Luggage Stolen

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007--Tallinn

I left the room late, because lunch doesn´t start until noon at restaurants here. I stopped at a cyber cafe to pass some more time. They are expensive here compared to most places in the world.

I ate at a place called EATS. It is a dumpling and donut place. They have a special of the day which I wanted to try, but it wasn´t ready yet at 12:30. So I got a bowl and put three kinds of dumplings in it and four kinds of sauces. The price is by the weight. They were not nearly as good as the dumplings I had in India, but they were passable. The sauces helped. Then I got a plate and put two cake donuts on it and covered them with caramel sauce and powdered sugar. UMMM! They were hot and crispy and so good. They reminded me of the ones my mother used to make for me for breakfast when I was young.

I booked my room for here for one more night and also booked a room for five nights in Riga. This service is cheaper than booking in hotels. In fact, the room in Riga is even cheaper than the room here in Tallinn.

There were light showers off and on today. When one came, I returned to the room for a while. Then I went out in the late afternoon. I went to the hilltop to take more photos and to go inside a couple of churches--the Alexander Nevski Cathedral (orthodox) and the Cathedral of St. Mary (catholic). The former is a beautiful building with lots of onion domes on top and has been completely restored recently. The latter is well worn and rather simple.

When the rain began again, I stopped at the store for some self-catering supplies and went back to my room. I watched Rear Window, the Alfred Hitchcock film, on TV. I hadn´t seen it since it first came out in the 1950s. I ate a flat break (somewhat like Turkish bread) with cheese and salami.

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007--Tallinn

This is my last day here. It is sunny, but breezy. Itś also rather cold. I´m wearing both my pullover and my raincoat to keep warm.

I awoke with a recurring nightmare--that I had been given false money when getting an exchange or getting change from a purchase. I have that dream quite often.

I walked out to a suburban area that has nice homes. In fact, it has a home built for Peter the Great. It is in the same style as his palace in St. Petersurg. It is much smaller, though. It is now an art museum, so I also toured the exhibits. Since his home was there, many wealthy people built their own big homes near his. I walked the streets taking photos wherever I went. I also walked further out to the statue on the waterfront where all the brides and grooms go to have their photos taken here. Then I went further to the song competition grounds where the Song Revolution took place. (Thatś when they sang patriotic songs to reinforce their desire for freedom from the USSR. Later, they got it.)

I had lunch in a basement restaurant with vaulted ceiling, murals on the walls, and lots of atmosphere. I had a cutlet with salad, mashed potatoes, and sauce. The cutlet was rather red in the middle (processed meat?) and had some gristle, too, so I was a bit disappointed. To make me feel better, I returned to EATS and had 3 more donuts for dessert.

Friday, Sept. 14, 2007--Tallinn to Tartu

Well, disaster happened this morning. I went to the bus station to catch my bus. The driver opened the bay, and I placed my bag in it along with some others who had been waiting. I should have pushed my bag back further, and I should have watched the compartment from inside the bus. But I didn´t. When we got to Tartu on the non-stop service, the bag was not there. Another bag was unclaimed and had some junk in it. My guess is that someone noticed I was about the same size and made the exchange to get my clothes. He got a few other things that I will miss, but mostly it was basic travel items. The biggest problem is that I had photocopies of my credit cards in the bag, so I have had to contact the companies about that. Contacting them has not been easy. Only American Express was available by phone. Chase had an 800 number to call collect, and those kinds of numbers cannot be accessed from outside the U.S. VISA had too long a recorded message for ATT to wait for collect response. Anyway, I´ve used othber means to contact them.