Blogs from Estonia, Europe - page 44

Hello all! I know that it has been a while since I left and I apologize for only being able to send bits and pieces of information to you over the past few days. The internet is good here; it’s just the fact of getting it up and running. Cassie and I are going to split the internet costs and get it for the room, which I think is the best plan. So, let’s recap the past week. My flights coming here were really not bad at all. I will say, though, that the international part of O’Hare really needs to be updated. The place looks (and smells) like a small Ellis Island. Once I got through security there, everything was a breeze. There was a small issue of scanning my passport, like in Louisville, but ... read more

Geo: 59.4392, 24.7586Knowing that she hadn't eaten dinner last night, I left a few granola bars on Mary's pillow before going to sleep. This morning, she told me she thought "What a great hostel! They leave food on your pillow!" She was a little disappointed when I explained that it was NOT the Estonian equivalent of a mint on the pillow. Mary did a crazy thing last night - she slept with 4 guys!!! Of course, it was 4 guys all sleeping in separate bunks, but that's a minor detail that makes the story less interesting. The hostel serves a good breakfast - toast, cereal, yogurt, ham, cheese, tomatoes, good jam, and juice/coffee/tea. They also had some powdery mix of grains that is supposed to be a traditional Estonian breakfast when mixed with yogurt. I never ... read more

We got up and decided to get to the tourist information and see what there was to do in Parnü; we quickly decided that there's very little there in wet weather. Again we went for a walk around and went into some fashion shops still stuck in the 80's. We then went to a supermarket to get some food. After buying the usual bread and cheese, and some strange chocolate coated kiwi cheese curd snacks, we set off looking for a nice place to eat it. The snacks were interesting to say the least. While walking towards the beach the heavens opened and we hid under some trees. Instead of waiting there for the rain to stop we ran to the shelter of a large building. Once the rain died down we put on our macs ... read more

Today I woke up when Eero's mum walked into the room where we were sleeping. Not being able to speak Estonian and she not speaking English we stood and waited for Eero to call and explain why we were there. We spent the morning packing up our stuff and tidying up a little. Eero came round and helped us pick out a cheap hotel for parnu, which if everything goes ok we should be there tommorow evening. Rob and I caught our now familiar bus no.6 into town and then jumped on a tram to kadriorg which is the park in which Peter the great used to live. It's a beautiful park with fountains and little pathways leading around it. Also it had a long path down to the beach which has a large statue dedicated ... read more

Early this morning we were woken up by the most tremendous thunderstorm I ever heard in my life. The whole building shook with the thunder and the lightening was so bright and frequent. I was rather scared as the storm was right above and it was so loud. When we woke up again (Rob woke me up) it was rather bright so Rob got up and checked the time. It was just before nine and we had planned to sleep in till eleven. We got up leisurely and had a mixed breakfast of bread, cheese, yoghurt and fruit. We then slapped on the sun cream, as it was the hottest day so far, and went and caught the bus into town. We got off where everyone else seemed to, in the modern shopping area of the ... read more