A weekend cruise to Tallinn, Estonia

My boyfriend, M, asked me if it was okay if we took a weekend cruise to Tallinn the 14-15 august. There was going to be a pokertournament in Tallinn that he wanted to check out, and the 14th happenes to be my birthday, so he thought we could celebrate that too on the same time :) I thought that was a great idea! I looked forward also to check the pokertounament out. I have no photos, because cameras weren't allowed. Or that is what I understood, I never asked. We didn't stay for that long. Just so that I can say I've been there :) M had to go two times, because he went one time by himself when I was with a friend. He asked if it was okay if he went, and I understood it one way and wondered, "why is he asking? Of couse he can go!" but he meant "is is okay if he goes now or is he supposed to wait if I want to go too?". Then we had an argument over the missunderstanding which lead to me telling it is okay, I can go by myself. And he understood I really wanted to go, so he came with me.

Enough of that!

The cruise ship was Silja Victoria. We got omboard at 1 am. We had been to a houseparty just before, because we thought it was no idea to go to sleep if we have to get up at midnight and get ready. The houseparty was fun :) It was not my friends but M:s, but still I enjoyed it.

Then we walked down to the harbour were we had left our car and our luggage. It is not fun to carry around a lot of luggage unnecessarily. So this was a great solution. And we wanted the car in the harbour so that we could get home when we got back :)

We had a cabin with two beds, of course :) But I think that there are also cabins with 4 beds. There usually are.

I had to take a photo of the sign telling passangers to be quiet after 11 pm. The estonian language (topmost) is such a funny language :)

We came to Tallinn, I think it was 9 am. We got of the boat quickly after having breakfast first. This is the ship.

And for the thirsty ones, don't worry! From the harbour it is only 50 steps to the nearest bar ;) Haha

Outside we took a taxi. I sat in the back and read the taxi fares. I thought about it for a while and then took a picture of it :) If I would then wonder about anything.

We took the taxi to our hotel, the Tallinn city hotel. But we could check in at 3 pm, so we left our luggage and went for a walk. M wanted to go to the casino. He has been in Tallinn much with work, but this area he didn't recognize. So we went walking in one direktion. We walked and walked and then he reconized where he was! We walked in a BIG cirlce ;) Just because he didn't have time to wait until I found us on the map. Well well, walking is never bad.

At the casino one has so register. M has his own card and I had mine. Mine had clearly expired, because I have used it one time, in Riga, 2 years ago, maybe. It was the Olympic casino. In the casino one can not take pictures.

Yet I did, in secret, but only from the bathroom. This sign was therefore in the bathroom. "Smoking forbidden. Penalty 1500EEK (100EUR)". Wow! In Finland if you smoke were it is forbidden you get thrown out. Here it is 100€. That is a LOT of money!

I took a picture of this sign during morning. We went back to the casino later same night. Then M played some blackjack, and in the same table was a gentleman, who had had one (or five) too many. He took his cigarett and his lighter and lit it. M turned to me and asked if one can smoke there. I got surprised, maybe there are smoking areas, and that this is one. It was not the case. A guard came and took him away for a while. Later he came back and the guard handed him his change, apparently they took 2000 EEK and he got the rest back. I don't know. He played a few hands. Then he took his cigaretts, and his lighter. The dealer quickly reminded him that there was a no smoking zone. If he wanted to smoke he could go to the smoke area. He did that a few times.... maybe time to stop drinking....and MAYBE time to stop playing! Maybe time to go home! M stoped playig after a while. It is not fun playing with a person like that. One time he had to wait for a long time during a hand (I asked, is that even custom...he told me no, it's not) while he had to go and take out some more money.

Back to the bathroom. I thought the sinks were just lovley :) I had to take a picture. This picture is taken with my phone.

And the wall is the same small tiles that my parents have in their shower! I had to take a photo of it ;)

For the note: I believe the reason one can not take picture in a casino is that people that do not want to be linked to casinos or want anyone else know that they are playing might get on one photo. Or celebrities, pokerplayers, people that want to live a normal life and still go out and have fun. I don't think taking photo of the toilet in that.



I left M at the casino, because he finds it mor amusing than me. I can be there for a while, then I find it boring. So I went to see a friend that also was on a cruise to Tallinn, her boat arrived at noon I think. I will have a different blog for that. This will be long enough as it is! So we jumpt that and I leave her at the harbour at 5 pm when her ship takes of. She and her parents were on a daycruise.

I then looked at the map and decided that the hotel was at a special spot :) It turned out that I was right! I started walking and saw this funny looking house! It has the Djurgården colours. Djurgården is a place in Stockholm Sweden, it is also the name for a football and icehockey team. M and his brother and father are Djurgården supporters, so I thought this was fun :)

Also, you may not swim in the harbour ;) What shall I do if I fall in the water?

I then saw this funny house :) And after later checking on the map, this is where I should have tuned right, instead I walked straight. But I found my way after a few blocks. And as I said, the hotel was where I thought it would be :) There I met up wit M and we checked in.

We brought our luggage to our room. And then right after that we went for dinner.
If you think that the picture is funny and strange. It is edited. M have been lying on the bed closer to the window, but I edited him away :) I'm quite proud of the result!

We ate at the hotel restaurant. At first we looked at the menu and I had a hard time choosing between lamb or schrimps (I think it was). Lamb can be very delicious but also dry and taste like wool. I took a chance with the lamb anyway :) First we got these apitaizers. Small bred with a mix of cheese and fish roe. M doesn't like roe, but the cheese helped much he said. It was delicious!

