Thursday, August 25, 2005
Today's Trip Pic
I described Estonia yesterday as "clumsy." "Lovable but bumbling" would be another description. The best way to illustrate that would be to tell you about our guided tour. We were slated to visit "Vasa Manor" and an outdoor museum.On the tour we got lost not once, not twice, but three times. The third time I actually spotted the turn off and had to tell them about it after we passed it. The bus driver was completely lost and the guide who did seem to know where she was going, was so unfamiliar with her material that she was reading her speech and therefore did not look up to tell the driver where to go.
This is the "manor" -- or at least it was many years ago. Now it's a school (a severly underfunded school), and we got to hear a recorder concert from the students. This picture does not show how really under-the-weather the place was. It had been owned by some German barons a century or so ago (When the Russians weren;t in charge, the Germans were, and occassionally the Swedes) for a few years. The coolest part of the ruin of a barn that looked several centuries old. Turns out the old baron had it built that way to make himself feel more "at home."
The outdoor museum was not quite so iffy, but becasue of getting lost we had so little time with it it was really hard to tell. We missed the various demonstrations and native costumes because of the timing issues. We did; however, get to have a handmade "cake" with honey that was spectacular.Estonia was charming. I have confidence, based on their enthusiasm, that they will soon figure out how to do things well for themselves.
