Day 6 - Coming home...

​Wow, what an emotional day, is all I can say, in many ways. Firstly, it was our last breaky with Eva, Fredrik, Vincent and Viktoria. It was so sweet watching Vincent play with his blue berries and so much joy when he got some, as well as the last of the 4kg of strawberries we picked. Even though he speaks Swedish and I speak English/some Estonian, we really did learn how to communicate. It was really sweet, after breaky, he wanted to go and play upstairs. I felt so much connection with him that he wanted me to come there and play. It is so sweet when a child wants you to be in their world, words can not describe it. When they invite you into their imagination, their stories, their thoughts, that truly is something special. This next part makes me really emotional, even writing about it, I have tears running down my face. We said good bye to Eva and her family and the hardest part was saying goodbye to Vincent. I think he understood what was happening. We had some cuddles and waved goodbye. As we were leaving he was standing at the door waving a little, looking really sad, watching us drive off. It was really hard and I had some tears rolling down my face, far less than I do right now, as I am writing about it. It is amazing how much we can connect with people in a short amount of time, then again, I connect easily with those around me, when I allow it. It can be both a source of great joy, and pain, but something which I feel is mostly worth doing.

​So we started our journey to the Motherland… Estonia. But before we got there, we had to walk about 2km through Arlanda airport. I was proud of mum, she did this mostly without complaint, and she thinks it was 3km, we just kept walking and walking but we finally arrived at our gate and we were ready to go!! In the duty free section I managed to get a photo of the chocolate that is not to be purchased. Eva shared with us that it is a Russian company that owns it so we were not allowed to buy it. I thought this was interesting and something I wanted to write about, because it is not something we need to consider in Australia, but here, it is very much at the forefront of peoples minds.

On the flight, I started getting excited, feeling a pull to my homeland. I had to keep calm but found myself constantly looking out of the window, as I was reading my book, to see if I could see land… and then I did! I saw Estonia! The rush of emotions that came over me, the feeling of being “home” and seeing the place where I feel comfortable, my nervous system relaxes and just being. I couldn’t wait until we landed. When we did, I was ready, ready to be in Eesti and couldn’t wait to start this chapter of our adventure. I must have been the most annoying tourist, taking so many photos and videos of this experience so I could clearly remember and document the experience, with the emotions I felt in each moment.

​They say Tallinn is one of the most beautiful airports in the world, and god damn they are not wrong! They have the Eesti Rahvariide (Estonian Folk clothes)designs all over the chairs! This abundance of colour, design, meaning, connection and all the things, brings me so much joy. I could feel small tears of joy welling up below the surface, but I had to keep myself together because getting out of Tallinn airport was one of the fastest processes I have EVER experienced. I feel we were off the plane and in a taxi in about 10 minutes flat! Even with me taking some photos and videos. It was insane!

​We then drove to Vanalinn (Old Town) where we were staying. We got dropped off at the Viru Gates and made our short walk to where we were staying, right next to the “Old Hansa Restaurant”. This is an extremely central location for those of you who know Vanalinn, but the catch is, we are on the 4th floor. After we gathered ourselves, and the keys, I started the taxing journey up the stairs. First the smaller bags (one trip thankfully) then came back down for mums rather heavy bag. Mum started to carry up my bag too, not so heavy, and finally we got them to where we were staying. It was definitely a workout, one I would not recommend, but hey, the bright side is it is done, we are staying very centrally and it can only be good for our health!

