Today Ken and Kaarna arrive at the town of Viljandi and it’s astonishing!
Ken gulps:
- I think this is the most beautiful town I have ever seen! look at all the colors and well restaurated old houses!
And Kaarna can’t disagree. She notices all the unbelievably elaborate front doors and lets her camera sing.
Even if some house might not be in good paint, the door most certainly is!
They drive further to the east and suddenly Kaarna screams:
- Ken!!!!! Stop!!!! Stop the car!!!!
- Whaaaaat?! You almost gave me a heart attack!
- Toonekurg! Toonekurg! Four storks in the same nest!
(”Toonekurg” is Estonian language and means ”stork”. We don’t have these birds in Finland and seeing them here is fantastic.)
Kaarna doesn’t like shopping here one bit:
- Why are the customer servants so unfriendly? They never smile! I feel like an idiot when I smile to them, but get nothing back.
Ken laughs:
- They might even think that you really are an idiot; smiling without a reason! But anyway… I don’t know why smiling is so hard for them. The Russians are even worse! At least the Estonians might smile when I say ”ma ei räägi eesti keelt”.
The Nippunens reach the east coast of Estonia and the huge Peipsi lake.
It’s interesting to see that here the landscape is like in Finland and the houses are quite shabby. They remind Ken of Russia. Even the weird turqoise blue and green colors that are widely used in the Russian houses seem to be very popular here too!
Kaarna adores these less polished surroundings.
- This is by far the best place we’ve stayed overnight on this trip. Interesting little village for walks, portable toilets everywhere, a little grocery store and a magnificent beach. And the night was peaceful, Ken says.
- We could we stay here for a couple of days and just relax, Kaarna suggests and Ken couldn’t agree more.
Ken rips open his ice cream package and asks:
- Are these our third ice cream cones today?
- I would say the fourth. I don’t know about you, but I have to take an overdose on this brand during this trip. Who do I have to suck to get these to the Finnish stores as well?!
Kaarna likes to wade in the shallow water along the village shore. There are many small lagoons that can’t be reached by car or even by walking.
Today she heads to one of the quiet lagoons to paint some storks.
This village just keeps getting better. On their walks Ken and Kaarna come to a nice rock formation with caves.
- So this is where all the Estonian mosquitos live! Ken screams and runs out of the cave.
- I hope the tourism will never ruin this village, Kaarna says.
At this point there are no hotels or restaurants in this village. Only a hostel and one cafeteria and a fish diner. The only foreigners are the people with their mobile homes and they stay in the ”puhkeala” area that is meant for free camping. Obviously the locals can still afford living in their houses. No hipsters around.
Ken thinks that a holiday trip is nothing without at least one castle visit!
And what could be a better choice than the magnificently restored Alatskivi castle!
Ken sighs and yelps uncontrollably when entering the rooms.
The visit to a private collector’s samovar museum is very pleasant.
The young girl working there is absolutely welcoming and polite and she speaks very good English. She tells about the use and history of these decorated kettles.
Ken and Kaarna get to taste the tea and delicious pieces of dried fruits and berries and a local speciality, boiled sugar.
After the museum visits they get tired and can’t drive to the next free camping zone. Kaarna is not happy with the place they have to spend the night in:
- It’s a harbour! In a town! The youngsters will drive around in their cars and pump the bass sounds! This sucks more asses than I can count!
- Come on! It’s only one night and the Park4Night app says that this is a quiet parking area. Look how many other mobile homes there are!
- Most likely they are party people themselves!
Kaarna changes her mind about the harbour when they find a vending machine selling hot drinks.
- Hot chocolate with peppermint and milk! Such big cups! And so cheap!
- Finally something that’s cheaper than in Finland!
And the cherry on top of this cake is a free warm shower!
After a wonderfully quiet night Ken and Kaarna check what kind of sights are mentioned on Google Maps. As always the only sights are a statue and a singing stage.
Ken starts to perform from the bottom of his heart:
- Siis, keeruta, lennuta, liinalakkneidu, kel silmistä niin leikkivät säkenet lyö…!!!!
Kaarna asks:
- What’s the deal with these singing stages anyway? There is a ”laululava” even in the smallest villages!
- I don’t know actually. I’ve tried to ask Google but couldn’t find any explanation.
Once again the weather is gorgeous and they drive to the next swimming beach. Ken is obsessed with understanding the point of the singing stages and keeps on surfing online.
