occupation (by Germany then Soviet Union) that this poor country has had to deal with. But deal with it it has and it now appears to be vibrantly prospering and also very forgiving.

We had a day out of the city and chanced our arm with the Estonian bus service, we headed off to Pirita.
It’s the closest beach village to Tallinn and was used by the USSR as the yachting complex for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Had a look around the beach but the very dark stormy looking clouds that were fast approaching us made us head off to the river, as there were loads of forest walks around there and Rob wanted to go and find the Telefon Tower. This tower was used in Soviet times as the TV tower, its 314 metres high, with a viewing platform of 170 metres! Had wicked views over the city so we had to have a spot of lunch and a

pint!

Today is our last full day as we are leaving for Russia tomorrow, our Eurolines bus leaves AutobussiJaam (Estonian for bus station!) at 7.00 prompt! I don’t really know what to expect from here, we are leaving behind Europe and are venturing into the unknown, first we have the Trans-Mongolian Express and then our Trip around China, including our visit to Tibet!
Very much looking forward to St. Petersburg and Rob is confident that he can get us from Peterburi Baltijaam to our hotel via the underground! Ah! He has just informed me that his earlier translation of 2 metro tickets was actually can we have 2 ticket offices! Should be eventful! We also go into another time zone tomorrow its all gonna get crazy with time from here onwards, we were checking it out last night and we go through 11 zones before we even get to Beijing!