Unfortunately today we are leaving Finland but not to worry because we're going to a country
that is very closely related to Finland in fact I've even heard it being called little Finland
online so next stop Estonia by the way nice place no very nice yeah nice terminal terminal yeah and
so Color Me surprised because I figured there'd be I don't know a couple hundred people on a boat to
Estonia on a weekday at 1: p.m. but this ship is massive and there are tons of people on board the
good news is we're still going to a shenen country meaning despite all the people the process was
totally fast like less than 10 minutes in line and just like that we are on this absolutely massive
boat where I guess what we'll do is try to find a seat near a window maybe order a tall glass of
beer and watch the world go by for 2 hours as we make our way to Estonia which sounds good to me
and so of course they have a full dutyfree shop here on board with a bunch of drinks I think at
good prices and even some clothes and cologne and perfume and what have you and I think there's a
bit of a casino in terms of electronic casino with slots and everything although for Ivana and I we
are just relaxing in the restaurant area with my first ever Estonian beer I said can I have
one beer she said would you like a Finnish or an Estonian beer I said Estonian please
oh very good beer although you guys know me I tend to like beer anyway
we're almost there so let's check out Estonia sun is shining beautiful oh
my gosh we made it outside be honest that was like a 2 km walk that was far
yes all right check out this accommodation everybody first things first this last
staircase here is just for us it only goes to our front door so I guess we're in the penthouse of
this apartment my building up here on the fourth floor now the floor plan here is something totally
unique you've got this sort of front foyer which is like a triangle going out the wall Cuts in and
then you've got this little carpeted corner I think this is the only 90° Corner in the whole
apartment everything else is on a very interesting trapezoid or hexagonal plan it's got everything
we need so I'm not complaining we got stove oven coffee machine even a dishwasher which is great
with the microwave we won't use and uh fridge so full kitchen for us you guys know we love that
this is our chilling area where this door tends to do an optical illusion this is the bedroom door
that goes there but you can see it's got this beam here which has a light switch on the beam I've
never seen that before I thought it would have been a solid concrete beam it feels like a hollow
beam which is like just there for Aesthetics or something uh Great Furniture old and big got the
huge speakers so the apartment has everything we need but the layout is peculiar here it feels like
it's old enough to be a communist era building but the way it's designed it feels like it's
some Modern interpretation or some artistic build uh this is our bedroom with a slight slope in the
roof just to make you wonder at first glance if it sloped or if you're going crazy and then a second
bedroom which I guess they just put a couch in so you can sit here I'm not sure if this
is a communist era building because typically the Communist area buildings are just 90° Corners sort
of plain and simple they build them all the exact same and line them up this one is like
I mean everything is all crooked and the windows are different shapes and the windows are different
heights and I haven't even got to the best part yet as we Circle back to the second foyer uh
here's the bathroom which looks pretty normal at first glance you say there's no shower but there
is a shower over here which is built into the bathroom with drywall and tiles something unique
but the Crown Jewel of the whole apartment is the sauna which to me is distinctly finnished but
maybe estonians also love the sauna you got the electric uh heater with the Rocks here if you look
up top you can see it used to be a wood burning SAA that's like a sock that's plugged in the old
vent hole and so this doesn't look like they've added it recently it almost looks like it was
built with it cuz this wall looks a million years old so I think this building was built with a SAA
maybe this is my first impressions of Estonia and maybe it's too early to say but I think I
think Estonia is like Finland plus communist era that's a very basic breakdown and to be clear I've
been here for about 10 minutes and haven't left the apartment yet but uh interesting apartment
never seen anything like it very funky awesome unique in every corner and so part of me wants
to go chill in the SAA uhhuh but it's the first minute in a new country you got to go hit the
road you want to hit the streets come on all right let's go let's go how cool that's a big door yeah
wow at this wow and so we're blessed to have some really nice weather here today and naturally our
first stop is the old town you can see behind me which features an incredibly well- intact
City plan from the 13th century which means the layout of all of the roads as well as the type and
location of all of the buildings has not changed in something like 800 years now
obviously the buildings have been renovated and in most cases rebuilt due to war and fire