- Look, I found an easy-to-understand video on YouTube about the Singing Revolution of Estonia. Pretty amazing. I was 17 when Estonia got its independence. I remember the falling of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a weird feeling, when things that had been there all my life, suddenly stopped existing.
- I’ll take a look at it in the evening. Now it’s ice cream time!
They buy ice creams in the beach cafeteria and walk a little further on the beach, away from the Estonians who play their stereos all the time.
They walk a little further from the Estonians who constantly play their stereos on the beaches and in the forests.
Then the only thing they have to listen is the wonderful sound of the waves of the Peipsi lake (which is actually called the Lake Peipus in English. They just learned that.).
Kaarna finds some interesting information on the internet:
- It says here that this sand is 30 km long! And it sings when you walk on it! It’s an enchanted mermaid.
- I’ll try! Nope, can’t hear anything… Wait!!! It does sing when I kick it! Or … I think it actually cries…
- I’ll try too! I’ll just check my email first.
- No no no no nooooooo!!!!!!
- What is it?
- A client needs me urgently… some infoboards has to be done. I’ll say to her that she needs to find another graphic designer this time.
- No, Kaarna. We’re going home. Why do I always have to be the voice of reason in this family?
- Because adulting is not my thing!
- It’s not my thing either but sometimes you just have to be responsible! We need that money! Desperately!
They still have the weekend to enjoy freedom. Kaarna checks the sights they have planned on seeing and Ken asks:
- Which ones are between Lake Peipus and Tallinn?
- Some mansions, a minining industry museum, an art exhibition, a waterfall…
- Waterfall. It’s free and I don’t have to drive in a city.
At first the nature path of the Valaste waterfall leads them way down to the canyon and to the sea shore, before it turns up again.
- The horrible smell of fish!!!! I already had forgotten this smell of the sea. I miss the Lake Peipus already! Kaarna moans.
- Keep moving your feet, the rain is almost here, Ken says.
There isn’t much water in the waterfall, but it’s high. And what a surprise: the Estonians have now invented the safety railings, which annoys Kaarna.
- I can’t see well enough behind all these tree tops. There must be a place with a better view…
It starts to rain, but it doesn’t stop Kaarna from climbing over the railings and getting what she wants: a tiny little feeling of danger.
The rain showers continue and they decide to spend the rest of the day in the spa of Vihula Manor.
Oh how good it feels to get into a real hot sauna and relax in a jacuzzi!
Estonia is full of old manors and castles. Most of them have been destroyed during the wars and the Soviet Era, and only ruins are left.
But some of them have been repaired and serve nowadays as museums or hotels or even as schools.
In the garden Ken and Kaarna find a kids’ size copy of the main building.
Now that they have been able to clean themselves up properly, they turn from beach bums into manor bums.
They spend their last night in Estonia in a corner of the parking lot of this beautiful manor.
Ken says:
- If we just keep our shoes on, nobody will guess we’re not paying guests at the hotel and we can use the toilet in the reception.
Kaarna is about to lose her mind:
- Have you seen my phone? It’s not inside Herbert, I’ve searched everywhere!
- I can make a phone call to help you find it.
- I already used the iPad to log into Find My iPhone and it’s offline. The battery must’ve died. What a nightmare.
- Where did you last use it?
- On the singing sands!!!! Fuck! Anal fuck! Pope’s ass!
Naturally Kaarna is still pissed about her missing phone.
Ken tries to remain optimistic:
- You can get something from the travel insurance.
- I don’t have one.
- Home insurance then.
- It’s a hundred years old phone and the insurance company thinks it’s worthless. I already asked.
- Maybe we’ll find it when we clean up Herbert at home. It might be hiding in the same place with my lost sandal and your lost sneaker.
What an amazing feeling!!!! The cashier at the grocery store smiled widely and talked happily. Ken notices really concretely the power of politeness and a smile! Welcome back to Finland!
Ken got to visit mansions and castles in Estonia, and now it’s Kaarna’s turn to enjoy. On their way home she wants to see at least one ITE Art place.
They go to Middle of Nowhere which happens to be really magical.
By accident they notice another art path really close and it pleases them even more than the first one.
The art pieces can be found in the forest along The Palas path, where the nature has already taken them to it’s own. It’s just beautiful.
Now Kaarna is ready to go home.