Estonia Part 2: Tartu

The village square of Tartu
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After our lunch at school we all headed down to the bank to change our money  from Euros to Estonian Crowns  (1 € = 15EEK).  When we were walking in the street it was easy to  see the difference between old Kose and 1950-1989 Kose.  The old buildings were all made of wood and painted in cheery colour.  Mixed into these though were great big square cement appartment buildings where people do still live.  However,  most have attempted to "jazz it up" a bit by painting some things bright turquoise or something like that.  In the school (part of the building is from the <soviet era and part is older),  the walls are painting bright colours inside even if the building itself is falling appart.  It seems to give a sense of defiance.  I eve saw a Soviet tank just sitting there in someone's backyard - worse - I saw a huge explosive device in someone's backyard (I'm not joking).

statue of kissing students in front of Town Hall
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Anyhow,  we left at about 12.00 to go to Tartu.  Here comes the other reason why I call Estonia "Land of Mysteries".  Estonia is like Tim Burton land especially when there's fog and its cloudy outside (which it was).  The trees are all twisted but there are open spaces.  The houses that we passed were in a pittiful state.  I discovered the source of the smell I'd caught the day before,  Estonia is also a giant bog.  There are marshlands everywhere which also gives it slightly Tim Burton feel.

All the previous headmasters of the University
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I said earlier that Finns are obviously more used to comfort than Estonians.  This is even truer when one sees the lifestyle of people in the country side.  People are poor in Estonia.  The buildings we passed looked like condemned and abandonned houses (at the most) or old barns made out of wood like those ones we pass along the road in Alberta sometimes (at the worse).  I didn't even think people lived there and was thinking "wow there are lots of abandonned houses here"  but then I saw smoke rising from some of the chimneys.  People live there!

The University
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Another thing that I noticed about Estonia is that there are lots and lots of nirds.  Each tree you pass will have at least three birds nests in it.  Also there are lots of crane nests.  There are of course lots of crows and ravens but,  also very beautiful birds such as cardinals and canaries.

The trip to Tartu lasted about 2 hours.  Tartu is near the Russian border and is one of the oldest towns in Europe. We arrived at about 14.00 and had about an hour of free time so,  of course,  we headed to Tartu's new shopping center.  Noting very interessting here except the door which was like a rotating door but much bigger and it only had one wall So it was like a turning circle seperated in two.  When our half of the circle was about to open onto the mall,  the door got stuck.  "Great - I thought - I'm gonna end up looking like tourist again."  Not that that really matters because I am a tourist,  but I noticed later that even locals got stuck in the door.

the ruined cahedral
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After our break we gathered at the bus where a tourguide was going to bring us on a tour of Tartu.  We started at the bus which was actually the place where the first wall used to stand.  Across the street from this was a bridge that curved like an arch.  The new one wasn't built so long ago but,  a long time ago,  the students of the University of tartu were not alowed to cross he river to the other side (I don't know why,  no one knows why),  so a bridge was placed there by the students and it is even now considered an act of bravery to cross the bridge.  A yes,  I neglected to menition that,  like Joensuu,  Tartu is a student's town.  The University of Tartu is the only university in Estonia  (though there are colleges and such in Tallinn).  It is very prestigious and recognized by Oxford.

SLow Death
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After the bridge (which we did not cross),  we went up the street to Town Hall.  This hall has been reonstructed at least three times before.  The one that stands there now was built in the 18th century after a fire which destroyed much of the town (everything is made of wood).  Town Hall used to have a prison in the basement and the lower levels.  The top levels were used for by the municipal council.  The building is still used by the municipal council and three times a day,  everyday,  a carrion rings throughout the town.  This tune was invented by a German and Town Hall adopted it when Estonia belonged to Germany.  Estonia has been Dutch,  German,  Swedish,  Russian and who knows what else.  In fact,  Tallinn means Dutch(Tal) Town (linn).  In the nineties they places a statue of kissing students in front of the Hall.  I think Estonia,  like Finland,  really prizes its students. The area is very popular for students especially at Christmas time when the square is filled with a market,  musicians,  carolers,  and a huge Christmas tree.  I would really love to see Tartu at Christmas time.  Around the square are also building which were built on old foundations so they're crooked now.  The guide told us too that some building s are so old that they just caved into the ground and that's why they're crooked - sort of like the Tower of Pisa.  Most buildings in Tartu have a classic style of architacture because they were all rebuilt after the fire in the 1700s.  We passed by the University which was quite imposing and beautiful.  Beside it is a buildiong with paintings of the Headmasters looking ou of the windows.  A little further up the street is the house where the famous Finnish author,  Lönnrot,  wrote a compilation of Finnish folklore called the Kalevala.   It is considered a world classic and resembles the Iliad.  I bought a copy (in english) and am going to read it soon.  Beside this building is a cathedral.  This cathedral is from the 14th century I believe.  it is famous for the thousand clay statuettes that line its walls.  When we walked in,  I saw that it had not been renovated very well since Soviet times.  The plaster was falling and there was debris e ittle bit everywhere.  The whole place gave off a very strange and aweful athmosphere.  I think everyone was quite shocked by it.  Afterwords we walked to a park were there are beer festivals and such - very popular place again.  It is called Pirogov Square and is named after a famous Estonian anatomist and surgeon who is reason we use casts for fractures and anesthetics during surgery.  We walked up a path that rose slightly as it went up.  I later learned that this path is called "slow death".  At the top of the little hill,  we saw to our right a huge cathedral in ruins.  It was rebuilt so many times over that now,  they just use half of it as a museum and the other half is just left there.  In front of us was the judicial court,  it has been the supreme court of Estonia for mny years.  In front of this building there is a sculpture of a piece for a boardgame - a little scary.  This building is also built in a classic style.  Walking along this road there is a bridge called the "Devil's Bridge" which was dedicated to Tzar Alexander I and built for the commemoration of the Romanov family.  Opposite this bridge is another bridge called the "Angel's Bridge"  It is only called so because the word "ingli" (angel) and "inglise" (english) are very close.  The original name was "english bridge" because it was built in an english style.

the supreme court of Estonia
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Further along the road was a crumbling building that added to the whole Tim Burton thing.  It used to be a gunnery but now,  it is a very popular bar and brewery.  Not far away is an old observatory where a crazy man with two wives and twenty one children (three of whom were adopted) used to live and watch the stars.  h was an astronomer (obviously).  Now,  Estonia has a much newer observatory and so this old one is now a museum.  By this time,  we were all very hungry and cold (it was absolutey freezing and I wanted to take pictures so my hands were frozen to the camera.  So we headed to the last part of the tour.  There was a little monument in red brick which was written in German (there were two German exchange students who came with us - they work at the Kose school).  The German exchange students were kind enough to read to me what was written.  It said that beneath the monument lay the bones of persons that they had found while building the University - may they rest in peace.  Very interesting and a little macabre.  So,  we hopped on the bus and,  since evrybody was tired,  we didn't do much suring the trip back.

the "Devil's Bridge"
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That evening I spoke alot to my host mother about morallity and ethics.  It was quite fun although it was sometimes difficult to understand.  I also watched Dr.House with my host brother.  It was a ery good episode after which I went to bed because I knew that I would have another long and interesting day to look forward to in the morning...