Article from the Guardian

Good article from the guardian about how stags aren't really that much of a problem in Tallinn.

Playboy Arrives in Estonia.

Anyone who has been in Tallinn recently will probably know that Estonia now has its very own Playboy. There has been an amazing amount of publicity, including glitzy launch parties, TV stories and billboards placed all over town, as seen below. You'll also notice the rubbish bin on the pole on the left, featuring the rabbit logo.
However I'm guessing that someone is very anti Playboy, as they have been slicing up all of the rabbit logos, with the following results! I noticed today that this advertisement has been replaced and the defaced again, so it seems like it is a concerted campaign!


It really made me wonder, who was it who has been sneaking around cutting up Playboy ads? Religious fanatics, rival magazine publishers, the model's ashamed mothers?????
Well whoever it was, their campaign did not stop me exercising my market driven choice, and I headed down to Stockmann (the big department store just down the road) to make my purchase. Of course I only bought it for the articles... Well that excuse kind of falls flat when they're all in Estonian!!!!
All in all the magazine seemed better than I had expected. I would have read a fair few of the articles if they were in English. It seems a bit more like FHM/Ralph than Playboy, though the girls are topless.
In the end though I must confess, at the risk of being seen as a nerd, there are more interesting magazines out there that will win the opportunity cost battle for my hard earned Kroon.
Thanks to Sirli who indulged my weired sense of humour to take pictures of her boyfriend posing with Playboy!

Roof Top Hostel

I enjoyed a few beers the other night on the roof of the Hostel With No Name thanks to Aussie boy Jonathan. This isn't some sort of roof top bar, we just sat and drank stubbies on top of the pitched roof! The attraction was the view, as the hostel is smack bang in the middle of the old town, right next to the town hall square.

St Nicholas Church from the hostel roof

Town Hall, Town Hall Square bottom left

Weather

Yesterday was a disgusting windy day here in Tallinn. Walking down the street today I saw this, and could just imagine the situation when it happened to some poor sod walking down the street.

Anticipate Your Expectations

This poster is on the ferry going to Saremaa, Estonia's biggest Island. I thought that the marketing slogan for this hotel has to be the worst in the world. "Anticipate your expectations"... How can you not anticipate what you are expecting?????!!!

Keep Chickens Under Control

Here's some more graffiti I found on a wall in the old Town on Friday. It's fairly odd! The writing underneath means something like Keep Chickens Under Control. It's a play on words from Keep your hometown tidy (Hoia kodulinn puhas), the slogan which can be found on rubbish bins in Tallinn. In Estonian Kodulind = home bird = chicken.
I've got no idea what the political message behind this one is, makes you think though!



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Now playing: Hard-Fi - Suburban Knights
via FoxyTunes

More Videos for my Website

I've been using Animoto to make small slide-show videos for my website. I figure I might as well post them her as well! I highly recommend Animoto, it's really easy to use and I think it produces some pretty good results.


Estonian Manor House Tour



Communist Estonia Tour

Grand Final

Early Saturday morning I went pulled myself out of bed to head down to Nimeta Bar in Tallinn's Old Town to watch the AFL Grand Final. I wore a Geelong jumper to show my support for the Cats, but also wore a Richmond scarf, just to let everyone know that I'm really a Tigers fan deep down. The pub was full of Cats fans, and obviously the mood was very positive!!! It's the one week of the year in Estonia where it's legitimate to start drinking at 8.30!

M-Voting in Estonia

In March I blogged about how Estonians could cast their votes online at the last National Parliamentary Elections. Well there are now reports that the government is looking to establish a system of M-Voting, whereby people can vote using their mobile phones. Interesting for Australians to consider when their Saturdays are disrupted by having to vote (sometime) later this year. Imagine voting securely in 30 seconds using your phone, at home, in the car or even at the pub!

Rooftop Sunset

I just went up to the top of our building to get a good look at the sunset. Here are a few snaps I got. They're taken at 20:00, just to give you an idea of the shortening days.

