Estonian break time, part IV -- An impromptu return!

Greetings, viewers.  I am writing to you from Moscow in much better spirits because I know that I am not trapped somewhere I don't want to be in the summer.  I finally managed to leave Petersburg, but it wasn't exactly an enjoyable departure.  I had a big suitcase and the dedushka who was in the same compartment as I tried to scold me about it!  Well, let's just say I had to re-educate this old man a little bit and that he eventually understood *very clearly* that his bygone method of smothering everyone in his presence was little more than a f^cking nuisance.  Of course, that didn't stop him from blabbering to , no, I mean AT, everyone in the compartment of stories about his past and the how great the White Nights are.  In other words, THINGS WE ALL DEMONSTRABLY COULD NOT HAVE CARED LESS ABOUT HEARING BASED ON OUR FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND NON-RESPONSIVENESS ALONE!

I actually like a little bit of darkness at night, not Petersburg sunrises that say 4:40AM, but really brighten an hour earlier with various birds as alarm clocks.  Yes, little sparrow we know you have to be the first to find a worm and regurgitate it into the inchoate little beaks of your offspring; yes, gull family we all understand that you have to be the first the to rummage through the countless piles of Petersburgian trash and fecal products.  Yet, in all my frustration with Father Time on the train talking as if it were his civic duty, he actually tucked the 40 year-old man in the bunk below into bed me as if he were five.  I, however, rebelliously sat up, texting and surfing the net on my phone like a teenager.  To the dedushka, I was a lost cause.

But from Moscow, I can tell you about how I returned to Estonia.  I was back in Petersburg for about two weeks.  I had spare time because 1) I had to wait for my replacement ATM card to be shipped and 2) my classes were over.  In the back of my mind, I kept on thinking should I really have come back?  Is toughing it out really a good thing?  I tried to answer those questions affirmatively, but I had that lingering feeling that I should just dart out again.  I think what really tipped the scales for me was attending a visit by the esteemed Governor of Saint Petersburg, Valentina Ivanova Matviyenko to my university ... and how falsely imperious Petersburg leadership was presenting itself to me firsthand.  It was like they still thought, "Well, Petersburg is named after a tsar, so I think I'll be one too!"

Oh, Ms. Matviyenko you say the funniest things!

Exiting for more important matters.

Map of Narva ... by the way, you can walk to Russia!

After seeing yet another aspect of Petersburg that made me want to see the canals overflow and submerge the city, I just had to leave again.  I bought a bus ticket to Narva, the mysteriously interesting border city that is just barely in Estonia.  With most people speaking Russian, Narva has been a strategically important place in  throughout history for wars with the Germans, Swedes, Russians, Danes, etc.  Nowadays, it is a peaceful place with a river that separates it and Ivangorod, Russia.  When you walk around Narva, it's strange to see Russia only a few meters away.  And with Narva-Herrmann Castle and Ivangorod Fortress adjacent to each other, it's perhaps the coolest, most fascinating border crossing there is.

Many Russians who live in Narva walk in and out of the two countries almost every other day.  And since I had a multiple entry Russian visa, I thought I might as well too.  In fact, the border crossing seemed like one big happy village!  Neighbors in Narva or Ivangorod would often run into each and say hi as they were crossing the border, sometimes in opposite directions!  I couldn't help thinking how this would be next to impossible between the United States and Mexico, among other places.

All this harmonious border crossing aside, my time in Narva was best defined by castle viewing.  The imagery was almost fairy tale like, even, as I described to my friend, semi-ethereal when looking at the medieval buildings amongst the landscape.  And then there was simply the surreal feeling of looking at Estonia and Russia at the same time.

Narva, Estonia (left) & Ivangorod, Russia (right).  As I will continue to say, the coolest border crossing ever.

From Narva-Herrmann Castle -- The dandelions of Estonia in the foreground, Ivangorod fortress in the background.

Stunning view of Ivangorod Fortress from atop Narva-Herrmann Castle

Narva-Herrmann Castle

Inside Ivangorod Fortress -- spring has sprung

Inside Ivangorod Fortress

Russia (left), Estonia (right) separated by the Narva

I had to end my castletime fun in Narva and head back to Petersburg ... wait, no, who am I kidding?  I decided to spend one last night in Estonia and took the bus in the opposite direction to Tallinn instead!  If it's one thing living in Petersburg has taught me, it has been to drag my feet and procrastinate like there's no tomorrow (or should that be "to procrastinate like there's a tomorrow and another and another and another, etc.?).  I got to Tallinn and decided to 1) see Kadriorg Palace which I didn't last time and 2) stroll, meander, and be merry with copious amounts of red wine in Old Town till X hours in the morning.

Kadriorg Palace, Estonian National Art Museum

Kadriorg Palace -- drama of the historical kind

Old Town Tallinn -- Street performers love touching tourists...

Old Town Tallinn -- Jewelry for your pet

Old Town Tallinn -- About halfway through my wine consumption at around 11:30PM

Tallinn -- shopping carts and Soviet architecture.  After my wine consumption

The next morning, I did actually head back to Petersburg and despite an 18hr, super intensive hangover from well over ten glasses of red wine, -- which has allowed me to self-impose a temporary moratorium on anything containing alcohol -- the bus ride back was fast and enjoyable.  I got my Estonian high and the fact that I only had a couple days left in Petersburg before breaking for the summer made me not dread returning.  For this, I sincerely thank Tallinn and Estonia, and see that they have now become a spot of refuge when the Kultural Kapital gets me down.