A nice photo of me – like a Rolex advert but without the Rolex…

This is a Roland statue, in Rīga. Before arranging this trip, I hadn’t realized that both Tallinn and Rīga were Hansestädte – and the influence is clear throughout both of them.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large pile of prints…

There’s a relatively limited amount of junkfood chains in Tallinn and Rīga – the token McDonalds, and the local (and unappealing) equivalent called Hessburger.

Part of the reason for this is the availability of tasty local junkfood, such as the Estonian pancakes served up in Kompressor. This is a studenty place in the old town, where £2 will get you a plate full of stuffed pancake.

Looking through the Calendar on Flickr, I realised that I have totally given up on looking for things to shoot in everyday life – just save up for the travels really. With that in mind, I shall try again.

So. Tallinn. We went the week after the native Russians had been rioting about the government moving a Soviet-era war memorial from the city centre to a military cemetary – the full story is here

I hadn’t really appreciated just how these countries had suffered under Stalin, and the latter Soviet regime. Is it any wonder that they are not mad-keen on having reminders of their occupation and repression prominantly displayed?

I’m left with little sympathy for the “oppressed” Russian minority in Estonia, who were migrant workers sent there by the USSR, with the intent of dissipating the national identity of the native population, and were previously favoured in all aspects of life. Sucks to have the boot on the other foot, huh?

I’ve just returned from a week in Tallinn and Rīga – really excellent. More posts will follow, with some photos. But in the mean time, I saw a grafitto of this image in Rīga, and was curious if it was widespread. I find it amusing that an image commenting on the use of images is now a widely-propagated image in its own right.