Night location: Tallinn, Estonia

The old town of Tallinn is stunningly beautiful. Its cobbled streets are lined with colourful historic buildings, many of which have bilingual information signs discreetly positioned on the unique facades which allows individuals to go on their own walking tour of the city. The Raeapteek or Town Council Pharmacy positioned in the main square for example had a sign that explained its history as an apothecary since 1422.

Our hotel is right in the heart of the old town and was built in 1878 as a grand residence that later housed a bank on the ground floor. When the Republic of Estonia was established in 1918, the building became a post office and a large telegraph centre. It was the scene of a failed Soviet coup in 1924 and retained its function as a communications centre through the Soviet era following WWII until 1991. As we stepped out into the cold morning air, it was lovely to see the streets bathed in tentative sunlight before the tour groups arrived from the modern part of Tallinn.

We have climbed a lot of narrow, winding, uneven stone stairs today as we explored the medieval walls and their towers before ascending up the 258 steps of St Olaf's Church. The section of wall that we explored is the only original 14th century part of the wall complex which was pretty incredible. Tiny corkscrew staircases led up to the tower platforms. One of the staircases that Amber found was so dark and precipitous she had to turn on her phone torch to see the steps up. On the way down, David went first and took each step one at a time backwards like a ladder.

St Olaf's church was first built in the 13th century and was once the world's tallest building measuring 159m (now 124m due to various fires). The stairs leading up to the narrow observation platforms at the base of the steeple were not only steep but seemingly never ending! We wound around and around in the small stairwell and competed with people coming down for safe footholds on the steps. Gareth earned the respect of one stranger due to the fact that he completed the exhaustive climb with Edith strapped to his front. The views over the city were definitely worth it however as we could see clearly in every direction across Tallinn and the Baltic Sea.

The descent was in some ways more challenging due to the difficulties with balance and blockages caused by more and more people who were beginning to arrive and climb to the top. Once outside we went straight to the oldest cafe in Tallinn (1864) and enjoyed some much needed refreshments.

Having regained our strength, we now entered a really dark reminder of the Soviet era - Pagari 1. This ornate Art Nouveau building became the headquarters of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Estonian SSR or NKVD, later known as the KGB. The cellars were converted to cells where the most inhumane atrocities were carried out. Our visit here was not long, but was incredibly sobering.

For the rest of the afternoon we walked around the old town looking in shops and galleries. We chose to visit Tallinn's oldest church built in the 14th century when Edith was asleep, so as not to disturb visitors with her animated squeals. As luck would have it however, upon entering the sanctuary, the pipe organist began to practice so the poor baby woke with a start! She was a bit confused but seemingly unconcerned by the music.

Tomorrow our group parts ways as Gemma, Gareth and Edith fly to Rome while Amber and David fly to Amsterdam. It has been a brilliant holiday as we have learned so much and visited entirely different 'sights' to those we have travelled to before. The memories from our travels will stay with us forever and the stories will continue to be told and retold as Edith grows up.