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