New York. Getting There is Half the Fun!

People have been hyping up New York for years. "You'll love it, you won't want to leave." "It's the most amazing place." "It's so exciting." "You have to go!" Did it live up to the hype? I'm going to post my thoughts in a couple of posts. Which, believe it or not, I'm not writing in the middle of the night, rushing against the countdown until my time runs out and the internet cafe cuts me off...

View of the city from the bus before entering the tunnel from New Jersey.

There was some talk about going to New York with my family, but unfortunately that didn't happen. (Partially because my parents ran off on a last minute trip to Estonia for a traditional multi-day wedding.) But then I started looking at bus tickets to New York and decided I was going with or without them. (Greyhound and Megabus have good fares if you book ahead of time and don't mind a 10 hour bus ride.) My cousin Hendrik decided to come to Toronto for a few weeks from Estonia around the same time I wanted to go to New York. So I bought some bus tickets and off we went.

Hendrik and me in front of the bus in Toronto. Before we knew we were in for a 15 hour drive.

I left work on Friday, July 30 and took the bus to Toronto. Hendrik and I had dinner with my mom and aunt Christina, who gave us a ton of tips (and helped out a lot with arranging things for us to do). Then it was off to the bus station... We took a Greyhound to NY. Our bus left an hour late for some reason. And then we sat at the border for 4 hours. There was some confusion at the border because Hendrik is a minor and the border guard didn't know how to dial an international number... But it was all fine in the end, even though we were 5 hours late arriving in New York...

Hendrik on the bus in front of our first glimpses of New York's skyline.

There were a few interesting "incidents" on the bus...

• There was a man sitting near us who leaned his seat all he way back. Unfortunately, he was sitting in front of two rather tall men, who politely asked him to lean it slightly forward. When he refused (rather rudely), they got the driver involved. The man with his lean on had this smug smile the whole time and kept looking at us as if we approved. It was rather bizarre. The driver ended up asking him to move elsewhere.

• I learned the most effective way to get your toddler to be quiet: Yell "SHUT UP!" repeatedly in a whiny voice.

All that said, the bus ride was better than the many overnight buses Tiina and I took in Spain last year. Mostly because I actually slept, even if only for about 2 hours at a time.

Algonquin Canoe Trip

Here's a recap of the canoe trip I did this summer in Algonquin Park.


Day 1:
Tim River to Rosebary Lake. Lots of beaver dams to drag the canoes over. After the girls went to sleep, some of the other leaders and I were freaking out because we heard something swimming. That is, we thought there was a bear. Then we decided it was a deer or moose. Raja calmly says, "No, they don't make that much noise when they swim." Then we heard a strange owl, which freaked us out even more (it sounded like a person!) and I said (half-jokingly), "I don't like wildlife! Let's go to Joe Lake!" (When we stayed on Joe Lake on our last trip, we found beer cans in the fire pit.) We never did find out what was swimming.


Day 2:
Rosebary Lake to Queer Lake via Tim River. The river was way longer than it looked on the map because it pretty much doubled back around every bend. Again, lots of beaver dams. The day ended with a 1330m portage. It was very hilly, and awfully steep considering we were carrying everything. Two of the girls did it twice back-to-back! It made every other portage feel like a stroll in the park, which was great because we had a lot of them.

It was a little cold sometimes...

Day 3:
Queer Lake to Little Trout Lake to Ralph Bice Lake. It was gorgeous! Idyllic really.


Day 4:
Hanging out at the campsite, eating yummy food. We found a little lagoon to swim in where we hung out on the rocks, eating trail mix and granola bars.

Day 5:
Ralph Bice to Magnetawan Lake via Hambone Lake. A short paddle to the access point. A short drive to Timmy's and then back to Kotkajärve.

This is why we do it.

Viljandi Folk

Let's pretend it's August and I'm posting this in a timely manner...

