Bread

For some reason, the Estonians have mastered baked goods. Even the most "wonderbread-like" bread is whole wheat and has some body to it. But there's no reason to eat the pre-sliced sandwich loaf anyway. For 7 kroon, about $0.63, you can buy a loaf of whole grain or rye or pumpernickel or something else wonderful. See the photo. It's really good stuff.

A person that is only here a few days might not realize how cheap breads are. Everything is priced by the kilogram. A loaf marked 18kr seems a bit steep. Then you find out that a kilogram is close to 3 loaves.

Coffee

Finns love coffee. It's a fact that they drink the most per capita. My anecdotal evidence:

Today I had breakfast with coffee followed immediately by registration with coffee. Opening session for 1 hour followed by coffee. That takes us up to 10:30. My session lasted until noon, then lunch. Coffee anyone? Another session from 1 to 2, then coffee, a technical tour and finally the city reception (will there be coffee?)

Wired in Finland,

Eric

Dinner

The food is great. I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to eating, so I'd probably order by pointing at unknown words if I had to. Menus always have translations in the touristy areas, so no problem anyway. I had grilled salmon and rice last night, and for appetizers we had a selection of eel, herring, dried-salted-raw beef (a Georgian dish), pickles and other stuff. All good to me. I did pass when the dean of my college suggested vodka with the pickles, opting for a local beer instead.

Breakfast in Tallin

I hate to take time to blog; I am having such an amazing time here. This morning I had pickled eel, among other things, for breakfast. Sort of like pickled herring in my opinion, which was also on the buffet. Other than that, the breads here are wonderful, the yogurt, cheese and dairy in general is terrific, and all in all I can't complain about the food.