Sunset and Sunrise Mission 2015! (Part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of my 2015 Sunset and Sunrise Mission! Click here if you missed part one.

To recap, the aim is to see a sunrise or sunset in every country we visit. This installment includes China, Japan, Mongolia, Finland and Estonia:

China
I like this photo less for the sunset than the reminder of the fun day Sarah, Rob and I had at the Summer Palace in Beijing. The scale of the Summer Palace is really impressive and there is so many different areas to explore. 

Japan
I was pretty unhappy with my Japan efforts. We never seemed to be at the right place at the right time to capture a sunset or sunrise. Nevertheless, I did see this sunset from a Takayama bridge one evening.

Mongolia
Mongolia certainly took commitment as the days were very long. In fact, we left just before summer solstice so they were some of the longest of the year. The sun would set around 11pm and rise so early that I have blocked out the time.

Here are three sunsets we enjoyed most and one sunrise:

Stormy Gobi sunset

Gobi goat meeting at sunset

Sunset friend in the Gobi

Lake Khuvsgal sunrise 

Estonia
The beautiful city of Tallinn at the beginning of a sunset. 

Fairytale

Finland
The only Finnish sunset that I photographed was on our very last night in Helsinki. Basically I remembered my mission and ran downstairs in my pyjamas to capture a tram in the sunset. A flatter road and this could be somewhere in St Kilda.

Melbourne or Finland?

Magical Tallinn and the people that gave us Skype

Oliver, Rob and I took a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn for the weekend. Apart from feeling a bit sea sick on the ferry, it was a fine trip.

We spent a lot of our time in Tallinn simply wandering around. Although it feels like the walls of the old town are there to trap tourists inside it, we did not complain! The streets and buildings were beautiful and it was very interesting to learn about some of the history of the town. 

Town Market

How will our budget last through Europe?!

Walking in the steps of history

We know that man!

On the Saturday we visited the Estonian History Museum which is one of the best museums we have been to on our trip. Different mediums were well integrated to provide the history of the country. (As opposed to other museums that only use digital methods of presentation for the sake of it.) It was incredible how they fit so much history into such a small space and yet presented it in a concise and interesting manner. There was a temporary exhibition on "Children and War". They used curtains to create little booths were you could listen to individual stories and recollections of Estonians caught in conflict.

In the afternoon Oliver found a nice spot at a cafe for lunch. Rob and I, so absorbed in the museum, almost missed the town walking tour we had planned to attend. We made it in time for the tour guide's introductions but had to content our empty stomachs with delicious roasted almonds from a street stall en route. 

Our tour guide really knew her stuff and we learnt a lot from her. I found it especially interesting to find out about Estonia's struggles for independence. Unsurprisingly due to the geographical position of the country, Estonia has been under Danish, Swedish, German and Russian control. During the tour we learnt a little bit about the oppressive forces of the Nazis and the Soviets and the terrible consequences of war for Estonians. The methods the Estonians used to retain their language and what culture they could during these times were a fascination, as was hearing about the Singing Revolution. 

The Russian orthodox cathedral was a city symbol so disliked by that Estonia actually planned to demolish it, except that they didn't have enough money to do so! 

On quite another note, we found out Estonians invented Skype (but had to get the project financed elsewhere) and they lay claim to putting up the first Christmas tree. (However this is a battle of the Baltics with Latvia also purporting to have been the first).

The Russian church (it's a touchy subject)

By the Viru gates

Old Fat Margaret

Kiek in de Kok - Peek in the
Kitchen tower

The "quiet" backstreets

Walking outside the moat and city walls

Tall Hermann by the now parliament -  where the raising and lowering of the country flag is very ceremonial 

St Olaf's Church at dusk

St Olaf's from another angle