Tallinn, part IV - more Raekoda. (also a mini review/rant on Dunkirk)

Mojito mornings in McDonald's, only in Tallinn

More walking around, you see. More picture perfect.


Yesterday I went to see Dunkirk. I know this isn't relevant to my blog but you know what, it's my blog and I'm going to post what I darn well please. So, Dunkirk. My feelings towards it are mixed at best. I don't regret spending money to see it on the big screen - in fact I think this is one of those movies that NEEDS to be seen with a gigantic screen, but maybe for slightly wrong reasons. About half an hour in I thought to myself it was a good thing I wasn't watching this at home on my laptop, because I'd have turned it off and stopped watching for sure.

I feel like Dunkirk tried too hard, and I feel like the people that went to watch this tried too hard as well. It's one of those movies which everyone finds secretly boring, but is afraid to denounce publicly for fear of being ridiculed as a poor, uncultured country bumpkin. I know I'm no dunce because I got firsts at the best universities in the world, so I know what I'm talking about.
I think what Chris Nolan was trying to do here was go for some sort of pseudo stream-of-consciousness realism. Now, when done well this is genuinely mindblowing, such as The Hours. When done badly you get Dunkirk, and no amount of hawtie Jack Lowden (I am in love) can mitigate or assuage that. After I got back from the film I went online to see if I was alone in my sentiments. Spoiler alert - I wasn't, and someone hit the nail on the head when they said that this was basically just one long war montage, with admittedly stunning visuals. It's trying too hard to be something it's not, but never quite reaches those lofty heights that it aspires for. As for the soundtrack, I expected better from Hans Zimmer - the audio should be a supplement rather than the main character, and I felt that the soundtrack was distracting and overshadowed the film, and not that good. It's certainly not going to go down in history.

Back on the grind. And fucking remember, always fucking remember - your life is what you make of it.

Peter and Paul Church

Tallinn, part III - Tallinna Raekoda and Raekoja plats; and III Draakon - also, pancakes

For posterity's sake, this is the address: Town Hall | Raekoja plats 1, Tallinn 10114, Estonia

Piping hot elk soup at 2 EUROS in a large clay bowl, what could be better on a midautumn day? It was love at first sip. I ended up coming here every day, and every night, for all of my meals, because it was that good, and because good things are to be enjoyed, and sobriety is for another day. Of course you can get hungover on elk soup. You can get hungup on anything with the right mood.

View from the elk soup pub

It's probably slightly gross to put a toilet seat in the same entry as food but my blog my rules.

Elk soup which was gorgeous, but I'm sorry - there is no way to make this photo look good.

All you can eat cucumbers, though honestly, who would be able to manage more than three!? Those suckers were huge.

And then off for pancakes.

Boris Yeltsin memorial plaque.

Tallinn, part II - Tallinna Raekoda and Raekoja plats

I found the elk soup pub, and of course like the traveller slash tourist slash explorer I am, I walked around taking photos before actually going in, even though I was starving.

There isn't much to say here but pictures. I really did find the Raekoda quite enchanting, plus all the right ingredients for good photos - blue skies, endless blue skies, not a cloud in the sky, and bright, unadulterated sunlight.