Hotel Metsis Otepaa

After 56km trip we are in Karupesä Hotell in Otepää. We left Tartu at 9.00, following the Estonian cycling route 3 which follows the main road number 3. The road was in a pretty good shape,
with wide, 3-4m gravel road shoulders. Drivers were very friendly, every bus, truck and car gave road to us in intersections and passed us by at safe distance. Weather wasn't so nice, though - it was raining for first ...

... in Estonian language, no less). We'll get our grades back on Monday, but I'm pretty sure it went well. I know I didn't ace it, but I'm pretty confident I got an A. Tuesday was also St. Patrick's Day, which of course is not really a holiday outside of the US and Ireland. There is definitely NOT a significant Irish population in Estonia, but the Gunpowder Cellar still hosted a St. Patty's party that night with a live band. A lot of international students attended, myself included, and it ...

... Helsinki City Museum before it closed, and Colin was able to take some panoramic shots of and around the Helsinki Cathedral. We ran to the grocery store to pick up some food for that evening, but before eating came the ice skating. Helsinki put up a nice big piece of ice right in the middle of the downtown area and prices were pretty reasonable, especially with the student discount. It was Colin's and Kelsey's first time ice-skating EVER, and Genevieve's first time in ...

... advertising, travelling. It's a team effort involving members Carolyn Barker and Jude Sieker in New York State, Bryant Lambert in Atlanta, Basil Kopey in Washington DC and Natasha Weatherhead in Barbados along with Johnnie and Hazel Lambert and Bev and me. With four of us stuffing, we got all but the Russian lessons stuffed before lunch which we broke for about 1:30 PM. We walked about a mile to the Gunpowder Cellar for lunch. Then we ...

... It actually produces a good rich mailing with useful items to the reader and, in the end, produces a rich mailing that includes the Good News magazine, the proper number of the Bible Study Course (if they are ono the course) and two articles from the Good News magazine that are translated into the Estonian language by Toomas Schvak. Then there are Bible Study courses in Russian that are mailed to Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Poland, Belarus and to Russians living in ...

... halls and although spacious and well appointed (if slightly austerely), it turns out to e pretty lifeless. I don't meet anther traveler there for the 2 days I'm there and it's on a separate floor from the students. The students I do see in the lobby to person are never without out there laptop computers, wirelessly accessing the Internet. It's been a while since I was a student and this may well be what it' like ...

... for Latvia or back to Helsinki. And perhaps that's part of Estonia's beauty - you run no risk of seeing anything but the real. Practicalities: Estonia is delightfully easy to travel in and in that respect, I couldn't have been happier to start my trip here. Maps abound and the main cities have signs in strategic locations, directing you to points of interest. Streets are better marked and buildings much better numbered than in North America ...

... is nothing like a marathon or triathalon, but rather involves cross-country skiing certain distances and then shooting at targets, the challenge being holding your gun steady when you're tired from skiing. In addition to the biathalon, Otepaa also has a car show this weekend, featuring mostly cars from the 50s and 60s, all waving American flags. Happening place, indeed, but none of these are reasons I chose to visit. Instead, I was drawn by ...

... in the town square (nothing to do with us) so rather than soak up the culture we hopped it to an Italian restaurant round the corner. My pizza was delivered quickly with the explanation that Virg's Spag Carbonara took longer to cook. How much longer? Exactly the same amount of time it takes me to eat a pizza apparently. I reckon this is just bad service rather than an example of the ...

... to me, I will never learn! Even the tourist info was closed, which seemed remarkably inconsiderate of them. I can't be the only one who chooses to do something on a sunday, surely! So with no idea exactly why I was visiting this town, I set about wandering the empty streets in an effort to discover just why I had been encouraged to visit. And didn't really find much. It was only when I strayed beyond the boundaries of the houses that I ...