Zetod & Lenna Kuurmaa - rocking it in traditional Seto clothing

Towards the end of my trip, I went on a mini-road trip with my friend Remi, who I met the previous summer at Kotkajärv. He picked me up in Tallinn, we drove to to the town where he lives near Haapsalu (west coast). I ended up driving his standard car for a bit on a dirt road, and then all of a sudden I was on the highway and he was asleep! Thankfully, I didn't need to pass anyone and I didn't have to break because of a car coming at me in my lane... (No joke, the drivers are insane when they try to pass, I thought I might die a few times..) Remi and I ended up in Viljandi for the folk music festival (my second time) where I met up with my uncle's family the next day. Unfortunately, I sprained my foot the first night I was there, which slightly impeded my ability to dance in the mud pits that the festival grounds turned into because of the rain. It was still amazing! Ok, I did try to dance to Zetod with Lenna Kuurmaa, it was the last night, but it was so packed! (Always composed Riho the classical composer was even getting into it.)

Highlights: Paabel, Zetod, Aleksei Arkhipovsky (crazy balalaika player), Svjata Vatra

Joyful people coming together to enjoy the mud.

After Folk, I scrubbed the mud off of my shoes, headed back to Tallinn and then flew home. Flying over the suburbs of Toronto was hard, I had culture shock coming home.

Ilus, ilus, ilus on maa!

Canadian mini-camp. The bench doubled as a xylophone and you could climb up to the little platform behind the flag.

After the first family reunion in 15 years, I spent a week at a camp in the backwoods of Estonia (literally, the place was called tagametsa). It was great seeing old friends who were at the maailmalaager at Kotkjärve last summer (international Estonian camp in Muskoka), as well as meeting new ones. I only got one tick, but don't worry, it was removed properly and I have all the necessary shots! Tick-bourne encephalitis is a growing problem in Estonia and I met a number of people who had experiences with it. Anyway, camp was great! I was there as a leader, but was still able to enjoy the activities. We had campfires with the other leaders every night where we sang and ate great food! French toast on made on a fire is really yummy. It was funny, because we (the Canadians) were singing all these old Estonian songs that the Estonians didn't know. In 4 years, I'm going back to do the 24 hour race - hiking, canoeing and biking. Time to start training!

Climbing at camp. I am absolutely terrified of heights.

After camp, I went to Tartu. My cousin Jaanika and I met up with two of her friends one afternoon for cake, and then ended up crawling around in sand caves under a field! The entrance to the old mine was in the middle of a grassy field. There was a metal hatch labeled "koobas" (cave) in spray paint.. We also did a few other things, like watch the sunset from the roof of the anonymous apartment building that happened to be next to the Vironia house. Maybe I'll be back in 2 years as a rebane for volber.. who knows! (It's an Estonian thing, ask and I'll explain it to you in person.)

Welcome to Estonia!

Family vacation! At the top of Pikk Herman (a tower in the parliament complex).
(Only view of Tallinn I have, Dad took so many pictures, I didn't take any..)

So I've been in Estonia for about 2 weeks now and thought I should post a quick overview of what I've done so far. We've been to Pärnu, where we finally got a nice day on the beach. We went to Viljandi, where we got a private tour of the really cool Pärimusmuusika Ait - I can't wait for Viljandi Folk! (A festival I'm going to at the end of the month.) Then we spent some time in Tallinn with family and friends. There are so many Canadians here right now! Well, they're starting to leave now..Above: View of the crowd from the (bottom of the) stage.
Below:View up from where I was standing.

Of course, the highlight so far was singing at the song festival with 26 000 other people. Not to mention the hundred thousand people plus in the audience who sang along for all the standard songs (Koit, Kaunimad laulud, etc.). It was my second one and was still mind blowing. There is just no way to describe the feeling of being on stage at a wildly significant cultural event. You'll just have to try it for yourself in 5 years!

After laulupidu, we went to Hiiumaa and then Saaremaa, both beautiful little islands. We found out we might have roots in Hiiumaa because there are a lot of people there with our last name. And there was a guy who looked exactly like my dad did at 15... I think there is some investigating to be done..

