A Full Day of Entertainment!

Today we started off with a tour of Parliament! The building was beautiful and full of medieval and art-deco architectural styles. There was this neat room, the whisper room, where two people could stand in opposite corners, whisper, and hear what the other had said across the room. Parliament was in session as well, so we even got to see their governing in action!

Next we went to Olympic Group, the largest provider of casinos in Estonia and other Eastern European countries. We got to take a tour of the "largest" and first casino in Estonia, which compared to Vegas is a hole in the wall. It was definitely interesting to learn about the government regulations that they face and how they plan to increase their brand image, since most people believe gambling to be "of the devil." Some of us decided to get bonus cards for the heck of it... for free!

Lastly, we went to SKYPE! Skype was actually started in Estonia, and they are very proud to claim this accomplishment. We learned about their organizational culture, how their business model has been so successful, and that there is actually a company bigger than them in Asia, QQ, but no one had ever heard of them. He couldn't tell us anything about products to come in the future or the specifics behind their "peer to peer" technology. The visit was definitely exciting, especially since most of us are frequent users of Skype on this trip!!

Tomorrow we leave for Helsinki at 7:30 AM... toooo early! Should be a fun day trip for us all!

- Matt and Emma