Vilnius

What I noticed about Vilnius was that it was the least centralised city of the three baltic capitals.
In Tallin you had the old town wall, so the centre was clearly marked. Riga didn't have a town wall, so you didn't know were the excact line was, but you could roughly tell where the centre stopped. In Vilnius you just couldn't tell. If you're in the centre and start walking, at one point you will realise you're no longer in it, but the line is too vague to be able to tell excactly where the centre stops and the rest begins. Vilnius felt more Western than the other two. I can't really explain why.

Riga

Hanseatic town and a very charming one indeed. I only got to see the old city centre though which is a shame, because afterwards I was told there is a big and very interesting Art Nouveau district.
I still liked the old town centre though. There was barely any car and it didn't feel touristy at all. Some restaurants were stretching onto the streets where people sat and ate while listening to a band playing live music. After strolling around for a bit I had my dinner in a traditional latvian restaurant with an almost meadieval feeling. A girl was playing string instrument which was kind of a lute but being played a lap guitar. The cups were made out of stone and I had a traditional black pudding with some jam and bread... Tasty
What was odd, was a statue of a cock on top of a cat, on top of a dog, on top of a donkey. Germans will of course recognise them as being "Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten" (The town musicians of Bremen; famous German children's tale), but what the hell are they doing in Riga???
Reading the plaque, I found out that this was a gift from the city of Bremen made by a German artist. I figured this would be the scene where the four animals scare the heck out of a gang of thieves. However, I think choosing this scene was not very wise. Scince any non-German (i.e. Latvian) will not recognise this as a specific scene from a children's tale, I figure he or she will most likely see a statue of four animals looking really ugly. If you're a non-German who's not familiar with this tale, please comment on what you think of this statue:

Tallinn

Skyscrapers were looming on the horizon beneath a blue sky as the ship approached the shore. Setting foot on the wet streets a chill went through the air as I just wanted to find a hostel.
The hostel was two story wooden building just across the junction from one of those giants made out of steel and glass. That's Tallin: Old and new, cloudy and sunny, light and dark.

(That's not the hostel by the way, but an old brick building)

The city centre still has its wall from at least medieval times and is therfore clearly marked. However, once you step out of the gates you're in a 21st century capital which has had an economic boom during the last two decade.
In the evening I went into the old city centre with two Americans, one from Australia, to go to some bar and maybe get something to eat. I had some garlic bread in Tallinn's oldest pub. Generally, the atmosphere was really nice in the city; lots of locals out to have a nice time and some tourists blending in nicely. However, I decided to go back there the next day it was light. Just a few hours had passed and suddenly all the atmosphere was gone. Bulks of tourists passing and one person holding up an umbrella, shouting, 'Und hier ist die alte Stadtmauer...'
I think the percentage of locals on the street managed to plummet to below 10%.

Although the contrast in this city is fascinating to see, the touristy atmospere destroyed it all for me.
After that I was off to Riga.