A city is only as good as the people in it. I've been to quite a few places but my favorites, I realize, have always been flavored by the people I've met there. I thought this morning, as I awoke after only a few hours of sleep and far earlier then I needed to, about all the favorite places I've been and what made them so great. This most recent trip has made the recipe very clear: take 1 unique city, add a dash of nightlife, a pinch of culture, and smother it in a heaping cup of awesome people.
After I finally found a shower with hot water (the other two being ice cold) and got dressed I realized I had entered the window of time that Tõnis said he would meet me in. I headed out the door after catching up with Clarence, who's in Vegas for the first time, and made a beeline to the nearest coffee shop. On the way I stopped at a mini Mart and picked up some water as well - I hadn't seen a super market that small but so packed with food. I picked up some kind of vitamin drink and a big bottle of water then got to the coffee shop. I had no idea what food was available so I just pointed at one of the stuffed pastries in the display, was told it was cabbage, paid and ate slowly while staring out the window, watching the cars slowly roll by. Sure enough I got an SMS from Tõnis that he would be there in the next five minutes. Before I knew it I was looking up from my coffee and there was the familiar Volvo without a front grill and the familiar smiling face behind the driver's wheel.
I grabbed my things, ready to go, when Tõnis waved at me to stay put. I sat back down and when he came in he bought a croissant for himself with a cappuccino and a second cup of coffee for me. I've gone from someone who drinks no caffeine at all to a coffee bar afficionato in the span of a couple days. As I sipped my second cup I thought about how hard it is going to be to go back to work and quit cold turkey again.
All jazzed up on coffee we hopped into the Volvo and were on the road. We drove around for a bit and I got to see some of the large evergreen trees - quite a change of pace from the barron twigs I had been seeing since winter set in. Eventually we made our way to Tõnis's office. I had heard from him and Omar that it was near the ferry terminal but I didn't expect it to be so large and have such a great view of the water. I later learned that they used to be able to see Old Town from the office too but a bunch of new buildings were added, blocking their view. We walked into the first door and Tõnis input the security code on the panel to get in the second door. Suddenly he shouted, "schieße!" And I thought oh crap what's going on? A few more explicatives from Tõnis and then he finally fills me in. He had given his entry key to one of his employees and now we had tripped the alarm. A soft high pitched whining sound could be heard coming from inside. Tõnis turned to me and said he needed to call his brother and hope he could come over with his key to stop the alarm. I laughed hysterically because it was the kind of situation that you would only find yourself in if you are with Tõnis.
The alarm didn't stop us from going inside. We started the tour of the office and after seeing the ground floor, with their Canon professional video equipment and large format printers, took a seat in a mock mini movie set that they had set up to show the different ways that large format printers could produce props and scenery and at a lower cost. Everything was so cool looking and the things they managed to print were astounding. I sat on one of the chairs and Tõnis handed me a photo book to flip through. He was looking at magazines and teaching me the geological origins of Estonia and all about wild rocks (I asked him "as opposed to domesticated pet rocks?") from Finland. We tried not to make too much movement since we were sitting right in front of one of the motion sensors. Tõnis told a story about when he was working in Germany and one of the workers got locked in the building, not moving his hands from the keyboard for fear he would trip the alarm and when help finally did come they called him instead of emailing him back and tripped the alarm anyway.
By the time the story finished a familiar stranger was in the doorway, setting off the alarm and punching in the security code. When I saw the two of them side by side it was a curious site. They had the same frame and height but where Tõnis is generally jovial and mischevious looking his brother is more serious and straight laced. Then again, maybe it was just the glasses. With the alarm finally stopped the tour was able to resume. The office was amazing. They had all kinds of cameras and equipment to calibrate them, copiers of course and the space itself was so cool. I was really impressed. There was even spare office space on the top floor, which I could definitely see myself setting up to work from one day if I ever get the chance and if Tõnis' offer was at all serious. It felt good to have him tell his brother about my professional accomplishments and blog. The pride in his voice as he described my accomplishments since we met when I was just 21 made me feel like I had actually accomplished something in my career and adult life. With the struggles I encountered along the way and placing second to the men I work with at every turn he somehow made the hamster wheel I feel like I'm stuck on sound like I have nearly submitted Everest. We kept walking and got to a corridor of these cool little dark rooms with things their father used to say printed on each door. I wished I could read Estonian even moderately well to know what kind of wisdom or cleverness was there. The two of them created an atmosphere in the office that most start ups I know dream of. They even have a chef come in and cook lunch for everyone! When we made it to the brothers' office, pretty adorable that they sit right across from each other, Tõnis went in and grabbed a backpack he bought at Omar's behest but never had a chance to mail to him. It was of course Omar's signature color and very hard to find. I agreed to bring it back stateside with me. I don't know if I'd wait six years to give it to Omar, I give him two til it just makes its way into my backpack rotation.
After the office tour we hit the road again and I got to see what lies outside of the city center. We drove to the beach which I'm told gets very crowded in the summer with lots of scantily clad, old, misshapen people and through the forest that is also a cemetery. I even got to see one of the cross country skiing tracks, after seeing so many people walking around with their skiis in the other nordic countries. It was funny watching them go around and around in circles, similar to how people jog around a track. We drove through the old soviet era apartments and laughed about how difficult it must be to remember which one is yours if you live there. We talked about Douglas Adams and Monty Python, all the things that Tõnis had introduced me to when we first met. It made me realize what a strong impact the people I worked with early on in my life have had on me as a person in general. Mostly it just felt nice to joke and laugh so hard I could barely breathe.
