9/8-13/24
from Doug: Crossing the Baltic Sea by ferry we arrive in Tallinn, Estonia. Estonians celebrate unshackling from USSR occupation by seeking to practice freedom. Much work involved in refashioning their historical narrative to center short periods of national autonomy. I also notice that this pattern of history telling diminishes medieval role of German colonists who built archipelago of Baltic city-states.
Societal homogeneity strongly encouraged with Russian minority present but largely without citizenship.
from Doug We stayed in a rebuilt part of the city adjacent to the old town- Rotermanni- a district originally developed by one of those German colonists as an industrial conglomerate making almost everything. The shells of the old buildings have been filled with modern fittings, and modern architecture added on top- in different styles. Fancy people. In one of those buildings, we had a nice apartment- but loud at night with shouting drunken revelers. Nice pastries right downstairs in the morning, though! (picture of Rotermanni is not ours)
from Doug We walked and explored old city on foot and by bike.
from Doug Took in an exhibit of Banksy works. New to me.
Banksy was not new to me, but I hadn’t really seen a lot of his work. Didn’t know he had co-created a hotel in Bethlehem/ West Bank Palestine, facing the wall. The Walled Off Hotel. Way way funny in a horrible way. “War tourism.” One could argue there is nothing more grotesque than war itself.
Banksy’s show was within Tallin’s Creative City, a former missile or bomb factory area, a triangle of land surrounded by railroad track that has been made into a conglomeration of studio space, indoor/outdoor galleries, and a couple of coffeehouses and cafes.
What’s wild is to wander between the different neighborhoods. Most of the “old town/city” of Tallin has a military wall around it. What was hard to grasp was that this wall had been built over at least 300 (maybe 500?) years and never actually encircled the city. We had a good time trying to follow it’s various parts.