The bear enigma

I've had a good long walk around this fascinating city. Uus and Aia are strange streets that feature a few old buildings but also shops, carparks, apartments and the general small stuff found almost everywhere in the world.

Kanutiaed is one of a number of stretches of tranquil parkland dotted around the edge of town. Here there is a tramp asleep, a couple of giggly schoolgirls, a young mum with her baby in a pram. I sit for a while on a bench and watch the shuttle buses come and go.

Shortly I catch one back to the Port of Tallinn. Here lies an enigma. Dominating the skyline, but not encroaching on the view of the town, is a sculpture of a bear. Notices I saw as we passed by on the bus, seem to indicate that this is the site of an Historical Theme Park, yet I've been unable to find any definitive information about it. From its location, I suspect the building was originally the Tallinn City Concert Hall.

Mural at the corner of Aia and Viru

Later I take the shuttle back into Tallinn on my own. Viru gate is now even busier than earlier. At the corner of Aia and Viru is an interesting mural. The upper part seems to be a map, whilst the bottom part is in two halves, one a scroll of writing whose significance is lost on me and the other looks as if it could be an advert for an ice-cream parlour.

I venture into a jewelers shop, looking for a suitable gift for Christine, it being our wedding anniversary in a weeks time. I look at some amber necklaces and ask the price in euros. I translate the price into pounds. Thereafter the assistant quotes me prices in sterling. Having settled on a suitable purchase I decide to pay using my credit card. This seems to be the best option since the card is debited in Estonian kroon and my bank does the conversion into sterling later.