Continued glorious weather. Sunny and in the 60's, with a bit of a breeze. We left Riga on our bus promptly at 0830. Our first stop an hour down the road while still in Latvia was the pottery studio of Ingrida Zagata. We viewed the kilns, saw her make a pot on her foot powered wheel, and had Elise from our tour make her own pot. We purchased a serving bowl. On next to the beach shown in the attached photo to look for amber that had washed up. Dalija did the best with her years of practice. We stopped at the border crossing to use the WC, then on into Estonia. Lunch was in the once fashionable resort town of Parnu in the old post office. Russian cuisine, with hot borscht soup, fish or beef, and fruit for dessert. Rather hearty, leading to a quiet bus ride later. We stopped briefly at the beach in Parnu first, merely envisioning the throngs that would arrive in summer. Dalija played a video (The Singing Revolution) on the bus on the drive to Tallinn that showed the history of Estonia from independence after WWII thru occupation, then back to independence again when the USSR collapsed. As bad as Hitler was, Stalin was worse and for much longer.
Arrived at the Radisson Blu Tallinn around 4:30. Met at 6:30 for a short bus ride to the edge of the Old Town, then a short stroll to the Garlic Restaurant Balthasar on the main square. It is housed in part of the old pharmacy building (1422), though the garlic will cure most anything, including a vampire attack. A very nice meal. At least they went light on the garlic in the panna cotta.
We are back in the room now at 10pm waiting for it to get dark so that we don't feel guilty going to bed. Tour of Old Town in the morning.