By Don
We stopped for the first night in Paldiski. Now if there is an uglier town in Estonia then… no scratch that like a stereo needle being dragged across an album. Nothing can get under the low bar that Paldiski has set. There is no uglier town, I refuse to believe it. Paldiski used to be a submarine base set up by the Soviet Union and it is a prime example of the oxymoron “Russian Architecture”. Block after block of the ugliest apartment buildings ever built but worse. Without the submarine base they have all become debilitated, but regrettably still lived in. And their the nice part of town. (When you look at these nondescript grey apartment buildings that got built all over the USSR you wonder about those Russians who are pining for their former glory. Some glory.)
But circumstance has made our stay seem farcical. Across from our hotel is a small hall and currently there is a tour bus of Swedish born again Christians having a gathering and every time you walk by, one or more comes running across trying to invite you in to hear the word of Christ and eat pancakes. So why here? Everyone and everything is Russian. “Ya, dat is vat ve vill do. Ve will go to Paldiski, da ugliest place in Estonia, and convert people using da language dey don’t understand. Ve vill save Paldiski.” Me thinks a wrecking ball would be a better move in the right direction.
Trance music. Do you know what it is? Listen to some Trance Music. Listen to it as loud as your stereo will go and for as long as you can plus one hour. No, make it two hours. Of course there is a reason I’m asking. And when I explain you will understand my somewhat politically incorrect and totally unsympathetic diatribe on the town.
Tallinn to Istanbul by Bike 
It is at least 50 years since Swedes spoke English like that, Don. Now-a-days, when a North American might say, “Wadayano?” a Swede would say something like, “What do you know?” While a North American might say, “Idiz, iznid?” a Swede would say something like, “It iss, issn’t it?” (the letter s is tough even for the most fluent non-native English speakers)
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Vladivostok and Nahodka had the same architects. 5-6 story walkups. When the renters took over their apartments from the government there was no strata title arrangement so the apartments I was in (Pacific Rim Regatta 2004) were nicely kept by the occupants but there is no structure in place for maintenance of the common areas, exterior, roof etc. In one building I was in the sewer pipe in the basement had broken with no attempt to repair.
Gerry Porter
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