​After we sorted ourselves out, we went out for a small exploration and dinner. We started to walk up towards Raekoja Plats (Town Square) but Mum made a slight detour. She found one of the Käsitöö pöed (handicraft shops) we are both obsessed with, and oh my am I glad she did! Words can not describe the joy I felt looking at the abundance of Rahvariide designed items. There was just so much and for those of you who know me, know I adore this stuff and brought a somewhat empty hand luggage suitcase for this exact purpose! The colours, the patterns, the designs, the items with all the designs on them, I wanted to buy it all now, but clearly didn’t. I said to mum, in true Harry Potter style “We’ll take the lot!” It was like I had this child like wonder, experiencing it for the first time, even though I had before, I still adore these things and couldn’t wait to make my space at home, even more Estonian! Of course, as I was wondering through this store, taking it all in, I was thinking, hmmm what can I get this person or that person etc, wanting to share the joy! Who knows what I come home with!? Maybe my own store even!

​After that little, amazing detour, we wondered up to Raekoja Plats. I had to giggle as the restaurant in the church explicitly stated there were no naked people allowed… is this a common problem here? I suspect it is, knowing the Estonian culture! They have put some lovely planter boxes in the square with some nice seats to people watch. I thought this was a nice touch and feel I might do this at some point over the coming days. We wondered a little more, but we were getting hungry and found the pizza place mum wanted to go to for dinner. But on the way found this sweet little restaurant called “Rukkilill” (Cornflower), a traditional Estonian flower. It served Estonian food, I kind of wantd to go here but mum wanted to go to this pizza place so we did that.

​It made me giggle, my first night here and we are getting Italian. We had some lovely food, the pizza was delicious and cooked perfectly! It was at this moment I really missed having Dad, Danae and Les with us. I also reflected and commented to mum that it was odd being here with no one else we knew. Usually when we are here we have other friends around, because it is usually for the song and dance festival and a lot of our other Estonian Australian friends are in Tallinn too but this time, we can do what we like and not be committed to others. Having said that, I do like that part of being in Tallinn, it will just be different this time.

​After dinner, we went to Nimete Bar (Nameless Bar) where we used to go with our friends. The food and drinks are so cheap there and the drink names are hilarious! They also have this awesome deal, for ladies, 2 drinks for 6Euro!! Insane! So of course we had to get one, but gosh I think I chose the most sweetest drink from the little options we had! There was so much nostalgia in this place for us because we have spent many small moments here with friends and family, creating some wonderful memories! I am looking forward to Andrew and Taimi coming to Tallinn, where they have affirmed we will have a rampage night (probably starting here), for old times sakes!

​We then headed off to the super market, Rimi! I couldn’t wait to see all the Estonian food and things which bring back so many memories from the number of times I have been here. Of course we found the rye bread first. They have one with a Sõlg (broach) on it, which I thought was pretty cool. Then we found the Meekook (honeycake) but we didn’t buy it in this moment because we were going to have to carry it all back and it seemed thicker than it used to be, but I think it is how they are now. Then there was the Risolje, with four different varieties!! Insane! When we make it, it takes so much time cutting everything up small, and here it was, easy to buy, in the super market! I saw some Kama, which made me smile. My grandmother loved Kama, it’s not for me, but she loved it. I remember, when I lived here I was sending it back to here and I had to bring some back to her when ever I visited. She loved it and it reminded her of her childhood here. After that, we saw the Kalev chocolate! My gosh, so much variety! They have changed the packaging a bit but damn it still tastes far better than Australian chocolate!! I will have to bring some home for a few people because I know there are some of you who really like it but so much to choose from!! All the things I have taken a picture of and shared, are things which bring back memories for me. The Hakklihakast is something I ate a lot when I was at school here.

​I saw the ice cream in a freezer and somewhat wanted to get one, but I didn’t. It took me back to the first time Danae and I were in Estonia when we were 10 and 11 years old. We had a mission to have an ice cream every day we were here. Mum and dad made us ask for it ourselves, in Estonian and we did. It was a clever way to get us to speak Estonian! It really made me think about Danae when I saw the Estonian ice cream and miss her here. I will just have to have one for her I think! The ice cream cones here are so different. They are bigger and the cones are actually full of ice cream and just so delicious. I can't wait to get my hands on one!

​I can’t wait to see what adventures we get up to today!!
Marissa xx