Today, we had an almost 4 hour walking tour.  Our guide was a lovely young lady who was born here, but has lived in Scotland, so she has a wee bit of a brogue.  We started by seeing some of the buildings and churches in Old Town and then climbed about a jillion stairs up to the Old, Old Town way above the city.  There you can see the watch towers and parts of the original medieval walls.  And, there are some spots to overlook the town below and another spot to see the Baltic Sea and the ships.  And a hot air ballon!  We continued on to the Parliament building that was in session today as noted by all the cars in the parking lot.  Across the street is a beautiful Russian Orthodox Church with black onion domes.  We went inside and it is very beautiful with many altars, huge chandeliers and stunning icons.  All of the women wore head scarves.  At one time, the Soviets wanted to tear it down, but there wasn’t the money to do so, so they left it.  Most of the other churches in Talinn are Lutheran.  After the church, we walked thru a market place where all kinds of things are sold daily:  clothes, shoes, household items and beautiful fruits and vegetables.  Jars of pickles, berries, honeys, and there is a meat market inside a building.  The market is made up of small stalls.  We then Walked thru a beautiful park with children playing and lovely fountains.  A little dog was playing in one and in another two boys were racing their boats made from two plastic bottles tied together with an attached sail.  Looked like little Lego people were attached to help steer.  We found out the park had been a cemetery, dating back to the 1500’s, but during the Soviet occupation (after WWII) they decided to bulldoze the cemetery in the 1960’s.  The bodies were left in their graves.  Just no tombstones any longer.  Oh, that was another thing for sale in the market…different granite or marble tombstones…ready for engraving.     Then we walked to an area full of wooden houses that were built by the Russians after WWI.  They are apartment houses, with small apartments.  Many are covered with peeling paint and in need of scraping and painting, but some have been beautifully restored.  Many have the original gingerbread trim and all are colorfully painted.  The we walked along a path and could see the harbor of the Baltic Sea.  There are ferry boats leaving hourly for Finland, and if we had known about them, we would have gone instead of booking tours.  It takes two hours to reach Finland.  There was also a mega cruise ship docked…so we figured we would see all of the cruise ship folks back in town.  Finally, we ended up back in the Old Town Square where our tour ended…and yep…the cruise folks were there enmasse.  There was a big market going on today in the square.  All sorts of small kiosks selling souvenirs of all kinds.  Wooden toys and kitchen utensils, lots of linen cup towels, place mats and table runners, knitted sweaters, hats and socks, stuffed animals etc.  We had lunch in the square and then We split up to wander and shop.  There is a pharmacy in the square that has been in continuous operation since 1422…that made it 70 years old when America was discovered.  I met a lady there…off the cruise ship,from Noonan, Georgia…and Imtold her I had been there…it is famous for its beautiful AnteBellum houses.  My friend, Susie and I drove the streets looking at the houses on our famous road trip years ago.  (But that’s another story!). I went into lots of little shops, took some pictures, bought water and some merangues and finally hobbled home to lie down awhile before dinner.  The stairs going up and down from the Old Old Town and all the cobblestones had plCes hurting I had forgotten I had.  At dinner time it was raining and we were tired, so we ate in the hotel…it was quite good.  Now, after a HOT shower and some ibuprofen, we are in bed.  More tomorrow after our forest tour…by bus.  See you then.