From Riga, we made our way to the old university town of Tartu, in the last of the Baltic states, Estonia. We somehow missed out on buying direct train tickets before they were sold out, so we caught a train to the rather sleepy border town of Valga before catching a Luxe Bus to Tartu itself. We thought the “Luxe” was just advertising, but were surprised to find ourselves on a swanky bus with individual screens packed with games (I angry-birdied the whole way) and movies. The kids, perhaps remembering back to the trauma of an eleven-hour flight with no screens, were ecstatic. Upon arriving in Tartu we immediately booked a Luxe Bus for the next leg of travel to Tallinn.
We had one full day in relatively small (Moncton-sized) Tartu. This was just enough to relaxingly wander the cute and compact old town by the river, as well as the leafy Toome hill, which included the spectacular ruins of an old cathedral. I had a couple of lovely runs along the river out to a large park with the best outdoor gym I have ever seen.
After another wonderful Luxe Bus (Mission Impossible this time) we arrived in Tallinn. Years ago, when first brainstorming this trip, the Baltic states were one of the first spots to make it on our list of destinations. We loved our stops so far, and Tallinn was just a perfect way to finish things off. (Oui, oui, on peut beau dire qu’on s’est amusés. en Eesti).
Our apartment was just outside of the old town in a cute neighbourhood of wooden buildings. We spent our first day exploring the gorgeous old town, which was certainly touristy (there are enough souvenir shops to occupy one’s time), but still managed to feel relaxed and not too overcrowded.
On our second day, we grabbed lunch at the Balti Jaam market on our walk through the cute quartier of Kalamaja before arriving at the Harbour Seaplane Museum. This museum, housed in a creatively designed concrete seaplane hangar, was fantastic! There was lots to explore, including a bunch of interactive games, but the highlight was boarding a WW2-era Estonian (turned Soviet) submarine, housed inside the hangar. We spent hours exploring inside the museum only to head outside to find that there were also a bunch of ships on the dock and in the water that we could explore. But our hunger didn’t allow us to linger for too long.
On our final day, we perused the souvenir shops one last time before heading to an escape room (since the one for Elsie’s birthday was such a hit). I am happy to let you all know that we did escape and that we destroyed the last of Lord Voldemort’s horcruxes!
And… that’s it for me! I am typing this on a flight back to Montreal. The semester starts soon, and I wanted to give myself a bit of time to get things ready. But stay tuned! Claire and the kids have a couple more weeks of travel before heading back and you can read about it right here. (I opted not to move the blog over to the more accurate 4billetssvp.com. As an astronomer I am comfortable with historically inaccurate naming conventions).
I am already reflecting on what a wonderful experience this seven+ months of travel has been for the family. But since the trip isn’t finished for everyone, I will save those thoughts for later!
5 billets SVP 
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