Estonia: From Tallinn to Parnu

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ESTONIA PART II
PARNU
Heli picked us up at the Parnu bus station and began our orientation tour of the lovely seaside spa town that she calls home. Parnu is the ancient home of the Estonians. The first humans settled in Parnu between 9000 and 8500BC. Later Parnu, even before Tallinn, played an important role as a member of the wealthy Hanseatic League. This is reflected in the charming old villas and houses decorated with “wooden lace” that are everywhere throughout the city. Today Parnu is best known for its spas and health centers, its white sandy beaches and its beautiful parks. After a quick drive pointing out her old school, the school where she teaches now, the Old Town center and the spas, Heli suggested a coffee at the beautifully restored Art Nouveau Ammende Villa that was built in 1903 for a wealthy German merchant's daughter Ammende to celebrate her wedding reception. We had a quick tour of the lovely villa passing by the irresistible pastry cart that so influenced our decision to add dessert to our coffees. Dave and I had a very rich Sacher Torte while Heli had a tiramisu served in a small clay flower pot.
Not long after our rich treats we arrived at Heli's lovely home where she prepared a delicious selection of traditional Estonian foods for us to try. We toasted our reunion with her homemade garlic vodka. We shared a lovely wine with an amazing dinner that featured the Estonian "fur coat,"a beautiful and delicious layered dish of herring, beet, potato, onion, carrots, hard boiled eggs and pickles. To go with this feast we had sweet pickled pumpkin, pickled mushrooms that Heli had picked in a nearby forest, delicious hearty brown bread, potato salad, Champaign, and strudel and coffee for dessert. Now I will bet you are wondering just how I managed to eat all that. I am too!

June 17, Parnu Historical Museum and spa
After another feast for breakfast we had a refresher course on locating various points of interest in Parnu including the fish shop were we bought fresh caught perch to smoke, the farmers market, where we bought a rutabaga and some wild strawberries (just like the tiny wild ones I grew in NH). Then we went shopping in a few of Parnu’s malls and bought Dave a bathing suit so he could join us later in the spa. I bought some local organic cosmetics and gifts to bring home. After our shopping Heli took us to the Parnu Historical Museum where she volunteers as a senior lecturer through her job at the University of Tartu, Parnu College. This new museum, located next door to the beautiful new concert hall where Heli attended the graduation of her students yesterday, covered Parnu’s early settlers from 11,000BC through the difficult Soviet occupation when random trainloads of Estonians were shipped to Siberia (Heli's father had to hide behind a cupboard for eight years to avoid capture and exile) to the present day freedom of an independent Estonia. The stories we heard under the Soviet occupation were shocking and hard to imagine. These strong Estonians have endured so many centuries of hardships and struggle under foreign occupation. We will be honored to help them celebrate their annual Victory Day later this week.
Heli later told me of her own tragic love story. Her first husband, Lembit, the love of her life, was born in a Siberian prison to a beautiful Estonian woman and her Ukrainian husband whom she had met in while in exile. Lembit's mother had been sent to prison for 15 years for refusing the advances of a Soviet military man. A year after Lembit was born he was sent away from his mother to an orphanage near Moscow for seven years. Eventually Lembit was reunited with his mother and father and they moved back to Estonia where Lembit had a more normal life. He was a very talented musician and athlete and when he was a young man he became the Soviet (and also world) champion underwater swimmer. It was in Estonia when Heli later met, fell in love and married this handsome man. They had a daughter Margrit (Grit) but Estonia was still part of the Soviet Union and Lembit was fiercely bitter about living under the Soviet regime. He often told Heli that he would try to escape and send for her and Grit. When Grit was three years old Lembit took Heli to Yalta for a vacation. They dove for shells and walked the beaches but on the third day, Lembit went for a last swim and never returned. The sea was stormy but Lembit was an expert swimmer and should have been able to handle the waves without any trouble. Heli was frantic and for eight days boats, helicopters and divers combed the sea looking for Lembit. He was never found and never tried to contact Heli. To this day she is not sure if he is alive or dead. For months after her return to Estonia the KGB interrogated her as to the whereabouts of her missing husband. Lembit lives on in his lovely daughter Grit who went on to become a champion in the Soviet Pentathlon as well as the European Archery Champion and still collects trophies to this day.
It was another rainy day but I didn’t mind because after lunch Heli took us to one of the famous spas on the Baltic, the Tervis Health Spa. What an amazing experience! People come from all over Europe to spend a week or a weekend at one of Parnu's lovely health spas. I couldn't wait for our introduction to this fabulous European lifestyle. After showering, Dave, Heli and I started with a relaxing Finish sauna, then we moved on to a Turkish steam sauna, followed by a Salt sauna, where you rub sea salt over your entire body to exfoliate and soften the skin which is followed by a cold Vichy shower to wash off the salt, and a warm massage shower. Then we moved on to the hot Japanese baths and to the big jacuzzi overlooking the Baltic Sea. Dave and Heli took a sauna break and swam laps in the large pool. After the swim we all went into the wonderful aroma sauna, that was followed by the infrared sauna and finally ended with a final visit to the Finnish sauna and a nice shower to clean up before leaving the spa. To think, this is a regular routine for many of these Estonians. Heli’s business is to train people to open new health spas like these...any takers in Florida???
Heli's friend Meelis' birthday was today so this evening we celebrated his birthday with a lovely dinner (and a pre-celebration birthday for me). Heli's daughter Grit, Grit's thirteen year old son Markus and her four year old daughter Kirke joined us for this party. It was so nice to spend some quality time with Grit and her family. Grit, like Heli's son Martin, were so young when I was here in 1990 and I was so busy that I didn’t have much time to spend with them. Our fabulous meal consisted of poached salmon in butter, dill and cream, pickled mushrooms, mashed potatoes, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers with dill, pickled pumpkin, delicious brown bread raw rutabaga to dunk into a cream sauce and numerous other tasty foods. As if there wasn’t enough food to eat, Heli smoked some fresh local perch that we bought in the market that morning and we enjoyed this delicacy as an after dinner specialty. I spent the rest of the evening playing with my iPad apps entertaining the delightful little Kirke and her brother Markus.

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