Xmas dinner and Tallinn

Kenya wasn’t my only surprise this last week. Sunday night I got a call from Derya, at a time point she was actually supposed to be high up in the sky inside an airplane. Unfortunately she has proven that our opinion about the Belgians is true, and that they are indeed not the smartest people on this planet sometimes. Because she had forgotten her passport and only realized when she was already at the airport. So she missed her flight.

The next evening I was thus sitting without my first visitor on the table during our Swedish Xmas dinner. But the food was superb, the ambiance really cozy and the four couples surrounding me were fun company! A small photo impression:

Luckily I could reschedule my trip to Tallinn so like this I didn’t had to travel alone but I left one day later together with Claire & boyfriend Rick and Rianne & boyfriend Kasper. The boat was amazing. They had a 25 hour/day fast-food corner, a tango room, casino, disco, 3 restaurants, aperitif bar, boutiques and tax free shops, karaoke, bingo, and a huge show bar where every hour dance shows, music shows and clown shows were performed.

So I was stuck for 16 hours on this small city floating on the sea, but I wasn’t bored! I was a bit afraid beforehand that I would get seasick but I was actually quiet ok. You just had to sit down every now and then and not walk around too much. Sit down, and see the wonderful Picasso drawing in your room go left, and right… and left, and right…

The next morning we arrived around 9 am Stockholm time in Tallinn. I was expecting quiet a huge city since 1/3 of the whole Estonian population is living here, but it was actually pretty small. Nice to walk around, it’s completely different than Stockholm – a bit more Russian/Polish influences -, but after one day you’ve seen it simply all. A small impression again:

And in the middle of the old town I and Rick decided to introduce some Dutch culture into Tallinn. Jumpstyle time!

At 18 pm Estonian time we left again. Direction: the wide open sea where you can’t see anything else but water, waves and water. Nice to see, but I must admit that when you end up in some ‘bad weather’, you suddenly think of movie scenes like ‘Jack, don’t let go’ and a lot of water booming through the corridors of the boat. Yep, we ended up in a small storm. Waves were 4m high and the wind was blowing with a speed of 25 m/s. At least that’s what a lady from the boat told us but I doubt it a bit… But she ensured us that this was all ‘normal’ and that we shouldn’t feel worried. It helped a bit, but I must admit that when I was laying alone in my huge A-cabin, hearing the boat cracking, squeaking and rattling every time we hit a wave again, I re-double checked where the emergency exit was. Just in case.

But I survived, didn’t got seasick and I even managed to fall asleep eventhough my drunken neighbors were screaming every time the boat was going up… and down… and up… and down.

Those were actually really true by the way, all the stories I heard before I stepped on board. About all the drunken tourists. Amazing to see all the Swedes going crazy. And interesting to see what ‘kind’ of persons were going crazy. Trust me, the skirts were short, the hair was so fake blond that it was almost painful for your eyes, the boobs were almost falling out, and the guys were enjoying it all while trying to still stand up straight. And not because the boat was unstable. Yep, it was a 100% ‘Frans Bauer’ audience on the camping. And then worse.

But as restless and stormy the night was, as calm and beautiful was the next morning, when we saw the sun rising while we were sailing our way back home through the archipelago. Back home to Stockholm!