Thursday, April 3, 2008

Tallinn, Estonia

This one was sent to me by one of my former pen-friends, Christina Dulley from Sweden while she was on a holiday in Estonia. If I include certain people's full names is coz, with most of them i had lost contact unfortunately, so maybe (even though its like a chance 1:100000000000) someone who knows them ends up reading here, they may recognize them and tell them about it and all...I dont know....But I had really good friends among all those people, its really a pity that due to whatever reason we are not in touch anymore....I even have no idea where are they now, what they are doing, are they ok or no....but i would like them to know im thankful for all the cards they had sent me throughout the years.


Tallinn is the capital and the largest city in Estonia, and it lies on the northern coast of Estonia on the Gulf of Finland. Founded in 1154 it is thought to be Europe's oldest city.
The origin of the name "Tallinn(a)" is certain to be Estonian although the original meaning of the name is debated. It is usually thought to be derived from "Taani-linn(a)", meaning in Danish 'castle/town', after the Danes built the castle in place of the Estonian stronghold at Lindanisse. However, it could also have come from "tali-linna" ("winter-castle/town"), or "talu-linna" ("house/farmstead-castle/town"). The element -linna, riginally meant "fortress" but is used as a suffix in the formation of town names.
(My interest in etymology of names, i take it as professional damage :P sorry if you find it boring or annoying)
On the card you can see Tallinn's medieval Town Hall (Raekoda) where, the Tallinn Old Town has become a part of UNESCO's whs in 1997.

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