Roosta seiklusepark

Siin veel moned pildid minu suvisest reisit Eestisse. Noarootsi kandis Roosta puhkekulas on vahva seikluspark, kus ma kasin oma ja sugulase lapsega. Hasti vahva oli. Oli kohti, kus ma julgustasin oma last pikalt ning siis kui tuli minu kord, kartsin ise jargmist sammu teha. Aga lopuks saime ikkagi hakkama ning tagasi tahame ka minna.

Blueberry picking

I'm back in Canada and my good times in Estonia are only on the pictures now. One of my activities there  was blueberry picking in the forest. I went there with my parents and my uncle's family. Luckily they knew a place where you just had to park the car on the side of the road, take a couple of steps, and blueberries   were just there in front of you. 

The Kids got tired and bored quite fast. So we let them go and explore the forest a little bit.

And when I got bored I just took some pictures of the forest and nature. But we filled our buckets and tummies. And my kids now know that not all the blueberries come from the store.

Souvenir Shops

Estonian souvenir shops are full of cute little things. Most of the items are made out of wood or wool. But i was amazed how creative people are making things from wood. There are all type of spoons and knives, baskets and barrels, cutting boards and stools, key chains and boxes,  trivets and medals, toys and dolls, etc.  The favorite wood to use is juniper, because of its natural pleasant smell.

I took first picture in Tallinn, but the rest of them are from Haapsalu's shop.

Toys out of wood.

Buckets, barrels, cutting boards and utensils.

Letters, puzzles and statue.

More wood stuff.

On the back there are some silk scarves, but in front wood again.

All the cute little characters and dolls.

Vikings.

Dolls wearing Estonian national clothes.

More vikings.

View from the top of Tallinn

 Tallinn is beautiful city. Even more from the top of the tower. It is possible to climb to the top of the Oleviste Church tower and to have a wonderful view of Tallinn. It has been the worlds tallest building between 1549 and 1625 until lightening strike caused it to burn down. Nowadays it is only 123,7 meters. Another interesting  fact about this tower is that from 1944 until 1991, the Soviet KGB used Oleviste's spire as a radio tower and surveillance point.

I visited this tower with my cousin and with our 3 kids. We started to climb slowly higher in the dim passage holding on to the ropes on the sides. The air was quite thick inside the tower in this hot summer evening. The higher we reached the dizzier we felt. Kids on another hand ran upstairs. I had to call after them and asked them slow down, no matter, they were quite excited and competed who would reach up first. Halfway through they had some chairs to sit and relax, but not us, we had to catch up with kids. Finally, heavily breathing and catching our breaths we reached the top and wonderful views. Here they are:

The way down was easier and we decided to count steps. We got 234 stone steps, but adding wood ones as well, there is apparently 258 steps all together. 

The Doll Exhibition in the Library

One of my favorite places has always been the library. In Haapsalu I visited my first childhood library and I found many pleasant surprises.There is a new attic, which is a very cozy place to sit and just relax between the books.

The library had a doll exhibition from Tallinn. It was so lovely. My daughter took many pictures and they are here:  

These are the dolls from the Estonian writer Eno Raud, called Naksitrallid.

Haapsalu's Castle

Few pictures from my hometown castle.