Parnu – what about the rest of it??

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about Parnu - but now in TARTU
what with the doom and gloom of the Great Wallet Loss Disaster of Parnu of 2009 - what else to report? did I actually see anything? was there anything worthwhile to see? well, yes, sort of. The main thing it was famous for - they are not still open but the building is still there, down at the Strand/beach - is the Mud Baths - a snap of the pink and white building is hopefully attached. the Russians were big onto spa and mud type things - and as they have relatively occupied the place for 100 years before final independence Parnu became one of a few such places to go for the Russian elite etc. Kuressaare was somewhat the same - and still is - but spa tourism is now propped up by the Finns, as it is so much cheaper for them to come here, the food is cheaper, the grog certainly is etc. But it would have to be said that the Season appears to have well and truly died by now - no need to ring ahead folks it seems. We do not know how lucky we are in Australia - I tell people that unemployment at home is about 7% and that we are lucky enough to be able to dig stuff out of the ground and sell it overseas, so our Recession status is relatively mild - here unemployment is more like 18% which is a pretty hefty number. Which is why people are probably simply not travelling around as they would normally be. - good for me anyway as no accommodation problems.

So finally having retrieved my cash situation, it was time to hit the streets and check out the town proper, rather than beween here and the Post Office. The main shopping mall is called Ruutli and just about every Estonian town has a lot of the streets called the same - whether it be Lai (where my hotel in Tallinn was) etc etc. And Town Squares are called Raekojs Plats (of course). On a previous walk in the morning I had seen the Elizabeth Church so went bac to take some pictures of it, if permesso. There had an old lady minding the counter when I had been there earlier - but this time there was a furry freak brothers guy with a laptop, a radio and headphones - and he did not seem at all fussed about pix. So I was able to send some time there getting some good snaps. Around that area and down towards the beach there are just so many wonderful old wooden houses - snaps attached - which looked particularly good in the late afternoon sun and cross light etc. Found the New Art Museum and resolved to check it out on the way back - it is open 9-9pm every day! - more on that later.

Down at the beach the old Mud Baths bldg still there but locked up at the moment. On the beach there were stacked up sun lounges for rent (not at this hour) and lots of volleyball nets and various groups having games. There was a bar with a terrace balcony overlooking the beach so this was definitely the place for an early evening Saku - local beer, which I had not yet sampled. There is something about a sundowner isn't there which can be quite special, depending where you and who you are with (scratch the last option for me- no Estonian blondes on my arm...). Anyway it was getting a bit nippy so had to put my jacket on as a bit breezy by the seaside- I had initially gone out at 5pm in shorts and sort sleeved shirt, as it looked sunny and warm - well, sunny anyway - but returned to hotel for jeans and jacket as I was going to stay out for a while.

So arrived at the all day Modern Art Museum - there were some photographs by an obviously gay english photographer - well he may not have been, but the guys together in the pix were, let's say which gave you the general flavour - not all that good as photographs either. Then up the stairs there were all these photographs of Tibet and its people - mostly not bad but I think with an “exotic” situation like Tibet it has to be more than simply the locale - otherwise they are just exotica captured. Having said that not sure I could have done better.

Wondered where the main exhibition was having wandered up the stairs where there seemed to be only offices - but it was actually at the back of the ground floor. Look this was not the Biennale or anything but I just found it wonderful - it wasn't all incredibly creative or different or anything - the paintings were relatively dull - there were some interesting large figures made from wood and other materials - hard to describe really, but like a sculpted figures 'garden'. There was one of those loop videos - that can give “performance art” a bad name - simply a female Estonian TV personality with a cheeky smile “eating” jewelled stones from a white bowl with chopsticks- I presume she disgorged them when the camera went back down to the plate otherwise she would have been very unwell! and all this accompanied by the very distinctive voice of Miss Kate Bush singing a song on loop I could not actually place - but in her sing song voice it was so her - it is still going thru my head and brings tears to my eyes even now thinking of it. There was a visitors book so I just had to write something about the total experience and I ended up with total tears in my eyes - I think it was just a total stress relief after the previous 24 hours. Anyone else reading it after would probably think I had totally dropped my bundle!

And from there went back to say goodbye to Vera my favourite hotel receptionist as she was off at 9pm (and not on the following day) - 9am-9pm for her, so boring - 2 days on, 2 days off - but she is shortly off to Morocco for a week on a group trip. Why am I talking about her so much? - well she could certainly have joined me for a drink thats for sure - late 40s, simply elegant etc - it was very good to have someone to talk to about “my situation” and certainly broke the boredom of her sitting at the desk.

Then I went off and got lost finding my Russian restaurant which I wanted to try- Trahter Postipoiss - an old 18th cent. postal building apparently. The waiters all in red silky cossacky type tops. And the food? (step in AA Milne) - a fried potato pancake with a decent piece of smoked salmon on top, surrounded by sour cream topped with a sprinkling of salmon roe. The main was OK not brilliant - sliced roast (?) lamb in a relatively non-descript sauce/gravy - a big pile of barley (the new rice for GI fans?) and a few cranberries not as a sauce but on top of some julienned (steamed?) carrot and swedes - they tend to refer to wok vegetables on menus here (not in this case tho). My chosen dessert was finito - so had to put up with an icecream cake in a pastry case with swirls of honey around the plate. It was definitely only tea after this or I would have been up all night - a big cup with Tetleys on it (oh dear!) - but the tea was not exactly samovar, but at least not Liptons dip-dip. Wine is really only by the 750ml bottle here or house wine by glass - and virtually no half bottles anywhere - but in this case I had a 250ml bottle of “Prestige” Cotes du Rhone red - usual cheap French plonk, makes your mouth feel like a stable the next morning! Night night for Bonzo.

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Photos

Parnu - street scene
just your normal terrace type block

Elizabeth Church - stalls and organ
actually the "main" organ was over the entrance doorway was and was even bigger!

summer house - Parnu
all the windows open for summer air

Mud Baths bldg at Strand
not actually open any more (at mo anyway)

Parnu Modern Art Museum
a series of B&W figures

yet another picaresque wooden bldg - Parnu
they are just all over town