Well, the weather made it difficult to see that much of Tartu, but I still like what I saw. It looked like a very 'liveable' city - and oh, so definitely a university town. The campus of the university was basically the town center, with university buildings scattered throughout the place: next to shops, tucked in with council buildings, doubling up as museums and gardens...
Coming from Australia, it was quite a shock to see such a celebration of intelligence. Almost every statue or monument in the place was dedicated to a scholar of some description - a university alumnus or luminary who contributed something to the literature, art or science of the country. You almost felt like aspiring to greater things, just walking around the parks in town.
I still did not see any of those soul crushingly ugly apartments. There were some apartments that weren't pretty, but they at least had character. They could still make you smile for some reason. I'm sure the ugly ones must be there, somewhere, though.
Viljandi was my first destination traveling by bus. It was also the first guesthouse I had to choose for myself since coming to Estonia. Fortunately I lucked out and got a comfortable one (Endla Guesthouse, if anyone's asking). It was cheap, but nice and charming, in its way. I shared the place with a busload of Finnish Jehovah's Witnesses. I think I was handed three tracts within less than three hours. I suspect at least one of those tracts was in Finnish, rather than Estonian. Not that I would have been able to read the Estonian ones, anyway.
Viljandi is a very pretty little down. There used to be a castle with a moat involved, and now the moat is this funny little mini-valley meandering through the town, and the ruins of the castle sit at the top of the park, overlooking the river and the beach. It has a beach - it's a weird little inland beach that boarders the edge of the main lake, but it's perfectly fine for kicking a ball around and having a picnic with family and friends (provided it's not raining). It was freezing cold when I got there. As in, the-blood-in-your-fingers-doesn't-quite-flow-properly kind of cold.
The town is home to the Folk Music academy (that's the kind of country Estonia is - there's a whole academy dedicated to preserving and exploring the musical heritage of the people). My 'cousin', Johanna, is studying the fiddle and some funky Finno-Ugric harp/lyre/fiddle thingy there. She did tell me the name of that other instrument. One day I might be able to find it again.
You can easily see everything of interest in the town in a day. I managed to get there in time for the first day of the Hanseatic festival, which involved a market place with a hell of a lot of stalls taking up about four streets and a couple of squares. They were selling everything from smallgoods to wallpaper (shame it was raining, really).
From there, another bus to Pärnu, 'the summer capital of Estonia'. Quite frankly, I was a little bored with Pärnu. Sure, it had a real beach (one bordering on the sea), and that beach was kind of impressive, but I felt I'd seen everything to see in half a day. If I was camping somewhere with a book, it would be a nice enough place to do that (but I'd rather do something like that in Viljandi).
The hotel at which I stayed was the Grand Victoria, and that was quite alright. The room was pokey (but I have learnt that pokey rooms are my punishment for travelling alone), but the restaurant was magnificent - and they put on one heck of a breakfast. One of the highlights of the trip, really.
Then back to Tallinn (again by bus), to find myself in the second worst place I've been in since coming to Estonia. I actually ended up asking for a new room, as the bed was so uncomfortable that it made sleeping next to impossible. The second room they gave me has a better bed, but the bathroom isn't quite finished. I keep reminding myself I chose this hotel because it was cheap, and I could have forked out for the Spa place if I wanted flash surroundings.
I can't shake the feeling that the people who own the hotel aren't the people who originally set it up. It's like someone sold it on a w-i-w-o basis, and it was bought by a bunch of young Russians who thought owning a 'trendy' hotel might be a bit of a lark. I'm probably way of the mark, but it feels like that.
Anyway, one more night in Estonia, and then it's back on the plane(s) for another marathon trip home. I have to admit, I'm tired now. Ready to find a bit of normality. Whatever that may be...
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