Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Tallinn through the Eye of Apple

Peter the Great's intended summer get-away : Tallinn, EE

Our last evening in Tallinn, I decided to leave my camera at home and just take my Apple iPod Touch with its built-in camera and the Hipstamatic and Instagram apps. That may or may not have been the right decision. Either way, here are a few final pictures from Tallinn. Peter the Great of Russia intended to have a summer home in Tallinn, but he died before construction was completed. This is his I-never-lived-to-live-in-it palace. At one time, it was the home of Estonia's president, but he lives just up the hill from this in a Pink House.


Peter the Great's place as seen by Hipstamatic : Tallinn, EE


Library : Tallinn, EE


Recently renovated... : Tallinn, EE

Tallinn is full of wooden houses and buildings. Many of them are in various states of disrepair, but here and there throughout the city are examples of efforts to restore/gentrify these beautiful old structures.

Soviet-style bloc housing, a leftover from Estonia's days
under the Communists : Tallinn, EE

As a former Soviet satellite state, Tallinn is littered with Soviet-style block housing. According to our host, this tract isn't even the worst of it. Still, it's pretty bleak. This was the view outside my hotel window looking down from the 24th floor.

All-in-all, though, Tallinn is a lovely city and one I would highly recommend visiting as part of a package of cities. If I go back, I'll likely visit Helsinki, Finland, and St. Petersburg, Russia, in the process.

Photo copyright: Janet M Kincaid, 4/11

1 comment:

Maya said...

Wow, quite a contrast in buildings, eh?