Tallinn - Kadriorg in the Snow

On Thursday, we visited Kadriorg Park, a very impressive park, covering around 70 hectares with elements of park design from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Its construction began in 1718 on the orders of Russian Tsar Peter I.  Still covered in snow, it looked very different to my previous visit (see here). We enjoyed a spot of bird watching, Hooded Crows, Tree Creeper and Nuthatch together with Tree sparrows and Great/Blue Tits.

Tallinn - Foggy Evening

Our first evening in Tallinn was foggy giving strange lighting for night photography though the lights cut through it. First two mages from the hill above Freedom Square, which my hotel (large building on the left) looks out onto and is lit by pillars of blue lights. St John's Church (Jaani Kirik) is built in the neo-Gothic style, and was opened in 1887.  Plans to demolish the church were proposed in both the 1930s and the 1950s by  planners who felt its style jarred with the other buildings of Freedom Square; local opposition prevented the planned demolition in both cases. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, on Toompea hill, was completed around 1900 when the country was in the Russian Empire. When Estonia became part of the USSR it was left to decline but has been meticulously restored since Estonia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Tallinn - Trees and Snow

Two of my favourite subjects are trees and snow so these views in Tallinn were bound to be in my favourites set. 

Return Visit to Tallinn Estonia

I so enjoyed a visit to Tallinn in December 2017 that I am making a short return visit to the City with Sarah as a companion. Like my last visit (Tallinn 2017) there had been recent snow so everywhere is clad in a blanket of white. Here a few images from the first part of our walk round the town walls. 

Spring Flowers at Their Best

There was quite a bit of warmth from the sun during my favourite walk across the fields to Caldecote this afternoon and the spring flowers in the orchard abutting the churchyard were certainly enjoying it. The final view is of our village, Toft, Cambridgeshire, as we walked back.