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Estonia posts
VIDEO: The Wife Carrying Championships In Finland
Mar 18th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
Last week we reported on kiiking, an extreme swing set that's popular in Estonia and surrounding countries. That area of the world seems to breed weird sports. Perhaps the weirdest is the increasingly popular sport of wife carrying.
Guys, it's pretty simple: hoist your wife into the air and run a race. If you make it first and don't drop her, you win. Oh, and you have to drink beer along the ...
Kiiking: Estonia's Extreme Swing Set
Mar 14th, 2013 at 11:30AM:
Remember when we were kids playing on the swing set and we'd try to swing so high that we'd fly over the top bar and come down the other side? No, I never made it either. But in Estonia, they've taken a childhood dream and made it an extreme sport.
It's called kiiking. Using a special swing with steel arms instead of chains, the kiiker stands on the swing and pumps back and forth until he or ...
Gifts From Estonia
Mar 6th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
When you ditch your wife and kid for a week to go off to Estonia in the middle of the winter, you better bring some cool stuff back. Luckily, it's pretty easy to find interesting gifts from Estonia. I managed to get a variety of low-cost presents that gave them a taste of what the country is like.
And I mean "taste" literally. As you can see, I mostly brought back food. Estonian cuisine has ...A Medieval Monastery In Estonia
Mar 5th, 2013 at 1:00PM:
Estonia had an interesting time in the Middle Ages. Along with the other Baltic States of Lithuania and Latvia, they were the last bastion of paganism in a continent that had become entirely Christian.
Various Christian kingdoms decided this was a good excuse for conquest and launched the Northern Crusades. From 1208 to 1224, the Germans, Danes, and Swedes attacked Estonia and eventually ...Chasing The Estonian Army - And Finding A Different One
Mar 4th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
Machine gun fire thudded through the snowy woods. Mart looked up from the missile shelter we were inspecting; an excited look appeared on his face.
"It came from that way, let's go!"
He started running through snow up to his calves. I followed. The snow immediately trickled down the tops of my hiking boots, melted and gave my feet a cold bath. I kept running. At least I wasn't wearing ...Eating And Drinking In Estonia
Feb 28th, 2013 at 1:00PM:
I always enjoy dipping into a new cuisine, so when I headed off to Estonia I was curious as to what kind of food I was going to get. Would it be like Russian cuisine? Scandinavian? A bit of both since the country is sandwiched between those two areas?
Turns out it's a mix with its own local twist. At least that was my impression. I was only in the country a week and so take all my ...Estonian Art And Literature: Big Ideas In A Small Country
Feb 25th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
For a country with only 1.3 million people, Estonia has a hell of an art scene. There are several good museums and galleries and a lively round of readings and exhibition openings.
One of the biggest names in the Estonian art scene is Raoul Kurvitz. He's been big for a few decades now, producing a steady output of installation pieces, experimental films and paintings. Right now KUMU, the Art ...
A Vintage Submarine And Icebreaker In Tallinn's Seaplane Harbour
Feb 22nd, 2013 at 10:00AM:
Tallinn has been an important port and Estonia's connection with the world since before recorded history. Because of this, the city has not one, but two museums dedicated to the sea. The Maritime Museum is housed in Fat Margaret, an old cannon tower that once protected the harbor. It has the usual assortment of old photos and gear, along with a very cool exhibit on sunken ships.
The other ...The Secret Tunnels Under Tallinn
Feb 20th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
Tallinn is an old city, and like many old cities it has its share of secrets. Stories of ghosts, buried treasure and hidden tunnels add to the atmosphere of the medieval streets.
For a couple of years, one of those secrets was revealed when the city opened up the Bastion Tunnels. These corridors were built by Estonia's Swedish rulers in the 1670s and ran under the earthen bastions that ...Exploring A Snowy Traditional Village In Estonia
Feb 18th, 2013 at 1:00PM:
After so many years living in Spain, it was nice to visit Estonia and experience a real winter again. That numbness on the tip of your nose while the rest of your body is bundled up and warm, the way sounds get muffled by the snow, the intricate designs the icy branches etch into the sky – winter is a good season when you don't have to experience it for too long.
