TALLINN

The sights you see! Yesterday I watched in some fascination as an old gent in front of me at the KGB lecture methodically picked his teeth with the corner of his Daily Programme. I have to say it had never occurred to me that one could substitute stiff paper for a toothpick. Another jolly gent at lunch was using the nail on his little finger to loosen some debris – not the most charming of sights. Yet another item of some amazement was the confession of one couple that on their first cruise they found one of the other couples at the evening meal (usually this is the only meal where seats are ‘fixed’ ) so abominable that they never ate another meal in the main dining room. On this, their second trip, they were so worried that the same thing might happen again that they hadn’t even been to check out the company!! There’s naught s’queer as folks as the Yorkshire saying used to go before the word changed it’s meaning.

We were at sea yesterday, moving from Germany to Estonia – our port of call is Tallinn today - so that gave us more opportunity to chat to our fellow travellers who are, by and large a jolly lot. We’ll discount the snooty woman in the left on our return from the Molli and Minster tour. Her response to Rab’s enthusiastic “Wasn’t that a lovely afternoon?” was “Weeellllll………yeeesss.” Clearly not in agreeance as we Aussies would say. Talking to one of the staff yesterday he said that he had never worked on a ship that had such a good atmosphere. He couldn’t put his finger on the cause, but it was so. Staff and passengers get along very well and there are smiles everywhere. I know that may make it sound a bit like a loony bin with grinning faces in abundance, but it is pleasant to be with so many cheerful folk, many of whom are returning for second or multiple voyages. That’s quite remarkable given that the ship has only been in it’s current ownership since March 2008, having been laid up previously for some time before a major refit. I think that alone is a solid endorsement that confirms the very positive posts on websites like Trip Advisor. Perhaps all those folk who believe that buildings and objects absorb emotions are right. This has been such a happy ship for so long that she exudes some sort of cheerfulness to all who sail on her.

Talking of returning passengers, one of the tour staff, who is a South African lass from Cape Town was talking enthusiastically about trips to Norway, Iceland and the Northern Lights. I have always had a hankering to travel to Antarctica, but the Arctic would do in a push. There has always been considerable resistance from management to these destinations, but yesterday Rab picked up a brochure on the available trips in 2013 and suggested I put out the message to those of you who said they were envious of this voyage to start saving now. So the bait is on the hook, but as any fisherman knows, it is a long way from getting a nibble to getting a fish IDB – In De Boat! We can only live in hopes.

And talking about this dear old ship, some facts:

· launched in 1965, almost 50 years ago, as the Alexandr Pushkin, the name still faintly discernible on the stern where it was profiled in the steel

· built for the Russian merchant navy in an East German shipyard. It is always something of a puzzle to me that the Soviets could produce items like this, but were totally unable to produce a decent car.

· originally designed for the North Atlantic trade with sailings between Leningrad and Montreal

· refitted and converted to a cruise liner out of Tilbury for the European market

· transferred to Vladivostok for cruises aimed at the Australian market aimed at the 18 – 30 year market, so no doubt built up a fair store of cheerfulness at this time

· the collapse of the Soviet Union led to her being laid up in Singapore in 1990

· rescued from there in 1991 and renamed Marco Polo she was entirely refitted and re-launched in November 1993. this was the version that we sailed on previously – in 1998 from Barcelona to Istanbul

· sold and re-sold and laid up again as the global financial crisis bit into cruising profits

· resuscitated again and after a refit, back to where she started – almost, cruising out of Tilbury again

Friends who have sailed on her ask what changes have been made and it is difficult to pinpoint them, not least because it is thirteen years since our last voyage and we have been on a number of other liners since then. Generally speaking, the interior has been modernised and brightened. Not in any gaudy way, like the QE II when we sailed on her in 1981 with interior colours of bright green and purple. The décor is good and easy on the eye. The shop has been enlarged substantially and renamed a boutique – that’s one change, but we can’t recall if there was a small casino in an area which is now another small lounge where one can watch the TV. The rear eatery also seems to have been changed in it’s layout to a more efficient one – but there again, we’re wondering if we’re confusing this area with another vessel. The public rooms seem to look rather more posh than we remember them being but everything suits us just fine!

So, a lazy day yesterday – just two interesting lectures, a bit of Gershwin in the lounge, three good meals and a few pleasant drinks plus a bottle of Abruzzo wine from one of our favourite Italian villages Montepulciano. And so to bed, rocked gently by the slight movement in the ship as we found some water that wasn’t completely flat. Not all bad.

Having visited Tallinn previously, some five years ago, we decided not to take any of the tours and used the shuttle bus provided to get into town. It was so pleasant to see the city, which is a little cracker, with so much greenery in contrast to our last visit which was in February when everything was covered in snow. It was certainly easier walking around the city without being worried about the ice on the cobbles and we had some nostalgic strolls through the Old Town.

One of the shops that we had missed seeing last time was one that specialised in making marzipan goods. It was open this time and we were amazed at the variety of edible goods on sale. Some were really beautiful but all were expensive – at least in our opinion for art that would be gone so rapidly. A young lady worked on a bowl of fruit, endlessly painting pips on strawberries, stripes on bananas. The flower market was a blaze of colours near the twin towers that used to guard the entrance to the city and which now frame the modern power tower - a multi storey shopping centre in the New Town. In the arch of one of the towers sits a beggar, silently holding out a cardboard Coke cup. We find the Eastern European begging style particularly abhorrent. It is one thing for a bum in Central Park to shout out “Buddy can you spare me the price of a coffee?” and to respond “I take Visa and Mastercard” when I protest that I have no spare change and quite another for these Eastern Europeans to sit freezing on the ground or to prostate themselves at the feet of pedestrians.

We found the little shop where we had bought snacks and provisions on our previous visit and stocked up with Vana Tallinn there. This is a local liqueur and is the best liqueur that I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. As far as my taste buds are concerned, it is like drinking Christmas cake. I have always enjoyed liqueurs and one of the pleasures in travelling was always to hunt out new and different flavours and tastes.

At one time, in the days when we were all young with a superior capacity and less concerns about the effect of the demon drink I had over 50 at home. And these were not for show, but for enjoying with friends at the end of a good meal. Ah! Those were the days my friends.