History & Legend, Tallinn

Favorite thing: The mascot of Tallinn is Vaana Toomas, or old Thomas. The ledgend is that he was a young poor boy who wanted sneaked in on an anual competition between knits. It was a shooting competition held every may in the Parrot's garden. he competitors had to shoot down the wooden parrot placed on top of a high pole. The little boy shot the parrot down, making the knits and citizens angry (since they hadn't been able to fire a shot). The Mayor, however was amused, and made the young boy the town-guard (A great honor for a poor boy). Toomas proved his reliability several times during the Livonian war. He guarded Tallinn from the Town Hall in the shape of a statue from 1530. The original statue can still be seen inside the town hall.

A guide told me that Toomas is aquinted with another myth. Toomas is also supposed to be the one that tells the old man from the sea that Tallinn isn't finished.

Favorite thing: Every time we walked to and from our hotel to the city centre we passed this display of marionettes in their elegant 18th century costume, posed in front of a painted backdrop of Old Tallin. There seemed always to be children with their noses pressed to the glass looking at them but we never found out what story they were telling. They almost felt like friends by the time we said goodbye.

Favorite thing: The first written mention about the town was in 1154, so Tallinn has a fascinating Old Town - Vanalinn. Old building and churches were built in 13-16 centuries and are still good-looking. The Old Town consists of two parts: Toompea (Upper Town) and All-linn (Lower town). There are two streets between these parts: Pikk Jalg (Long Leg) and L?hike Jalg (Short Leg). We have a legend ?Why does Tallinn have a limp?? Because it has one leg short and another long:)))