Chinatown

Old signage like this is a reminder of how swiftly cities change. Actually if they don’t adapt they become fossilised tourist attractions or worse.

How the Brigadier Lost His Ear

I think it’s time to reassess Conan Doyle’s Brigadier Gerard stories. I last read them more than half a century ago. Now I find them both funnier and much more interesting.

The Finnish Boys

Sometimes ignorance makes me chicken out of something but then I find out. Earlier this year, in the forest cemetery outside Tallinn, I saw a memorial to “The Finnish Boys”.

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Categorised as History

Man in White Suit

When I saw a man dressed like this at the forest cemetery in Estonia I thought maybe he was a forensic policeman gathering evidence. This seemed unlikely so I filed the matter in a bulky folder labelled Unsolved Mysteries.

Petrine Baroque

The proximity of the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox cathedral to parliament, in the centre of Tallinn, I suppose aroused anti-Russian sentiment and led some people to moot its demolition and replacement with a park.

Toompea Time

There was a fine view of this tower, Pikk Hermann, from the fifth floor of one of the Radissons in Tallinn.