My last day in the Baltics and I have to first go sort out my washing. Fortunately, the people who run the apartment gave me a place to go to. Once I found the place in the basement of a mall near the underground bus stops and car parks, the conversation didn’t start well. She wanted me to collect my laundry friday! I quickly used google translate to explain why I needed it today and she said OK and it cost me 9 euros. At least this will get me home now.
Kadriorg park
I then jumped on the tram and headed to the end of line 3 in Kadriorg. Guide books, websites and tourist office all suggest if you have a second day in Tallinn head to Kadriorg. There is a really large park here, some of it is a typical inner city park and some of it is more like a European forest. I found a section dedicated to a small Japanese garden.
Squirrel!
The park also has wildlife, like squirrels, birds and a giant bee species I’ve not seen before. It turns out it was the Buff-tailed bumblebee or Bombus terrestris. The squirrels kept me entertained for a lot longer than I thought. The last stop in the park was to visit the Kadriorg palace. It is a majestic building that has been maintained in a colourful array of paint colours. It was built for Catharine I of Russia by Peter the Great, back in 1725.
Kadriorg Palace
Back on the tram and I headed into town for lunch and found the place was absolutely packed full of people. It turns out a cruise ship had docked and I saw tour guides with the cruise ship logo on it and going up to group 20! Certainly, the ambience of the place had been ruined. The good thing with cruise boats is all the people are usually safely on board in the evenings and the place had regained the ambience and charm that has made it one of my favourite cities in the world. If you only have time for one Baltic capital visit Tallinn. Then I’d suggest Vilnius and lastly Riga.
Tomorrow I travel to Billund in Denmark. There is only one reason you visit Billund and I will see if anyone knows. Well google will probably tell you as well. I have a short flight to Helsinki then a few hours in the airport lounge before flying to Billund. Luckily as I have OneWorld status and I’m flying Finnair I’ll have time to relax in the lounge!
Another Squirrel photo!
I took N&Z to Billund, when they were 9 and 7; aren’t you a bit old for that caper/
Its one of those places I’ve wanted to go to since I was a child. I don’t think you are ever too old to do anything, you are probably an example of that.