Wow, I haven’t been here for even 24 hours and I feel like I’ve seen so much. I won’t go into the details right now, but in brief, here’s what I’ve been up to.
– Breakfast at CafŽ Mademoiselle (first WiFi hotspot in Tallinn, in the Hotel Olympia)
We started the day with a breakfast at a cafŽ that Veljo (pronounced VEL-ih-yo) likes to frequent. It also has sentimental value as it’s one of the first WiFi hotspots in Tallinn. Breakfast was cold salmon and light veggies on a bagel, a pastry and raspberry tea.
– Walk through old town to shopping mall, ended up at Jeremy’s Coffee
We left the car — what we’d call an SUV in the States, but what Veljo refers to as his “tractor” — at the hotel parking lot and walked up the hill into Vanalinn (Old Town Tallinn), up past the Pikk Hermann (Tall Hermann Tower), which is the main portion of the 15th century fortress that sits atop the highest point in Tallinn (not that high). This part of Tallinn is the most expensive, and there are several shops that sell souvenirs to tourists. I noticed a few others, but I think it’s still too cold for most European tourists to come. We walked over the hill and down the other side into northern Tallinn, passing through what used to be the city gates. On the other side of the gates led into a large shopping mall — no doubt post-Soviet. It was brand new and offered many shops that we’d expect in the States like The Body Shop and others. Veljo said that the mall was all WiFi-enabled. We walked through the mall, which connected to another mall on the other side. Eventually we got through it all and ended up on the street and stopped in at Henry’s Coffee, a coffeeshop, where we were to meet Ivar Tallo of E-Governance Academy. Jeremy’s Coffee was also a WiFi hotspot. This one you had to pay for, for the bargain price of 10 krooni ($0.80) per day — it’s run by major ISP Uninet. I uploaded some photos.
– Interview with Ivar Tallo at the cafŽ
Ivar came and I had a very productive interview with him about the state of e-government stuff in Estonia and all the neat things they’re doing. (Not going into details here, because there’s a strong possibility that his interview will make it into a Slate or Wired article.)
– Interview with Sten Hannson, Information Officer, State Chancellery
After the 90 minute interview, we headed back into Vanalinn to meet Sten Hannson, the press officer from the State Chancellery. He showed me the press room, which was not only decked out in WiFi (with one of Veljo’s signs), but also had webcams trained on the speakers seats in the front of the room. Sten said that many journalists just watch the press conferences from their offices via the webcast, and don’t bother coming. He also showed me the cabinet meeting room, which is totally decked out in really neat tech stuff. More on this later. Oh and he gave me a really neat present — once Veljo posts the pictures, I’ll explain.
– Interview with Uve Lokk and Raul Volter, IT Dept from the Parliament
After our time with Sten, we headed a few streets over to the Riigikogu, the Parliament building. There we met a couple of guys from the IT department who talked about how IT is used in Parliament. After a 30 min or so chat with them, Raul showed us the Parliament chambers, which date back to the 1920s.
– Short tour with Katherine Laini, Press Sect., Parliament
Katherine joined us in the Parliament chambers and gave us a brief history of the chambers and some other rooms in the Parliament building after we were done talking about IT.
– Beer/food in Kolumbus Krisostomus Pub
By the time that was all over, it was close to 5:00 pm, and we walked around Vanalinn a bit more and found a pub and had a beer and some potato/salmon dish that was pretty good. More WiFi usage ensued, courtesy Uninet. I uploaded more photos and blog. (Where I am now.)
– Tonight: Performance by JŠŠŠŠr (“Ice Edge”) at Kolumbus — an Estonian rock/electronic band.
– Tomorrow: Interview with a manager at an Estonian supermarket that also has WiFi. Go figure.
– Saturday : Trip to the south, and Estonia’s second town: Tartu.
Photos:
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Vanalinn (Old Town Tallinn)
Riigikogu exterior (Estonian Parliament)
Veljo Haamer, my fearless leader.
Raekoja Plats (Town Hall Square)
Town Hall (Showing a temperature of -6 deg. C [21 deg. F])
Arizona Saloon (Estonia random sighting #1. Where else but Old Town Tallinn?)
Speaker of Parliament’s desk
Interior of Parliament Chambers (They have 101 MPs, and ten major parties.)
Veljo’s handiwork, a WiFi.ee sign
WiFi.ee sign closeup
Hoochi Mama (Estonia random sighting #2. A women’s clothing shop in Old Town Tallinn. I laughed out loud when I saw this.