Hiiumaa: Dad's favourite hobby...

Ciao, Spain!

Taking pictures in key tourist destinations is hard. Both pictures are from Parc Guell.

Back in Barcelona, we went to Gaudi's Parc Guell, which was so cool! Although it was overrun with tourists making it very hard to get a good look at anything. The park is on a hill, so we thought we would be hiking up a steep road to get there, but there was a system of about 6 escalators along the sidewalk to get you there. The park had all sorts of mosaics, interesting archways and winding paths. I loved it!

We had a great time taking pictures in Parc Guell - it's just so strange it lends itself to having fun.

We also tried to check out the magic fountain show near Montjuic, which consists of a spectacular fountain show with music and lights. Unfortunately, turns out we were misinformed and it only runs on weekends. But there was a great view of the city and we had a nice chat with a Swedish girl who had lived in Barcelona for a few years.

No magic fountain show, but a nice sunset over Barcelona.

Montserrat was our final destination in Spain. We took a train and then a cable car (a gondola) to get to the monastary area. From the main area of Montserrat, we took a funicular (similar to a train) up the mountain to the top. We did a little hike to see some old hermitages and get some spectacular views of the strange rock formations, the reason we went to Montserrat. We hiked back down to the monastary area, passing an old church and some crosses on the way. There were some cats by the church that came straight over to us when Tiina tried to get a picture of them. There were lots of wild cats all over Spain, but these ones looked a little more cared for. We actually skipped the monastary, having been more interested in the landscape.

And that was our Spainish trip! We headed off for the airport, where our flight was delayed by 2 hours, resulting in us missing our connecting flight to Tallinn. So Air Baltic put us on a bus from Riga, Latvia to Tallinn with about 10 other people. We had a great time talking to them but were very glad when we finally arrived at our uncle's house in Tallinn!

Spanish beaches and festivals

A hoguera in Alicante.

From Cordoba, we took (another) overnight bus to Alicante. I have discovered I can't sleep on overnight buses, but Alicante is a beach city and I was able to take it easy on the beach (slathered in loads of sunscreen). The city beach in Alicante is much nicer than that in Malaga. There happened to be a big festival while we were in Alicante as well. It was Las Hogueras de San Juan - the bonfires of St. John (St. John's Day being June 24th). There were massive sculptures all across the city, which would be burned in bonfires at the end of the multi-day festival. Unfortunately, we were there at the beginning of the festival, so we didn't get to see the bonfires. However, there was a parade with people representing each neighbourhood, dressed in traditional dress. And after the parade, there was a party all across the city, though focused on the beach, that lasted literally all night long. We tried to go to sleep at a reasonable time (2am), but could hear it from our window until at least 4am when we fell asleep. I'm pretty sure it didn't end until it rained.

From Alicante, we headed back to Barcelona. We decided to spend St. John's eve in Sitges, a small beach town near Barcelona that our mom couldn't stop talking about. It was a very nice beach, although everything was a bit expensive because it's a resort town. St. John's Day is a public holiday in Spain and is a big deal. In Sitges, there were fires lit up all over the beach and people letting off fireworks and firecrackers everywhere. Little boys (around 6 years old) throwing firecrackers on the sidewalk where you are walking is a bit unnerving. Along the beach, there were a number of small restaurants with thatched straw roofs over their terraces, one of which we saw catch fire. We went to the nearest restaurant to let them know. The conversation went something like this:

Us: There's a fire on a roof!
Girl: Yes, fire on beach. (Looking at us like we're crazy tourists.)
Us: No! On the roof! (Pointing up)
Girl: Yes, fireworks.
Us: No, on the roof! (Then we took her outside and pointed, at which point she ran.)

Everything was okay, although there was a hole in the roof. Some people had come off the beach and were pouring water on the fire to put it out. We decided things were a bit crazy and headed off the sleep shortly after this.

Despite the people, the beach was so clean and relaxing!