On a personal note ...

Those of you who know me well, know that I like to travel. I like to experience other cultures and foods and, ultimately, to put more pins in my map at home :-)

I've not long returned from a lovely five day break in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.  I went with Amira, a former UoG PhD student who is currently based at Bangor University, north Wales, to visit Mohammed, a former UoG Masters student who is now living and working in Tallinn. 

Our first evening there we found a lovely little Uzbek restaurant.

Next day was time to explore the Old Town of Tallinn, just ten minutes walk from Mohamed's apartment.

Had some really good food during our trip, but this pancake place would rate amongst my favourite :-)  Truly, truly scrumptious!!!

This is a pharmacy dating back to 1422. It still functions as a pharmacy today, but also contains a small museum.

Coffee & cake featured quite high on our agenda each day.  We found a lots of lovely spots, including Cafe Maiasmokk  ...  the oldest cafe in the whole of Estonia, dating back to 1864.

St Olaf's Church

In addition to exploring the wonderful sights, shops, streets and alley ways of Tallinn's lovely Old Town, we also took a day trip to Helsinki, Finland  ...  land of the Moomins.
It was an early start and a two hour ferry from Tallinn across the Gulf of Finland.

My favourite things about the day were ... 

1. Helsinki Cathedral

 2. Eating borscht :-)

3. Watching Mohamed and Amira ice-skating

Sadly, all good things come to an end (or so they say). It was finally time to leave, so we made good use of the hugging spot at the airport :-)