but it's still a great place to travel back in time and enjoy some history as well as some very
instagrammable locations now what I really love is obviously very touristic but around the Old
Town regular life is still going on we are in a European Capital after all so for one there's a
really beautiful football field just outside the city wall where these kids are playing and it's
probably just a regular day for them whereas just inside the city wall a bunch of tourists
are sort of out of their minds and so I really love the blending of the old and the new as well
as the blending of the historic and touristic with the sort of regular and modern local life
here in Talen and I'm assuming in this place we can find some traditional Estonian food I hope
so so let's eat because wandering around on the cobblestones make your feet very tired no cuz so
uneven uh and so time to sit down enjoy a beer and some food let's go let's go oh wow check it out I
love the themed cart here with the outfits very mediva looking in front of the old henza looking
like a Ye Old restaurant just great all right so I was inclined to go to that very thematic
restaurant around the corner but unfortunately they did not have blood sausage available and I
for one really wanted to try the Estonian blood sausage because as you guys remember two weeks
ago or so we tried blood sausage for the first time in Finland and Iana and I both had very
low expectations but the flavor was distinctly not bad it was so good it was good and it was
really unique tastes like ashes mixed with dirt which sounds bad but it was pretty good in the
end so I wanted to try it now this particular Arrangement doesn't look so traditional it
strikes me as not the way they would serve it for hundreds and hundreds of years I think this
is a very tourist friendly uh Arrangement or plating but I really want to try because
the blood sausage actually looks the same as in Finland so I bet you it has that sort of similar
flavor uh and first I'll try it by
itself mhm good it's good good yeah it's very good and I bet you this is lingen
berry is it yes yeah it is so quite good uh this is very familiar to what we had in
Finland although obviously a totally different Arrangement even with some
bacon on the blood sausage and some oh even sauerkraut that's something new let's try
that for me it's very good very very good no I'm jealous of your order this is really five
star food we can do a half half as per couples travel half and half sharing the food is a way
to go because I got four Crips nothing special look really good though and doesn't look that
big just two ribs yeah so I can share you some of mine and I want to say this before the food
scene is over this beer first of all empty before the food came but that's good beer it
was served at a very European temperature which is not cold enough but that's good
Estonian beer so uh for me this is a five star meal although we are paying tourist price here T
price right in the Central Square where there's a horse going by H oh what wow what timing was
that that's quite funny and actually as the video continues we'll jump out here to the main Square
for some very interesting history so let's eat and then continue the video enjoy your yeah
cheers [Music] very good right very good with the bacon on the outside and the lingan berry
good nice and so here in the main square of the old town we are surrounded to be fair by beautiful
buildings with restaurants in front of them one of which we just ate at although clearly the focal
point is the old town hall right behind me which gives a good backdrop for me to give a very brief
history of Estonia so Estonia was pagan meaning non-Christian or non monotheist up until the 13th
century which is one of the last places in Europe we'll learn more about this at the Danish King
Garden coming soon but after that it was part of the Danish Empire and the Swedish Empire
for hundreds of years to the point where they're selling souvenirs here in the old town naturally
and they are Viking helmets with the Estonian flag on it so I'm learning something new when you
think of Vikings you can also think of Estonia as contributing to that sort of amazing uh you know
biking idea and so after that Estonia got its independence in 198 unfortunately right after
World War I was World War II where afterwards the Estonian SSR was established mhm which is
the Soviet Socialist Republic and so there was a long communist period until uh communism and
the Soviets fell in late 80s early '90s so that fast forwards till today where Estonia is part
of the European Union part of shangan as we know and even part of NATO so my feeling is where the
Nordic meets the Slavic you have the Baltic now maybe estonians might not love that guess
to be clear I am not a historic I'm just a guy who likes history because there is the Russian Embassy
nearby right and out front of it is a bunch of protests including pictures and information of
political prisoners in Russia so I'm feeling that estonians today are feeling much more Western than
they are feeling Russian although I am curious to learn more about the Soviets and the KGB and
the Communist era so next up we're going to the KGB Museum right where we've booked a guided tour
curious what we'll see there so let's go learn more about uh the KGB I guess in the KGB Museum
