Excuse me, Have You Seen the Magical Fern Blossom?

Midsummer or Jaanipaev is a big holiday in Estonia. This year if fell on a Tuesday, so it's essentially be a long weekend. Many Estonians spend midsummer eve at their summer house with friends and family. They build a bonfire and watch the sun set and rise in the course of a few hours.

I didn't go to summer house, but I did trek to the wilds of the Tallinn suburb to witness Jaanipaev festivities. The Estonian Open Air Museum was open in the evening and had a few bonfires going, along with food, dance, people in costume explaining Estonian farm life. There was also plenty of rain.

Even though summer solstice was on June 21, Jaanipaev was celebrated 24 June.  Supposedly, if you find this mythical fern blossom, you'll have great luck. And if you don't manage to stay up to watch the sunset and sunrise, you'll have a horrible year. I know I should have tried to stay up -- I could use the good luck -- but I fell asleep at around 2am -- about an hour before the sun was due to rise. My luck can't get any worse, and frankly, I needed the sleep.

 The bonfire gave off a lot of heat, which was nice since it was a chilly night and the rain didn't help matters.

 The rain gave way to a beautiful rainbow.

This was the night sky around 1:30am. It hasn't really been very dark at night. The thing that scares me most is that this might be how bright it is during the winter..

I Can See Russia (Just Not From the Hotel)

Work sent me to the northeast corner of Estonia the other week. The city of Narva lies on the west side of the Narva jõgi (river in Estonian) and the eastern side of the river is Russia, officially known as the Russian Federation. The population is predominantly Russian-speaking. I speak not one word of Russian, so the co-workers I traveled with tried to get me up to speed with some pleasantries: welcome, thank you, good-bye. My pronunciations made them laugh. Yes, I was that bad.

Anyway, I did get to see a lot of the city after work (ok, really between one work event and then the other).

We went to Narva's Alexander cathedral where you could go up inside the bell tower. There is an observation deck and some exhibits as you wind your way down the stairs to the different floors. (You can take an elevator, too.)

We also took a walk along the river, including this little spit of land in the middle that is Estonian. But it's amazing how close it is. It's also interesting to see Hermann Castle (Narva Castle) on the Estonian side of the river and Ivangorod Castle right across the water from it.

The one with the white tower is Hermann Castle. Apparently, all along the river on the Russian side are border guard towers. And if you swim in the river, and apparently some people do, best no stray too far from your own shore.

I think my favorite was the tour of Narva College of Tartu University. It's on the square, but it's this modern riff on the classic Estonian building.

And inside was beautiful. The library had this interesting feature in the middle where you could essentially walk up one side of a stadium type seating on one side and computers on the other, and down the other. It was fun. And kitty corner to the new school is the old town hall.

Apparently the new building caused quite the stir. But I like the juxtaposition of the old and the new.

The other interesting tidbit about Narva. It's reportedly the only place in Estonia with a statue of Lenin still standing. It's inside the courtyard of the Narva castle & museum.

Looked pretty intimidating to me!