We also got small breads and butter. I didn't take a picture of the bread, I had no attention of doing that. But then M asked me how it is possible that on my plate there were no crummies, but on his plate it looked like Hiroshima! So I had to take a picture of the Hiroshima on his plate :)

I have no answer to his question though :)

M ordered, surprise surprise, a hamburger :) He told me he has never tasted a estonian hamburger before. It was the most strange hamburger I've seen :) To me a hamburger has a steak of minced meat. This doesn't have that. It is like a minute steak in the middle of two bread. M thought it was good though :) And also onionrings on the side is never wrong!

As I said, I ordered lamb with potatoes. The potatoes had a fancier name, but I forgot that. I was surprised that I have no sallad on my plate. So M was cute enough to give me some of his :)

The meat....oh the meat! It melted in my mouth! It was so good! It was so delisious! There are NO words! I could eat that every day! It was a sause to it and garlic on the side. Perfect! I drank wine to it. I love wine, but this time. I loved the meat more :) Mmmmmm! Can I have one now please?

To dessert we had a rhubarb-cheescake. With strawberries. It was something special with the strawberries...but I don't remember. The strawberries was my favorit on this! I love cheescake, but I don't think the rhuburb should be mixed with cheesecake. It was okay, but that is all.



After dinner we went outside for some fresh air. I wondered if a liquor store wa open that hour. I wanted to try out some new tastes. And it was my birthday, I wanted to celebrate. M didn't think so, it was after 6 pm. I mumbled something and was a little disappointed, I had been in a liquor store and found some things I would have liked to taste. Over the street I saw a R-kiosk. We have those in Finland too. I didn't think about it that much. But all of a sudden I realized, it sais "alkohol" on the side. Do thay sell liquor? What? They don't do that in Finland. I talked M around and we went over to have a look. Oh yes, they had their own liquer corner :)


After making our purchases we went back up to our rooms for shower and rest. And also to taste what we bought. I found this Caribba cola. It seemed interesting. Well, it tastes like rum and cola :) Surprised? Haha.

Then we made us ready for the casino. After registeing in at the casino I went straight to the bar. I ordered a strawberry mohito. I had one in Riga and they are wonderful! There was a change of personal, I gave my order to one but another made my drink. Well, I don't care as long as I get it :) This was saturday night. My birtday still. The bartender hands my drink looks at me and sais: Happy birthday! I get happily surprised! :) Thank you, I say. She explains that the drink is on the house. I thank her again and walk over to M and tell him what just happened. I asked, how did they know? I didn't tell...is it written in my face? Then we got an idea. There was a change in personal in the bar. It might have been the girl in the register that came to the bar, that is the only way. She must have seen it is my birthday and see me go straight to the bar. There is no other explanation. We didn't stay for that long. I played on machines with the lowest limits, so that I could play for long and not loose much.

We weren't there for such a long time. A few hours, M was about to play some poker. But then he got tired of waiting. That is not like him while being at a casino, so I have a feeling he did it because I get bored at casinos. I didn't this time. But I was not letting a chance of getting back to the hotel slip through my fingers :) Still, I made sure it was what he wanted. So that we wouldn't get to the hotel and he would be all "oh why didn't we stay, it would have been fun playing some poker" :)


The next day we went down for breakfast. I didn't bring my camera for that. But I took a shot of our room door as we left the room for checkout at noon. We had our room right beside the elevator.

When I turned around this is what I saw. The elevator :) M has been on this picture too, but I edited him out.

After leaving our luggages we went shopping. M:s least favorit thing ;) Haha, but he strolled with me until he got bored and waited for me in a chair.

After that we went to Amarillo to eat. Everything on the list is so much cheeper! There is an Amarillo in Vasa, Finland that we have been to much. I had to take a shot at the drinklist. 12cl of minttu for 3,50€? That is cheep!

They had some special something. Here is the whole list :) Just so you can see I'm not joking.

We ate a main course and dessert. For under 30€! I can come here often :)

I had made my shoppings and I felt sorry for M who didn't like to shop and wanted to go to the harbour. So we did. We took a taxi to the harbour.

I had to take a picture at this pinc limo :) Taken from inside the terminal.

We got to go home with Baltic Queen. Here is her.

And by the way, no cars in the elevator! Or what does this mean?

I had to take apicture of this. We tried to find our cabin. We followed the numbers in order. All of a sudden M stops, turns back and looked at the doors. He looked at the door, 8335 and the naighbour door 8371

Then we looked at the ticket. Cabine 8359. Where is that? We vandered in the hall for some time before we found the map I took a picture of. Oh, so simple, some numbers are in the blue area and some are in the other coloured area.....sigh. Why make it simple, I wonder.

Our cabin at last :)
I edited Magnus from this picture too, he took a rest on the bed :D

We then went to the tax-free. I had to take a picture of this bottle for my dear sister Puffs :) I wanted to MMS it to her right away, but M said that it is expencive to do that fom an other country, so I didn't. It is 1,75l :)

After that we went to eat something. We loked at the menu and both chose a hamburger. I hadn't had one during this trip :) And M just likes them. When I was about to take a picture he said he wanted one with the lid of, so I took one of those.

Here is my meal :) Hambuger and fried potatoes, with a shot of ketschup ;) It was good. I didn't have any bad food on the trip. All food was great!

I love food :)

It was a great trip :) We then tried to use our discount card for beer and cider. But it was only from the tap so we didn't get any discount. My cider, my favorit cider, was so cheap we didn't need a discount ;) I don't remember the price, but M payed and afterwards asked me what was that cheap. It tunred out to be my cider, my favorit cider :) Can we go on that trip again? Just for food and drinks ;)