this Russian Orthodox cathedral which was only completed in 1900. It is a symbol of the Tsar's power in Estonia in the 19th century. Just 17 years later the Russian revolution ended the reign of the tsars. Tradition has it that the cathedral was built on the grave of the Estonian hero Kalev and has had structural problems as a result. We like to visit churches in the areas we visit and try to always make a small donation for maintenance or improvements and/or light a candle for family members.

Toompea Castle

Built on the spot where the ancient Estonians' wooden fortress stood before the 1219 Danish Invasion (That gives you an idea of how long Estonia has been around.), Tallinn's castle served for seven centuries as the seat of power for the nation's foreign masters. Now it housed the Riigikogu, Estonia's parliament. Estonia declared their independence from Russia on August 20, 1991, took Lenin's statue down on the 23rd, and Russia recognized Estonian independence on the 24th. This is a baroque front added in the 18th century. On the back it looks like a medieval castle.

Cobblestones

A closeup of what paves all the streets in the old city. It's not the best choice if you want to ride a bike or push an American stroller. The Europeans seem to demand the best for their babes. They've all got wide tires on them. There were quite a few cruise tours in the city when we visited. We saw one bicycle tour which was sort of funny. None of the riders had helmets and all of the riders looked like it had been a long time since they'd ridden a bike. I never thought of the language requirements for tours in Europe. We passed tours being given in English, Japanese, Estonian, German, Spanish, Swedish, and possibly other languages we didn't recognize.

Central Square of the Old City

As a medieval market and modern meeting place, Town Hall Square has been the heart of city life for eight centuries. Now there are wonderful restaurants and cafes all around the edges.

The Sweater Market

This is a backside view of me and the Vorimos looking at linen clothing. These market stalls are located in recesses in Muurivahe. Sister Vorimo bought a great looking linen blouse/jacket. I bought nothing because I had just purchased a linen tablecloth and napkins. We had set aside 1000 EEKs for shopping. Yes, that's right, the Estonian currency is eeks! Actually, it stands for Estonian kroon (rhymes with tone). 1 EEK = .086$.

Wherever You May Roam, a Little Piece of Home

Me and a local outside souvenir shop

The Estonians have really gotten into the spirit of capitalism. Parts of the Old Town Tallinn reminded me of St. Thomas. One store led into another, led into another. The main products available that were of interest to us were amber jewelry in many colors, linen, and hand-knit clothing. Oddly enough all the amber comes from Lithuania or Latvia. The linen products were made in Estonia. And the knitwear was made locally on knitting machines. The prices for knitwear were less than half what they cost in Finland. We understand that Finns go often to Estonia to purchase alcohol and tobacco at low prices. They also had typical Russian fare-the nesting dolls and faberge style eggs and necklaces, lacquered boxes, etc. During the recent USSR takeover of Estonia they sent Russians there to live to Russify the country and sent Estonians to Siberia so there are a lot of Russia people still living there.