Estonia Part 3: A stroll in the capital

Anne-Marie and Hanna
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On Saturday we were to meet at school at 11.00 so I had plenty of time in the morning.  Despite this I woke up rather early.  After a rather awkward and silent breakfast,  I asked my host family if it was alright to play the piano.  I was very excited that they had a piano because I hadn't played freely for a long time.  In my music classes I used to learn to play the guitar but now that my teacher knows that I play the piano,  she often makes me play the accompaniment of pieces on the piano.  Its nice but I also liked to learn to play the guitar.  There is a piano in the hallway at school but its always a little awkward to play (especially to practice) there because people are listening and some have classes in classrooms nearby.  I hadn't realized how much I would miss playing the piano and now that I had one in front of me on which I could play to my heart's content,  I just couldn't resist.  I played for over an hour I think.  Anyhow,  at around 10.30 we headed towards the school where I met all of my friends and we left for Tallinn.  We had a concert scheduled for 14.00 so we had a little time to spend in Tallinn.  However we weren't in the city center,  the bus just dropped us off at a mall (it was walking distance from the theater where we were going to see the concert).  So,  of course,  we all went shopping.  This was in the area of Tallinn where you could see the square cement buildings of the Soviet Union.  Driving by,  there were rows upon rows of apartment buildings.  However,  by the mall,  there was a MacDonald's.  That was interesting. Malls in Estonia are slightly different from malls in Canada.  In Estonia they are like huge warehouses and they seperated it into small compartments where the stores are but, the ceiling is high and detached from the stores.   So,  we shopped amelessly for about one hour and a half until about 13.00 when we headed towards the theater.  The show that we were about to see was "The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber".  I am a fan of most of his work but only when you hear the music in context with the story.  Here,  if you have no idea about the story behind Evita or the Phantom of the Opera,  you will not understand the song,  it will make no emotional conexion and you just won't like it (depending on the song).  The beginning of the show was basically love song after love song.  They were well sung and everything but,  since most of us have not seen every single one of Andrew lloyd Webber's musicals,  after a while they just seemed meaningless.  The show was well done but the idea did not make a good show.  I could see that people were getting bored.  I have to say that the "My life began when I met you" line was getting a little old.   However,  my friends did not whine about it,  in fact,  they were very good about it.  They outlined what they liked (most likes the phantom of the opera)  and what they did not like (basically what I told you already)  but they were positive.

The show
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On our way back to Kose we stopped by an old place called The Witch's Well (in Estonian obviously).  As I've mentioned before,  Estonia is a marshland but also,  it has a network of underground rivers which sometimes randomly burst out at the surface due to pressure.  This witches well is a site where the water often bursts out like that.  When it does burst out,  it spews 1 cubic meter of water per second.  Sometimes fish come out with it - the last time this happened was three years ago.  I was quite a creepy place.  In the time when people believed in witches and curses,  they made the place a sacred grove.  You can sort of see where the underground rivers pass because trees grow better there.  Therefore,   long time ago people believed that by touching those healthy oak trees,  you would get some of their energy.

Tallinn From the docks
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That night there was a disco at the school.  I went and was extremely surprised to see that nobody was dancing.  People are just way too shy here its insane.  I am usually considered a shy person by my friends in Canada but I'm just bubbly here.  So I convinced my friends to dance and we had some fun.  By the end at least fifteen people were dancing.  I think it was a record.  There was also an after party but I couldn't go because it was too far away and,  besides,  I suspected that it might beome a drinking party and I didn't really want to get involved in that.  Therefore,  I returned to my host family's home where my host brther and I watched an Estonian movie about violence in schools.  It was extremely well made and I thought it was an excellent movie,  a "hidden jewel".  It was called Klassi.  It was very tough to watch though.  One of those movies that leave you in a stuppor after.  I just stayed there staring at the screen for five minuted before I could say anything.

Beautiful world reknown Estonian doors
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That was my last night in Estonia and I was looking forward to visiting the real downtown Tallinn the next day.

The next morning I said goodbye to my host family.  I was very touched that they wanted me to visit again.  My host father gave me a T-shirt from the festival he organizes every august.  I took a picture of them and they took a picture of I me and that was it.  I was at school at 9.00 and we left to go to tallinn again.  This time however,  we stopped at the docks where we could decide  either to have a guided tour of the city or to go shopping.  I was astonished that only one other girl,  Tanja,   wanted to go on the tour.   So Tanja and I went on the tour and my religion teacher told us about the city.  He's been to Tallinn many times before because he always comes with the school.  Therefore,  he knew alot about the town's history.  When we left the dock we could already see the old wall.  Much of the old city remains.  in the past,  Estonia has been taken by the Danes,  the Russians and the Swedes.  During the reign of Yvan the Terrible (or I think that 's right),  although the country was taken,  Tallinn was never invaded.  We first walked up a cobble stone street with crumbling buildings.  People invest on those buildings by buying them,  rebuilding them and selling them.  Especially Russian people because they want to invest somewhere other then Russia.

Getting energy from the tree
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We came to a narrow street called the "short leg" and through an old doorway,  it openned onto the street "Long leg".  There were old shops and restaurants and embassies.  What was particularly interesting about Tallinn was the mix in architectural styles and the unique distinction of culture.  For example,  it was Sunday and therefore many different churches were ringing their bells.  One was orthodox.  We went inside and it was full of people.  They were selling candels to put on a shrine,  I bought two - one for the shrine and one for a souvenir.  They were also selling pictures of Tzar Nicolas II interestingly enough.  This church was built when the Russians occupied Estonia because,  although the army couldn't come through the gates of Tallinn,  customs and culture can easily slip through walls.  In front of this church is the city hall and the city square where the Estonians put up their fight against Soviet Russia.  They blocked the entrances to the square with cars and boulders to keep tanks from entering.  The old stone tower behind the city square is where the Estonian flag was first raised.

Long leg Street
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Another church that was the old Lutheren Church which used to be the tallest point in Eastern Europe.  It was the most impressive churches I have ever visited in my entire life.  It was over 800 years old but had not been changed since.  The floors are still the old floors and therefore,  we were walking on people's graves.  Their tombs were engraved in stone in Latin or German or Danish or whoever was there at the time.  There was also bigger tombs where the more improtant people were placed.  Most impressive was that all the old German,  Dutch, and   Swedish families' coats of arms were on the wall.  They were amazingly  huge and in dark stained wood and painted and beautiful.  I've never seen a church like this in my life.

My host family
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Obviously,  I simply cannot do justice to the beauty of this city,  one must simply visit it.  I really did not expect to find that interesting.

At 1 we returned to the ship where we were given a brunch.  The school had payed for the cheap ferry on the way to Estonia and the expensive one from Estonia.  So we had a 4 hour cruise with a brunch and entertainment and stuff.  It was pretty fun.  We spent our time shopping and going on the deck.  The clouds and the sea were fantastic.  It was all stormy but strangely calm.  The sea wasn't heaving like it was before.  We also played cards.

The town square
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When we arrived in Helsinki it was raining (surprise surprise) and we were quite tired.  The drive was long and sleepy.  We arrived in Ristiina at about 20.30.  And that was the end.  It seemed I'd planned for it for a long time and all of a sudden,  it was over.  I suppose thats what all trips arre like.  I suppose that's what this whole year is like.  I'd better appreciate all that I can before its simply - over.  See you soon!