01 | July | 2024 | Tales from the Hutt

Friday, 07-June-2024

I really liked Tallinn. I bet I’d really like the rest of Estonia too, especially what I’ve heard of the forests and wild places, but for now I can definitely say that I really liked Tallinn.

I’m making a point to visit a lot of awesome places on this adventure, but I’m also making a point to go with the flow, and let myself smell the roses on the trails I set myself on. Kadrioru Park was a good example of succeeding in that goal – I was originally aiming for the Kumu Art Museum, but had to walk through Kadrioru to get there…

Which meant that I spent a few hours wandering an absolutely glorious city park!

The park is built around a massive palace built by Czar Peter the Great, and so it was this really interesting combination of a palace garden and a public park. There were causeways with huge flowing streams, flower gardens and broad walkways that were clearly intended for nobility to stroll around… but there were also semi-wild sections where you could be forgiven for almost forgetting that you were in the capital city.

Definitely a lovely park, and an excellent diversion on my way to the art museum!

(Ironic note – while writing this post, I learned that the palace build by Czar Peter the Great now houses it’s own art museum! So… I got distracted by an art museum on my way to an art museum. But didn’t go into the art museum, because I was going to the art museum. Ohh the trials and tribulations of Ben)

The Memorial to the dead of the Red Terror

Thursday, 06-June-2024

Logically, I know the horrors that the Soviet Union’s occupation of countries brought. I’ve read about it, I logically know the numbers. But I didn’t grow up with those numbers… for very good reasons, the Holocaust stands tallest in my mind due to the trauma it inflicted on my family. I was, simply put, raised in its shadow.

Standing in Estonia, in front of a memorial park dedicated to those deported by the USSR for use as slave labor and those simply executed, I’m reminded that World War Two was horrifying, and cast countless other shadows as well.

I didn’t realized that this was a memorial to those killed by the “Red Terror” of the USSR, at first. I saw the obelisk from the Reid Promenade, thought it looked interesting, and walked over. I mean, that’s what I’ve been doing this whole trip, and it’s served me pretty well hasn’t it?

Well, it continued serving me well, even if the subject matter was a bit tough.

The memorial was absolutely gorgeous – expansive, thoughtful, and… good. It was just a really great memorial, and I won’t try to describe it any further than that. Instead I’ll step back, and let the photos paint a picture for you.

What I can describe was the quiet of the park, the solemnity, and the sound of birds and wind in the trees… with the faint and distant sound of a lawnmower going off near the other side of the park, keeping the large fields of grass and stands of trees tamed.