Day 13 - Chilled Vibes and Thunder Storms

​Today was a very low key day, with my main focus being to write the story from yesterday. If you have read it you can see it is a lot of writing but I am glad I did it so I have some wonderful memories to look back on, and shared with those who wanted to read it. Not a lot happened so it will be a relatively short post. We started off going to our booked massage appointment which was strategically planned for after Laulupidu. It was so relaxing and soothing I am so glad we did that.

​We then ventured to Viru Keskus to get some wonderful Estonian socks!! Andrew recommended this store and it was amazing. There were so many socks with Estonian design on them and I may have gone a little nuts but I think it was worth it. I really liked the ones with Rahvariide design on them, or variations of it. Like I said the other day, there is some kind of majik attached to it and it brings me joy just looking at it. I also found some warm, practical ones that I wore last night when it was cold and thunder storming and they were just so comfortable, they even have the little grips on them! I then had to get some new shoes, my sketchers slip ons were so slippery! And I was so excited, I saw a brand called Jana!! I was going to get shoes in this brand but they didn’t have my size.

​Once we left there we went back to the super market to get some food. When we arrived I think it was during the lunch time rush. There were so many people at the ready made food counter. I noticed they had ready made party finger food. I have had it before, but it was interesting being reminded of how they do it differently here than back at home. There is not ready made finger food at the super markets at home, and at lot of it looks really rich with a cream based kind of situation. I finally got my favourite supermarket chicken and potatoes. Oh my gosh they were so delicious!! It took me straight back to when I was here at 16 years old and I would sometimes get this for food, and when they pack it they put it in a bag that is designed to keep it warm for you. It was so good. We also got some jar Frikadellid Soup (soup with meet balls). Again, I had this when I was here at 16 years old, and every other time. This is significant for me because my grandmother used to make it for Danae and I and when we saw we could get this easily, here in Eesti, packed with lots of meat and vegetables, we were over the moon! You basically just tip it into a pot, add water and heat it up. There is so much flavour to it, but this time, more dill than I remember. It was the perfect dinner on this cold, stormy and windy night. I really enjoyed every bit of it.

​On the way home we visited a antique shop which was closed until yesterday. There was some incredible Estonian jewellery in this store. Thankfully, mum already has most of these Sõlg’s, or variations of them. What we did wonder, and she will let us know, is we were looking for a medal that was awarded to my great grandfather many years ago, the Vabariigi Rist. This is the freedom cross which is awarded for bravery. His story is that he was fighting near Viljandi and his platoon leader got shot and he took over and saved his whole platoon and killed the enemy. This was told to mum many years ago by my grandmothers sister, about their father. I thought it would be very special if we had one of these from an antique store. Hopefully one comes in while we are here.

If I am honest, most of today was spent resting and recuperating, after 12 days of being on the go, being sick and having a bit of jet lag. It was nice to just be, snuggle up on the couch with blankets, jumpers etc and just have a bit of a nothing day. We will be with family a lot or doing things, from here on in, so it was great to take this chance to just rest. It does result in a not so glamorous story, but they can’t all be 5 pages long! Today was really just a rolling thunder storm. The thunder storms are different here, it’s just a continuous roll of thunder rather than individual crashes. It was kind of nice to watch and listen to. It was a good day to chill.

Until tomorrow
Marissa xx