September 8, 2013
To Tallinn
Estonia is the first country I haven't been in previously. So, it feels as though I really am abroad. And with warm sunshine, cloudless blue sky together with the rustic streets of Tallinn old town, it feels like South America. There are lots of tourists and the streets are lined with cafes with alfresco dining.
The first thing I saw to once I'd checked into a hostel, was to find a bike shop in order to replace the bottom-bracket. The receptionist in the hostel directed me to a bike-hire shop a few streets away. The young mechanic asked me how long Is staying in Tallinn and when I answered only a day, he said he could do it right away and it would be ready for collection at five that afternoon. Later when I came back at the appointed time, the bike was sitting in the shop waiting, the new bottom-bracket fitted. I paid the eighteen Euros for parts and labour, then had a job because of the language barrier explaining that I needed to buy a ring-spanner. I happened to spot a spanner on a bench, so pointed, then the sales assistant understood me. She circled with a pen a hardware store on a city plan I'd taken from my pocket and unfolded on the counter. I needed the spanner to move the rear-rack back because it was in the way of the cantilever brake cable. But after wheeling the bike out of the shop and testing the brakes, I saw that the mechanic had noticed the rack in the way of the brake-cable, and had already moved the rack back for me, so now my rear-cantilever brake was working perfectly.
Tallinn it seems is a party town and the hostel is over a bar where there's the bass vibes of dance music and chatter until six in the morning. I am writing this at half ten Sunday morning after only a few hours sleep. I leave Tallinn today. It is hard to know what to expect when I get out of the city.
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