Taking it easy in Estonia

Hello,

Or rather not, it was actually a very busy time! Estonia is, in a word, delightful. The towns are pleasant and the countryside beautiful in its simplicity.

Tallin has a wonderful old town which has been completely restored. Cobbled streets, red-roofed buildings, church spires gracing the skyline. You don't have to be told that this is a medieval town, you can see it. The hill on which the fort would have been, is now the home to churches, the parliament (a palace) and other buildings. Surrounding it lies a quaint town including more churches, the remains of a monastary and the old city (castle) walls. Several of the shops and inns have their staff dress up in traditional clothes which gives the place an almost erie feel. Its not quite like being back in the old times because the place is far too clean for a start! There are also too many tourists : )

I wonder how they managed to keep all these buildings in working condition. Putting in modern plumbing must have been a nightmare. I also noticed that there are no drains in the streets so when it rains they must flood badly!

Just a quick visit and then it was off to the bog. To get to the bog, I had to pass through Parnu, a beach town. It is also clearly medieval but here I had another interest. Apparently they have excellant healing mud, so I had to go for a mud bath. It wasnt exactly a mud bath. I lay down on a sheet of tarpaulin where some mud had already been poured. The nurse then poured two full buckets of steaming mud over me before wrapping me up tight, a bit like a cabbage roll, except I was the stuffing! Remain uncertain as to the healing properties of the mud, but it was good fun.

Bogs are actually very beautiful places. I always imagined them to be dank, dark and smelly, but it was covered in marshland and some beautiful forests. In the lowest parts of the marsh, there were ponds in which you were allowed to swim. There was no-one else around and I didn't have my costume with me so decided to skinny dip. Half way into the bog I changed my mind. It was freezing! Although apparently also very good for the skin.

After I finished my walk I went kayaking (canadian style) down the river. The scenery was lovely, the leaves on the trees dancing in the wind, rushes swaying softly on the river banks, dragonflies drifting lazily over the lilly pads. There was no other river traffic and I felt quite the red-indian as I set off down the river back to my hostel. Occasionally I encountered a rapid but always managed to navigate my way successfully through with grounding or tipping over. It took me over 3 hours and I definitly want to do more.

Then it was back to Parnu for some sun-bathing on the beach before visiting Tartu, the college town. From there I took a day trip to visit a lake that is supposed to have holy and meditational powers. There is a spring that feeds into the lake. If you drink a silver goblet of this spring water on mid-summers eve you are supposed to find a persistant love. As I only had a few sips from my hand taken on a random day, think I'll be lucky to get a one night stand!

The Estonians are quite polite and reserved, but you dont have to scratch far below the surface to find a warm and genuine people. You've got to love a country whose second largest city(Tartu - the college town) put up a statue of kissing students in their town sqaure in front of the town hall. It's their mascot!

On my last night I went to an open-air folk dancing display which was entertaining. They must have had 1,000 folk dancers. I kid you not! The choreographer deserves a medal because by using the stage, the grass by the side of the stage, the tiers behind the stage, he (or she) made a very impressive visual spectacle of the dancing. In itself, folk dancing becomes a little boring after a while - unless you can take part!

After that I took a bus to Riga, Latvia, where I've been for the last 4 days. Going to Vilnus, Lithunia tomorrow.

Hope you are all well and happy,
Love
kx