We made our way to the bus terminal and Tõnis started to explain how I could get there from my hostel tomorrow to catch the bus to Riga. We drove to the airport too which is surprisingly close to the city, small and modern looking like the one in Finland. As we made yet another u-turn, which at first was a terrifying action but it's a good thing that Fearless Leader Tõnis is such a confident driver, Tõnis turned to me and said do you want to go to the supermarket? I was a little surprised. I had shown him my blog and I know that he had planned on reading it but I wondered to myself if he had gotten to any of my older posts where I talk about how going to the supermarket is my favorite thing to do when traveling. I told him yes I would like to check out the supermarket because it's my favorite thing to do so we turned into the parking lot of a shopping mall.
We walked through the mall and made our way to the supermarket. Now I've been in a lot of supermarkets in a lot of different cities all over the world but I can count on one hand the number that have been as massive and all encompassing as this one was. It looked like a much fancier Walmart, which according to my guide was starting to influence stores in Europe. We walked to the back of the store and Tõnis pointed out all the different kinds of pastries and breads. There were some that were just like British pasties and one that was identical to the pan con carne I've seen in the windows of Columbian bakeries back home. We went over and looked at all the sausages and meats. They had moose sausage of course and I immediately recognized it as the one that Tõnis would bring back for Omar along with the black bread. I used to watch him eat it for lunch and talk about how wonderful it was. From there we moved on to the canned fish and I got a lesson on the different kinds as Tõnis tried to find the one with the skyline of Tallinn printed on the can (they didn't have it surprisingly enough). Next was the organic area where, unsurprisingly, we found one of Tõnis' go-to snacks - small jars of fruit crisps. We picked up two and headed to the dairy isle where I learned about the different kinds of yogurt and milk drinks. There were all these small bars wrapped in foil and I saw Tõnis light up, like he does when he sees something he really enjoys, and reach out to grab two of the small chunky bars. He explained to me that it was curd wrapped in a dark chocolate which didn't make it sound that appealing to me but I learned long ago that when someone offers you the food of their childhood that no matter what it is you have to taste it because there is something so personal about sharing the food you grew up with. I picked up a bag of candy that he recommended as well then it was on to the beer isle. I discovered that Estonia sells two liter bottles of beer and decided at that moment that I need to seriously consider relocating to here. Our hands full of all these little snacks we picked up, we made our way to the register. Tõnis insisted on paying and as soon as we exited the store he handed me one of the milk curd chocolate bars. He showed me how to open it and I watched him take a big bite, close his eyes and a small smile appear on his face as he chewed. I looked down at mine and thought well here goes nothing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted like a mild cheesecake with a semi-sweet dark chocolate and slightly fruity flavor. It was really good! As Tõnis took a second bite he told me that every week he eats one, sometimes two, because it's one of his favorite things. I took another bite of mine and asked him if it tasted the same as when he was a kid, because I know that most of my childhood favorites have changed slightly over the years but I still enjoy sharing them with new people regardless. Sure enough I was right, the cream chocolate bar had changed a bit but was just as good as he remembered it.
Mini cheesecake bars finished we walked next door into a board game shop. Tõnis asked if I had played any and, thanks to Joe at work, I recognized most of the boxes there. We talked about some of the games and I suggested some new ones which Tõnis took pictures of for reference.
I figured we were pretty much done with our excursion when out of no where Tõnis darts into the pharmacy. I thought to myself what the heck could he want from here and found him next to the register asking me what flavor I prefer. I told him, naturally, that anything but strawberry was fine with me so he picked raspberry then said something in Estonian to the clerk and picked up a black wrapper, explaining to me that it was a cows blood bar. Um. What?! I told him he couldn't be serious and he said yes I am before asking the clerk about something else, disappearing for a moment, then coming back with a bottle of pills. I thought oh he must have needed aspirin. He paid for the items and told me that when he was a kid they would treat the pharmacy like a candy store, eating glucose vitamin-c tablets and absorbic acid pills like they were treats. He handed me one of the vitamin-c tablets, then one of the pills, and finally the cow blood bar - taking one of each himself. He told me to enjoy them during my bus ride tomorrow.
Back in the car I knew our time was drawing to a close. Tõnis seemed to be on a mission to get me somewhere good before saying goodbye and suggested the maritime museum which is one of his favorites. I said sure since Martin had also recommended it yesterday and it was back in the car for our final destination.
Tõnis eventually found parking in the ill managed, mud filled parking lot and walked inside with me. He offered to drop my things off at the hostel later tonight but I couldn't even think of imposing on him any further then I had already so I took my bag and Omar's bag with me into the museum. I followed Tõnis upstairs to the cafe and he showed me the menu, suggesting some things I could have for lunch. He seemed anxious about something and I told him I would be fine there and that he should get going or he was going to be late to the party. He absent mindedly agreed, then reminded me of what kind of taxi I should take so as to not get ripped off and told me to follow the water back and I'd get to my hostel if I follows that general direction.
A moment of silently staring at each other wondering what to do next and Tõnis finally said that he was so happy when he got my email saying I was coming to Tallinn and wanted to see him. That he was glad I did reach out to him. I told him I was glad I did too, and wondered to myself what took me so long to get here and how could I have ever hesitated to email him. As Tõnis said the night before in our cab ride home, sometimes you just meet people that you click with and can be more of yourself with. We hugged and I told him to send me his address so I can mail him my spare Nintendo Switch. He said he would and told me if I needed anything, got lost, or was in trouble tonight to just text him and he'd come get me. "Actually if you're in trouble just call," he said and we laughed.
Then I was back on my own.
Location:Pühavaimu,Tallinn,Estonia
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