2017
november

Tallinn

Map

November 3–5, 2011

A modern silhouette.

Something unexpected at the Tallinn airport: a boom-gate lock for taxis. The car drives in, the first gate lowers behind it, and only then does the second gate go up. This way, two cars can’t slip through together. It’s unclear why this has been set up specifically for taxis, why at the airport and why in Tallinn and not somewhere else.

A significant percentage of the country’s territory has free Wi-Fi coverage.

Estonian children run so slowly that they have enough time to fully plant their front foot on the ground.

A car parking diagram.

A “beware of purse-snatchers” sign.

There’s even a postage stamp inspired by it.

Don’t go here, go there.

Temporary traffic signs are one meter tall.

Many buildings have signs indicating distances to nearby utility hatches.

Some buildings have “national monument” plaques (we’ve already come across this symbol in Iceland and Tsyurupinsk).

Many intersections have a sturdy frame structure to which all the traffic lights and signs are attached.

A simplified version of the structure.

A walk button.

The post boxes haven’t changed over the past ten years. But the model with the recessed middle section seems to have emerged victorious.

The Soviet-era apartment blocks look a hundred times neater than their siblings in Russia.

Strange as it may be, some signs are accompanied by a Russian translation.

Highly flammable building! No trespassing. To report trespassers, call 1345.

This is what the scariest part of town that I was able to find looks like.

And this is a low-income family housing project.

There are almost no reminders of Soviet times.

A 200-meter tall chimney stack at a thermal power plant.

Previously, the only way to get to the top was to climb the ladder on the outside of the chimney.

Don’t look down.

Luckily, they built an elevator inside the chimney. In addition to the elevator, there’s also a spiral staircase as well as three chimneys through which the steam is actually vented.