Well rested the detectives get up and at it nice and early. Having clean clothes is sweet! Enough have dried to form the days get-up. We get outside and it’s overcast but not raining, thankfully. Breakfast Radar on (Breakdar?) we need coffee and grubbins stat. 

Around the corner near the main square we find another rad dungeon looking spot. Down some stone steps and through an old creaky wooden door. This is a coffee shop? Tallinn, you rock!

What is this place? Kehrwieder Saiakang Chocolaterie. That explains all the delicious goodies in the display case. Looks like it’s only pastries and whatnot in here and we’re more of the Full English breakfast type. A true adventure detective needs max sustenance in the morning to lay the foundation for a full day and nights worth of investigation shenanigans. But some fancy pants coffee would be great so we order some up. Very cool place.

We kick it on the sofa with a decent roast like the cast of Friends, Estonian edition. Nice to get up early, not feel like a brainless zombie and have the whole day to explore. We don’t linger in the chocolaterie though, just a few sitcom timing one-liners over coffee. Lots to see in this town, best get to it.

Back into Old Town we come through the castle walls and up to a platform where there are signs for a museum. Doesn’t open for 25 minutes. Alright well that gives us time to explore a bit more and find a good breakfast joint.

We pass through the Long Leg Gate Tower of the great stone walls and continue up the hill towards the magnificent looking Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral. These colorful town houses set against the leaves and cobblestone and that fantastic cathedral in the background.. Tallinn is getting more and more beautiful the further we explore. 

We continue passed and down some colorful alleys over the rain slick rocks that line all the streets here. Looks like we’re getting into a more residential and business-like section of town, no restaurants are popping out at us. Here’s the German Embassy though.

Ok, we’ve veered off course here, this Breakdar must be busted. We’re out by the Toompea Castle that overlooks the city. These stone walls surrounding Tallinn are fabulous. Some nice lass named Margaret got things started back in 1265. She happened to be the Queen of Denmark at the time. Things ramped up from there and enlarged over the 14th century into this imposing and easily defensible structure here.

There’s a great look-off from the walls up here down on the red roofs of Tallinn and the 13th Century Medieval church of St Mary’s with it’s brilliant baroque bell tower.

We follow some stone steps down through another wall gate. Are we being watched? Oh no it’s just these creepy statues.

Oogie gets me taking those pics. Loving the colors against that stone

There are more of those metal plaques on the walls in this area to give us some history. The Legend of Dannebrog is mentioned in a few spots here. They seem particularly proud of this story and the cultural ties it’s made between Estonia and Denmark.

Painting depicting the falling flag admist the Battle of Lyndanise

A more abstract rendition of that same story. I wonder if the light shines through the metal at a certain time of day to cast a shadow of the flag on the spot where the flag is supposed to have fallen.

This canon is aimed at the modern tech industry buildings of the IT scene currently thriving in Tallinn. After the success of Skype and Transferwise, the e-Tallinn Initiative has made this city a hotbed of tech start-ups like Bolt, Taxify, Deekit, and fucking Funderbeam (great name). It’s the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe. Low taxes and a good e-Governance gig. Maybe something our IT/GIS-savvy detectives could also investigate. I am liking this city a lot…

Looks like the Nietsitorn Museum within the city walls is open now but we’re still on the hunt for a good breakfast. We’ll do a spin around Old Town again and come back here to further our historical knowledge in a bit.

Down the steps and back into the Old Town area near town square. We pass by the Tunnel of 100 Beer again, “If we start now we could probably finish the 100 beer tavern by the end of the day”, “A whole century in one day”, “Breakfast first. But yeah, let’s get back here at some point today for sure.”

Around the corner we find a nice looking spot called the Reval Cafe. Let’s check it out..

There’s some light jazz piano playing, a mix of upper scale looking folks and a trio of Asian tourists. Trendy place. Grab a menu, food looks great. Oh Shit! Full English Breakfast!! Brilliant. Nailed it.

It’s glorious. Reminds me of the time Peter and I spent in England before the SASS. 

Worried he’s not getting enough variety in our all meat diet on the trip, MacKay goes for a beet soup. It’s good but… Full English Breakfast is just so hard to top. He may have a point though.

My ears train in on a song that comes on while we’re scarfing down. Shazam says its Ayayaya by Bratia Stereo. Interesting voice, I get sucked in for a minute or two. Here’s the vid (not what I was picturing at all)

Yep, that was great. Chill morning to walk around Tallinn some more and get some good coffee and breakfast. This Breakdar isn’t broken at all, it works perfectly. Now let’s get into that museum and climb some towers.