The best way to ...Tallinn's Medieval Old Town
Feb 18th, 2013 at 10:00AM:
Tallinn is a medieval wonderland. The capital of Estonia isn't on a lot of people's bucket list but anyone at all interested in history, architecture or art will love this place.
The central attraction is Old Town, a medieval walled city filled with old buildings and fortifications. The sheltered bay and the easily defended Toompea Hill made it a natural place to settle. Sometime about 1050 ...Naughty Bilingual Sign In Tallinn Airport, Estonia
Feb 17th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
I think I'm going to like Estonia ...
This country of 1.3 million people only has a little more than 900,000 people who speak Estonian as their native language yet they're confident enough with their national tongue to make a bilingual joke right as you enter the airport in the capital city of Tallinn.
Language was politics in the old Soviet republics, and for the long decades during which ...Celebrating Chinese New Year In Estonia
Feb 11th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
When you think of Chinese New Year, the snowy capital of Estonia isn't the first place you think of for celebrating it. Yet Tallinn put on a big show to greet the new year as part of their annual Fire and Ice Festival.
The Chinese community in Tallinn is pretty small, but the Chinese embassy is reaching out to this Baltic state and helped fund a grandiose program of entertainment to welcome ...Tallinn, Estonia, to open secret tunnels crossing the medieval Old Town
Oct 8th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is one of Europe's most beautiful medieval cities, and it's getting an increasing number of visitors. Starting next year there will be more to see as the city opens up secret tunnels from the 17th century connecting the city wall, shown above, to the rest of the Old Town.
Parts of the walkway along the medieval walls will also be opened and some of the wall ...Travel then and now: Travel to the USSR and GDR
Mar 1st, 2011 at 3:30PM: This year is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union and 21 years since the reunification of Germany. While citizens of the USSR and GDR were unable to travel abroad and restricted in domestic travel, foreign travelers were permitted under a controlled environment. In the early nineties, if you were a foreigner looking to go abroad to the Eastern Europe or Central Asia, you called ...Schengen and the disappearance of European passport stamps
Mar 1st, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Creative new use for border crossing posts at German/Austrian border.
In the late 1980s, an American spending a summer traveling across Europe with a Eurailpass would see his or her passport stamped possibly dozens of times. With a few exceptions, every time a border was crossed, an immigration agent would pop his or her head into a train compartment, look at everyone's passports, in most ...Five lesser-known European islands
Feb 25th, 2011 at 12:15PM:
Last June, we published a list of four European islands that float under the radar: Porquerolles, France; Fasta Åland, Finland; San Domino, Italy; and Vlieland, Netherlands.
As far as we're concerned, it's not too early to start making summer travel plans to get away from the crowds. Here are five more beautiful yet lesser-known European islands that don't get a ton of press. They're ...A new place to spend euros: Estonia
Jan 2nd, 2011 at 11:00AM: One of the greatest boons to travelers in recent years is the expanding eurozone. Gone are the days when you spent a few days in France, then wasted money getting your francs exchanged into lire in order to visit Italy. There were always a few odd coins left over that ended up sitting useless in the sock drawer.
At the start of 2011, Estonia has become the 17th country to join the eurozone. The ...Get out and go: Events around the world (November 11-15)
Nov 10th, 2009 at 6:00PM: It's time to look at the festivals and events happening around the world, and this week has a particularly international selection of happenings. If you're close and have time, then you have no excuse to get out and go!
Saskatoon - The Saskatoon Fall Fair, an agricultural and livestock show in Saskatchewan, Canada, will begin tomorrow, November 11, and continue until November 14.
Tokyo ...Photo of the day 6.1.09
Jun 1st, 2009 at 7:00PM: I love this great shot shared by t3mujin, of a hostel in Estonia. I think the more predictable shot would have been to just take a photograph of the stained glass window; instead, t3mujin shoots down the hallway, showing the play of colour caused by the window -- which, really, when you think about it, is why we love stained glass in the first place. Lovely capture. If you've got some great ...
