Estonia III - the madness of

On the Monday, our 3rd day there, the snows came. This was my first experience with this white stuff, and I had a ball. You could walk by a car which hadn't moved in a day, and see a depth of 15 centimetres or so of untouched snow. Then if no one was looking you could scrape off some pure snow, compactify a ball and hurl it at people - after a few tries to get used to throwing a) in gloves and b) snow, I honed my accuracy with many humourour results. No photographic evidence was taken though... no, this IS more credible than Roswell.

One of the tower attachments coming off Kiek in der Koch... ahh it still brings a smile.In the midst of all the snow we visited the local establishments for a bit of refreshment. This beer is as black as sin, at 13% alcohol per volume, it doesn't mess around. They were offered in half litres or litres, nothing smaller - hence in order to preserve masculinity the 1000 mills were required. The beer hall had serving 'wenches' - women walking around in shortish skirts and old fashioned villager shirts. For some reason the happy 'hour' went from 11am to 3pm, which sat just fine with us, drinks being half price during this time. So my litre of DUNKLES, as it was called, was about 40 Estonian Kroons - about £1.80, which in turn is about $4.30 Australian.
Winter Wonderland - I still hate those 'Northern Hemispherical carols' which talk about snow and sleighbells and such, but they were just tolerable here. There was a Christmas market in the townsquare with many local vendors displaying their wares. I was apporached and offered samples of 4 different types of heated vodka with spices (almost 'mulled' vodka, as it were). The attendant was keen on a sale, but I was able to blend back into the crowd seamlessly and keep my hard earned Kroons.

The temptation was there to purchase, what the Brits call 'tat' - which I think means touristy rubbish, jumpers, socks, trinkets and the like. Those jumpers with swirling white, blue, and red patterns of the Nordic countries were an option, but a little expensive. Well, that is for me - for people earning 'folding money' and not 'student money' they were probably a steal. But I limited my purchases to the local liquers as these don't collect dust, unlike books... thanks again ME Goddard.