Time in Tallinn

So I (Chris) spent the last week in Tallinn, Estonia for the RIPE 54 conference, which is run by by organisation I work for (the RIPE NCC). The conference was held in the Sokos Hotel Viru, the most interesting aspect of which is that it was built in 1972 as lodging for international visitors, and was bugged throughout by the KGB. A few of us at the conference got to go up to the 22nd floor, where the KGB had their control room, which remains pretty much as they left it, 70s audio gear and all (there's some photos in the slideshow below).

The city itself is not very big (I would say around the size of Adelaide, but I'm not certain), and has a beautiful medieval center, which was very close to the hotel. Most of my free time (and many of the social events) was spent in the center, basically wandering around and taking photos. I also stumbled onto the Museum of Estonian Architecture, which houses around 50 architectural models, including one of the whole city.

On the final evening, I and a few colleagues went to Balthasar, a garlic restaurant just off the Tallinn Town Hall Square - garlic everything, including garlic ice-cream and garlic crème brûlée! As we finished there was a free concert happening in the main square - I didn't catch the name of the band, but it was very heavy metal with a Slavic, medieval sort of bent (they even had a bagpipe player!). Despite the roaring vocals and distortion, it seemed to have attracted a mixed crowd, with parents dancing with 5-10 year olds alongside made-up emo kids. All slightly strange...

Tallinn - Flickr slideshow

Queen's Day - A Sea of Orange!

The Queen's birthday in Holland is a very different affair to our Aussie Queen's birthday - rather than simply relax and enjoy a day off from work, the Dutch go a little crazy, dress up in orange and pile into the streets! For Brisbane folks, think the Boundary St Festival or Spring Hill Fair, but expanded to cover a whole city. The trams don't run, the streets are closed, and there are DJs, bands and buskers on every footpath, as well as countless market stalls (it's the one day of the year when anyone can sell anything, so it's like a giant jumble sale - even kids set up shop to sell their old toys!).



Highlights of the day included paying a euro for 30 seconds of applause (you pay your euro, step behind a screen, the organisers round up about 20 passers by, and then when you step out from behind the screen, the passers by cheer like crazy - a great ego boost, even if you know it's all a bit fake!), and a busker who we paid to play a Rage Against The Machine song, just because it seemed so improbable sitting there on his repertoire list - a valiant, but in the end very funny, attempt!



My aim for next year is to get on one of the hundreds of boats that ply the canals, many fully equipped with DJs and bars!

Queen's Day 2007 - Flickr slideshow