The Amazing Eurasian Odyssey
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Matt and I made our way from the port toward what was called Old Town, a term we learned from our hostel's website. It became painfully clear what that meant as we reached the cobblestone streets and market squares of picturesque Olde Europe. There was a defensive wall surrounding the historic city, complete with turrets!

I was quite impressed with Estonia, though it wasn't as refined as Finland. The aesthetically pleasing buildings in this area of Tallinn were a treat. This is what movies most of Europe to be like, filled with a sense of romanticism and chivalry that radiates from the centuries- old architectural styles and historic sites.

It was my job to find the hostel, which is rather scary if you are familiar with my terrible navigational skills. However, despite Matt's doubts and discouraging taunts, I found the place with no problem. We dropped off our bags, and Matthew decided he was hungry. He is always hungry.

With a nifty free map from our hostel, we set off across town toward a recommended restaurant. After wandering around with no luck, we checked out some other eateries, but the prices, while lower than much of Europe, were still a little more than we wanted to spend. We settled on the nearest fast food restaurant, which was more or less the local homegrown McDonald's variant. Not the best choice, but they definitely had the best prices.

It was becoming painfully clear that our trip, which started a month and a half earlier in Bangkok, was coming to a rapid close. At the same time, we were both ready for a short break from traveling.

The day ran out on us fast, and before long we found ourselves back at the hostel, where we took advantage of their LCD projector. At the behest of the staff, we watched the movie 300, which was cool if you like a lot of yelling.

The next day, we were up early to get Matthew to Tallinn International Airport for his flight. He would be going to London for a few days before returning to the United States. In the meantime, I would have one more day in Tallinn before heading back to Helsinki to catch a plane to Paris.

And now I was on my own. Not wanting to waste the money on a taxi to get back to town, I waited for the bus. And waited. And waited. After the bus finally arrived an hour later, I managed to disembark at the wrong stop and then get lost for two hours (it also started raining) before I was able to find my way back.

I made a trip to the U.S. Embassy to get more pages added to my passport. While wandering around trying to find the office, I ran across a section of road that was closed, with permanent pylons in the asphalt to stop any traffic. Why this street? Then I saw the Embassy... up this very street.

All in all it was a pleasant experience, except that I was pretty much treated like a terrorist. Once I was inside the Embassy, however, officials were happy to accommodate my request. A U.S. passport contains an embarrassingly small amount of pages compared to any other passport in the world. Twenty minutes later, I was on my way.

I got lost again on my way back to the hostel (even with the map) and decided I must have some undiscovered condition that makes me directionally challenged.

The next day I caught the ferry back to Helsinki with plenty of time to spare. Hours later and before I knew it, my plane was descending into Charles de Gaulle Airport on the outskirts of Paris.