Carol's Travels

We were on our way at 8:00 A.M. with a new driver and bus. We were getting our last look at the Estonian countryside. The color green was prominent with countless birch trees framing the road. As we approached Narva, I noticed numerous windmills that supplied power. We ate lunch there.
It was then a ten-minute drive to the Estonia/Russia border. First we had to check out of Estonia. Our bus was second in line to enter Russia. During the wait, I taught a basic ventriloquism workshop. My trip mates seemed to enjoy learning this new skill, and they did well. We had just finished the basic sound substitutions when it was our turn to get our passports stamped. While we were away, the bus driver cooperated with the border guards by letting them check the luggage hold and any other possible hiding places for contraband. It had only taken us an hour and twenty minutes to cross the border. We then returned to the bus and rode about 1 1/2 hours to St.Petersburg.  
As we drove toward St. Petersburg, we passed summer homes that were not as well kept as the houses in Estonia. The landscape was the same, though. As we entered St. Petersburg, the traffic got heavier.
St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. There is a problem with migrant workers. Low paying jobs are done by the Asian people. St. Petersburg has more population than the three Baltic countries combined. 80% of Russians support Putin because they want to see Russia big again.
Some trivia: The first toll our bus paid in St. Petersburg was 80 rubles or $1.20 for using the road. St. Petersburg has approximately forty sunny days a year. Peter the Great liked Holland, so the Russian flag has the same colors: white, red, and blue.
We checked into the Domina Hotel. We had an appointment for a river trip around the city, so we left the hotel at 4:20. On the way we stopped a the bank to exchange some American dollars into rubles. However, the bank teller said they were out of rubles. Miina said this was the first time the bank had no rubles! We walked to a nearby hotel and got the money exchanged. Then we walked to place on the river where we would board the boat. It was lovely cruising around the city late in the afternoon. There are a huge number of palaces and museums ringing the river.

Afterward, we walked back to the hotel, and we ate salad, bread, soup, and dessert for dinner.

After breakfast we all took a local tram out to Kadriorg Park to see the outside of the palace built by Peter the Great for Catherine l. The gardens were beautiful and are said to resemble the gardens of Versailles.  
We also walked over to the pink residence of the President of Estonia. Miina told us the latest news about the President’s present and past wives. It seems as though many government leaders have sexual scandals.

The highlight for me was the tour through the KUMU Art Museum where Miina is a docent. This museum was designed by a Finnish architect, and it is quite modern. It was interesting to see what kind of paintings the Russians allowed to be painted when they were in control of Estonia. (They had come to rescue the Estonians from the Nazis, and they forgot to leave for fifty years!). There was also a special section of sculptures in the museum. I was the most fascinated, though, with the immense ballroom filled with dresses. We could see the changes in formal dresses from 1837-1900. This was both Linda’s and my favorite part of the museum.

We left the museum via a beautiful flower gardens. We walked over to a coffee shop for lunch. We had the standard Estonian pork, mashed potatoes, carrots, beets, and brown bread. The bread here has been excellent. The dessert was traditional Kama, a powder that is mixed with milk to make a pudding, topped with strawberry jam.
Then we took the tram back to the hotel. This morning we had ridden one that had been built by the Russians. This afternoon we rode a modern one that had been built by the Estonians. When we got back to the hotel, some of us prepared to go back to the old town to shop one last time in Estonia. Miina took us to some requested shops, then we were on our own. Linda and I each got a small cookbook with Estonian recipes. There were no brown bread recipes in any of the books, though. I tried on some shoes in a fancy shoe store, but nothing felt good. Linda found a couple of t-shirts. Then we walked back to the hotel.

We were in front of the hotel, when suddenly Linda tripped on a bolt that was sticking out of the concrete walk. She fell on her arm and was in pain. She was able to get up and walk into the hotel. I asked for ice to be brought up to her room, then we went up. The ice arrived in her room just after she got there! I spread some Polysporin on a couple of scrapes. Then I went back downstairs to the bar and brought up two glasses of Pinot Grigio. She called Bob, and I called Paul. Then the two of us talked about how much fun we were having on this trip and other trips that sounded interesting. I could see that she was feeling better and nothing had been broken, so I left her to pack for tomorrow’s drive across the Russian border to St. Petersburg. It should be an interesting but long day tomorrow.
Estonia has no natural resources, so they consider an educated population to have the highest value. Today is September 1st, the first day of every school year. It is a short school day, and traditionally the parents go with their children to school. The children bring flowers to the teacher.

After breakfast we began the city tour on the bus. Our driver drove us to many spots, including the grounds of the Tallinn Song Festival where the first of many singing protests took place. Miina pointed to a photo and said she was there as a child.

Then we said good-bye to our bus driver and went on a walking tour of the old town. Again the old town had cobblestone streets. We walked by the Russian Orthodox Church, a cafe where Hillary Clinton liked to eat, ballet and music schools, shops, and street performers.

After the tour Linda and I went to the Puppet Museum. We enjoyed walking through this colorful museum with such a variety of beautiful puppets. The displays were on three floors.

After that, we started walking to the hotel where we would meet some of our group members for the KGB Hotel Tour. That tour showed how the Russians spied on people who visited Tallinn during the Russian occupation. We saw some of the spy equipment and heard stories of how and why people were spied upon.
Then we went back to our hotel to relax a few minutes before tonight’s activities. At 5:00 PM Anneli Kritsman-Lekstredt talked with us about Estonian economics and related subjects about Estonia. I found it interesting that Estonia considers the United States its biggest ally. People in all of the countries that we have visited so far are very nervous about what would happen if Trump were elected. This includes Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. If the U.S. left NATO that would be catastrophic to them.

We had another delicious dinner: salad, pork with plum sauce, green mashed potatoes, and a cream pie with berries on top.