Getting Cold in Tallinn

The mecury has been slowly falling over the last month or so here in Tallinn, and it is cold outside even on a sunny day. Our house only has communal heating, which we have to wait to be turned on. As a result it has been getting cold inside, but thankfully the heat came on just a few hours ago! This may not sound like much, but to me it is great, as i wont be freezing cold in my own home. However it also signals that summer has well and truly passed, and the long slide into winter has began!!

We have these radiators which are heated by hot water.

I thought the little snow flake was apt for how the apartment felt when I got home from Viljandi this morning .
However now the heat is on and i have ramped the dial up to 9! I've never been a fan of the cold.
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Now playing: Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass
via FoxyTunes

Estonian Basketballer playing in Melbourne

Martin Muursepp, an Estonian basketballer is playing for the Tigers in Melbourne, and was given this write up in the Age.

Thanks to Jeff for pointing this out.

More Graffiti

Since my second most recent post I've taken a few more pictures of graffiti on Tallinn's walls. Here's two:

1. Not sure what this one means, I just thought it looked interesting.

2. I really like this one, as it is quite subtle but very clever. This is on the wall next to the front door of the building I lived in when I studied in Tallinn 3 years ago. The street was the location for the most dramatic fighting in the April "Bronze Soldier" Riots. The one death, where a Russian rioter was stabbed to death also occurred in this street. I really good commentary on the logic, or lack of it, in rioting!

Also interesting is the police website set up recently to identify the remaining unknown rioters. People are supposed to go to the site and look at the pictures, and then tell the police if they know the people.


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Now playing: My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade
via FoxyTunes

Tallinn Video

I was playing around with a web-based slide show tool and I used some photos of Tallinn just as a practice. I was going to delete this however I figured that I might as well leave it up, as I have nothing more interesting to blog about!!!!

Graffiti

I have no idea of the graffiti artist or his story, but someone keeps painting variations of hats and faces around Tallinn, mainly in the old town. When Pricey was visiting earlier in the year he became obsessed with spotting each one and looking at the different variations. I just found this one on a wall near my house while walking home from a tour this morning, though without the face. I dedicate it to Pricey!

Estonia article in the Economist

The Economist has published a really interesting article about the abuse hurled at Estonia by Russians and Russian Estonians. It sums the situation up extremely well, which is quite rare in the international media. It Basically outlines how calling Estonians Nazis or saying that Estonia has an apartheid system is just crazy.

Padise

Today I did a test run tour to a place called Padise. The reason for going there is its monastery, or at least the ruins of the monastery. I used two Norwegian guys as my test subjects, and the good news is they enjoyed it, so I think I will add it to my tours from now on. Unfortunately I was stuck with just my camera phone again, but here are the pictures anyway.

Monastery Tower

The Monastery was once used as a manor house, until it was struck by lightning and burned down. The owners built the new one you can see in the picture below, viewed from the tower.
Window

External View

Courtyard

External View

Internal View (or what would have been internal!)

Tower

Viljandi Folk Festival

I've just returned from the Vilhjandi Folk Music Festival. I only had my camera with me, so here are some very poor quality pictures.



The view of Viljandi Castle from Sirli's Grandfather's Summer House. The music festival is held amongst the ruins of the castle.

Greek Music played by an Estonian Band.

Spanish Folk Music

Sirli and I

My Birthday

I've been pretty slac in posting here of late, and I just realise that I didn't put anything up about my Birthday. Sirli threw a surprise party for me the night before my actual birthday. I have to admit that I had no idea!!

Pictures here

Guests

Last week James, Fitzy, Adam and Terhi came to Tallinn. The picture below is from when we hired a mini bus and drove to Paldiski. On the weekend we hired a car and Fitzy, Adam, Sirli and I drove through Southern Estonia and onto Riga. Driving to Riga was a very scary experience. The number of times other drivers overtake on blind corners is amazing! Driving in Tallinn seems like a piece of cake now.

More Pictures here.