One of the reasons I love my husband and we’ve been married 20 years, is because when I say things like, “Hey honey lets go to Estonia this summer.” He says, “Okay!” And he knows I’ll really do it! So just like that, an overnight ferry to Estonia was added to our last minute Scandinavian summer.
I have a growing desire to take our family to far away places that will stretch our comfort zones and offer cultural experiences to learn the diverse ways people live on earth. I have big long-term travel goals. And Estonia was a baby step in the right direction to see how we all handled a foreign city in Eastern Europe while we learned about Russian occupation and how the Communist hold changed the lives of people in Estonia.
Our girls are at the ages where impressions will be remembered. It’s hard for them to fathom a life of no choice or luxury. We were all rightfully moved during our visit to the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom. The curators did a beautiful job creating an interactive walk though the country’s sad and dense history of occupation by Germany and the Soviet Union, which combined, lasted from 1940-1991. 
The museum began with four separate videos of 100-year-old Estonian’s telling their stories about survival. The museum portrayed the lives and different paths people took of that time, from becoming refugees, being sent to concentration camps, or staying in Estonia. The museum was filled with artifacts portraying life living with the propaganda and fear under Hitler’s rule, to examples of what communist life looked and felt like under Russian occupation and the Iron Curtain. 
The tour ended with a 3-D apartment where the girls enjoyed wearing the 3-D glasses to design and choose how they lived, a luxury that didn’t happen for Estonian’s until 1991. They felt the importance of that significant achievement of choice. We felt what people of that country lived though to experience the freedom’s they have today. When we walked back outside and got back on the public tram we viewed the elderly people we saw as heroes to have lived though that history, imagining the grit they must have, as well as the bright outlook to find joy in simple things in life that got them through dark times. And I smiled at the lady sitting across from me on the tram, dressed in bright flower tights, a red dress, a flowered raincoat and bright yellow shoes. She carried a shopping bag and badge of joy that was well deserved. I had nothing in the world to complain about and I wondered what she thought about us Americans.
Mostly, the people we talked to in Estonia were very surprised we were there on vacation with our four children. They admired and appreciated us for bringing our children there to learn about their country. We didn’t encounter many other Americans and very few tourists with children. The old city of Tallinn is the main tourist area where people visit while taking day-long tours from cruise ships. But we stayed a night in a hotel there, took a local cab, rode the free public transportation, played in a very strange playground and ate in restaurants that didn’t offer menus in English. Because as travelers, that’s how we get to have the most interesting experiences.
In the Old City we visited the Estonian History Museum and learned about medieval life in Estonia leading up to the occupation years. There was a scavenger hunt for children to find a dragon through the museum and it kept the girls interested in learning this history. 
We also enjoyed the walk around the Old City, along the wall of the medieval city, the old town square, getting cake at the oldest bakery in Tallinn and more.
The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is what lured me to Tallinn. The onion-domed structure perched atop Toompea Hill is Estonia’s main Russian Orthodox cathedral. It was built in 1900 under Russian empire but now stands as an architectural piece of history in Estonia’s complicated past. No photos were allowed inside so you’ll have to go see for yourself. I loved it. St. Petersburg is now on the bucket list to visit.
We explored the Old City on our first day in Tallinn. On our second day we visited the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom, as well as Kadriorg Palace. Once built by Russian Czar Peter the Great as a summer house for his wife Catherine, the palace had a long past of abandonment but was restored in the 18th century and now functions as the Estonian Art Museum. We toured the outside then ran to the park and visited the strangest playground we have ever seen. 
We walked past the playground to get to the palace and there were reports of a roller coaster sighting which meant we had 27 seconds to see the palace before the girls took off running for the playground. Which was fine. This is travel with children and we know what we signed up for. There has to be a balance of museums and fun. This experience was worth all it’s weirdness and we will never forget it. It was actually a pay to ride park but the girls had us looped in by the time we figured that out. We had the girls running around trying to remember the names of the rides they wanted to do so we could figure out how many tickets to buy, which was all listed in Estonian and Russian. Thankfully the nice woman inside the ticket booth finally took pity on us and spoke English explaining we should just buy a book of tickets since it looked like we were going to need them. Hahaha. We were almost the only people there, with the four people working the park. But we all survived the carnival type rides including the bungee jumping for which Haiden admitted the cords were a bit dry rotted. To say the place was stuck in time was a perfect description. It felt straight out of the communist era. And we loved it! For the full affect you need a video with sound affects of EK riding that awesome train all by herself. Click the link and let’s hope it works. IMG_0915
We also had a strict time limit to catch the tram back to the hotel, to pick up our bags, call a Taxi and make it back to the dock to board the boat by 4:30. We made it.
Tallinn was the only leg of our 20 Countries in 20 Years Anniversary Trip that we did not stay in an Airbnb. From Copenhagen we took a train to Stockholm. Then from the train station we took an Uber to the dock to board our ship. We used the overnight ferry (which is more like bargain cruise line) as a hotel to Tallinn and back to Stockholm. We have never been on a cruise as a family. The girls LOVED the ship life of buffets, duty free shopping and the indoor play space. We loved the views and sunsets from the ship decks as we sailed across the Baltic Sea. We had two rooms of bunk beds. The accommodations are basic and better than sleeping in an overnight train. Overall the ferry was an affordable option, a fun adventure and a huge highlight of the trip for the girls. But that might have had something to do with the spa night they had in their bunkroom using all the goods they bought at the duty free shop! I’m grateful they have that memory together.
In Tallinn we stayed one night at the Radisson Park hotel in a wonderful and affordable family suite. And I’m grateful that Tallinn made such a big impression on them that my teen said she wishes we could have spent more time there. Next up is a five-night stay in Sweden – our 20th country together on this trip of 20 years of marriage.
Here’s a link list to each post from our Scandinavian Trip
2o Countries in 20 Years, Adventures for Six
