Muuseumiöö - Kadriorg Palace

Summer has arrived which means that not only nature but the city also becomes alive again! The cold and dark and very unfriendly winter has made space for dry pavements and smiley faces.

Tallinn is a proper summer city. It used to be a hansa town because of its brilliant location by the sea on the way to and from St. Petersburg, which is why Tallinn's summer is filled with medieval festivals, markets and events. The Old Town has already been littered with terraces that are filled with tourists every day of the week ready to part with their cash in some of the worst but most expensive restaurants in the city. Now it reeally reminds me of Prague and oh I love it!

Last weekend the museums of Tallinn opened their doors to visitors for free from 6pm onwards. There are hundreads of museums in Tallinn so there was surely something for everyone! I was a little sceptical whether the museums really were free because the last time in Bratislava the "free museums" required an entry fee anyway. But in Tallinn they kept their word! 

The day was miserable, hard rain and very dark clouds. Would have been perfect, though, for a tour in the seaside prison, Pantarei. It sounds like a proper freaky place and I was really looking forwards to it but because of the rain we opted for the Kadriorg Palace instead. I've wanted to peep inside it ever since I moved here. 

Kadriorg Palace was originally built for Catherine I of Russia as a summer house (I'd like one just like it!) and today it holds art and paintings from all over the world as well as Estonia. Each room has its own, beautifully detailed chandelier and there are amazing porcelain clocks and vases and figurines scattered around the small rooms. 

 After palaces like Versailles, Schönbrunn or Lednice Kadriorg Palace was very petit and a bit bland especially because the rooms are not furnished to depict the olden days. But nonetheless it has the same grandour that these places do where some of the strongest people in history have lived. 

If art is not your thing the Palace garden and the Kadriorg park reaching from the beach northwards is one of the most beautiful and serene places to have a walk or a picnic in. It also includes a hidden Japanese garden, so you can entertain yourself by trying to find it.

After the Palace we did also visit the City Museum in the Old Town but a guy making some sorts of wax tricks accidentally burned the wax and the fire alarms went off. I would have also liked to climb up to the City Hall tower by the main square but for some reason that place is "Closed during events"... Who came up with that idea??