let's go and so introducing the viru hotel which was opened for business in 1972 by the Soviets
and back then it was the tallest building in all of tenine standing 23 stories tall which
is interesting because to this day the elevator only goes to the 22nd floor and the top floor
is only accessible by Hidden Staircase and so the reason for this is because this hotel was targeted
Finnish tourists keep in mind Finnish was not Soviet it was a capitalist democracy and so
the purpose of this hotel was to show Finn tourists how great the Soviet Union is they
were eating food that the average Estonian was not eating they were watching dancing shows that
the average Estonian was not watching and oh by the way the 23rd floor was full of the KGB Radio
Room and there were microphones in your bedroom so uh the tour itself took us to the radio room
on the 23rd floor we had KGB only access but it wasn't the most visual tour there wasn't that
many artifacts with that being said our tour guide was really good right and she relayed a
lot of information about the inefficiency and the corruption and just the general awfulness of the
Soviet Union including uh back then in the 70s it had a thousand employees this hotel whereas today
it still runs as a hotel and it has 100 employees so the reason why they got rid of 90% of their
staff is because back then most of the staff was buying on other staff because you couldn't
have a local Estonian person interacting with a Finnish person in a way that was not appropriate
right so the KGB was spying on the employees and then the employee employees in turn were spying
on the other employees and so it's just lies and dishonesty and blackmail with the sprinkling in
of just deceit and so it was a good tour although like I say not the most visual tour and so it'll
be a short section in our video was fun to learn about uh the Soviet Union and just how generally
awful it was anyway the Vlog continues let's go oh check it out Iana I think it's a bridge for cats I
think so and so we've come to the Danish King's Garden which is a lovely place to relax sort of
a big Park here despite the fact that there are some relatively creepy statues very Lord of the
Rings inspired but nonetheless it is a good place to relax at the end of a long day of walking now
the year was 1219 and Denmark was on a crusade here in Estonia which I believe means they were on
a war with the intention of bringing Christianity because as we know the estonians were still Pagan
or pre-christian uh polytheist religion and so the Danes were losing the war but then the sky opened
up and a piece of red fabric came wafting down and on the red fabric was a white cross Not only
was this a turning point to make Denmark conquer Estonia and bring Christianity but it also became
Denmark's flag which I believe is the oldest flag in the world yes so there you have it it's
obviously a myth I don't believe it's a literal story but in the end it's a thoughtful sort of
nice place to relax cuz it happened right here I believe and so it's a good way for us to end
the Old Town section of our video I love the old town it's not necessarily the biggest Old
Town we've seen But packed with history totally authentic loved it five star Old Town picturesque
and historic and great and so I think we will now venture to a place to have a cold drink and rest
hour weary feet yes which will be outside the old town so let's go see modern Helen let's go
and so cheers everybody we have come to a place called The Creative city which I guess was these
old factories that went abandoned and then people bought them and turned them into restaurants with
some really nice street art sort of all around now to be fair the sun is still up but it's on
a low angle and it's getting colder now and I think that's why it's not full of people Street
performance and other things would be very groovy here I think in the summertime so it's getting
colder and it's sort of nice we have a SAA in our apartment oh yeah we're going to go home and fire
it up now it turns out what I said earlier might not be that wrong uh there definitely is a feeling
to a former communist country it is here in Estonia it was in Romania Bulgaria Albania Serbia
the list goes on um but there is a Nordic sort of flavor Happening Here not the least of which
is the SAA in our apartment right so it was a good day I wish there was more action here now but it's
early May and we might be a bit early for chil but it was a good day with some good
beer by the Wayan beer might be the best of all the Nordic what it's pretty good really so far
I've had two or three different brands all very good and and the best price too and the price
stands out Finland is high Sweden is like 2% or whatever they're selling and Denmark even higher
in prices so uh Estonia come for the Old Town stay for the beer and I got this Plum cardamom
which I think they love Plum and cardamoms here in Estonia yeah of course it's uh lemonade actually
they love Plum and cardamom even in dessert I've seen it on dessert and stuff it's a good
flavor it's not very sweet very good cardamom is a unique flavor but kind of good with Plum
yeah you have guys all right let's end this day thanks for watching and tonight we'll hit
the son definitely guaranteed we're going to crank it up to 65 okay Swedish on all night