Northern Lights

Sunday, August 09, 2026

tartu 8 july - 3

First things first. It must really fry the collective hide of the people at the Estonian National Museum that they have to have this thing over the road from them. Cocking a snook every day.

I mean I have already been to the best upside down house in the world so why would I bother, but I didn't go inside this one, to cut a long story short. Instead I proceeded in a leisurely direction to the museum.

I was told, and this is rad, that my ticket would unlock English translations for everything, just by tapping on a tab. and it did, including all these kindles or whatever they are which defaulted Estonian (of course) but would go to English whenever I asked.

Thus...

Grr, country people. Actually what's weirdest to me is that until I re-read this caption I had been under the impression it relayed the information that rich people had been responsible for the fecal problem, not hicks. But it was hicks.

A selection of chamber pots

This is a temporary exhibition, about dyeing. This video (well, sequence of videos I suppose) showing an ancient dyeing process was frankly captivating, and I'm not being sarcastic.

There was also a big quilting exhibition.

OK so Estonian is an amazing language, and it is madness. I love it.

And this is how reading that makes me feel:

tartu 8 july - 2

Passing through the university campus, I saw this and couldn't help myself.

That woman is so angry that she's doing what she's doing. Putting sleeveless records into a shelf.

So of course I figured the Psühhoteek was the place to be...

Uh-huh well if that was the Psühhoteek I went to, it was also just a guy in a big room selling a few books, but that said, I did buy a couple, so I guess the hypnotic swirl did its sinister job.

I walked right through a big fat fuckoff department store/shopping mall to get to this, the Tartu Turg (the word 'turg' means 'market' - sorry) and

It did what it said on the can, but that wasn't much.

Just to add insult to injury, I came back later and... it was closed! Audacity. So, guess which river this is...

If you said the Emajõgi you would be correct but you would also be correct if you said the Suur Emajõgi. Anyway I can only say of this river, that I quite like it.

Inspired by the person who built a bridge and got over this river, I have decided to built a metaphorical bridge and get over the fact that they cancelled some bus stops and didn't tell me so I waited fruitlessly for some time for a bus failing to realise that the bus route had been temporarily (?) relocated. I am, really, over it.

Now, get excited as this is where we are heading next...

Saturday, August 08, 2026

tartu 8 july - 1 karlova

So I decided that on Wednesday, 8 July I would visit Tartu, the second biggest city in Estonia, one of the oldest cities in northern Europe, and the country's intellectual and cultural centre (or so I read somewhere). I got up before any sparrow was even thinking about a fart and I got the 5:45 am train. It arrived in Tartu around 9am I think. This is one of the first things I saw, can you explain it?

Below - I admired this small yard, with a garden in it, although I wasn't sure if I was trespassing to photograph it.

Anyway it's quite good isn't it.

This cat saw me go by and said nothing (at the time).

So initially the main reason I wanted to go to Tartu was to see houses in this region, known as Karlova, built in 1911. It just sounded interesting. It was interesting but there was nothing really much to see, if you know what I mean, although it was a vibe. But in truth, the vibe wasn't substantially different from the place we're staying in Tallinn - Kalamaja.

Boasting

It rained pretty hard.

I popped into an op shop. It was OK. It had this, and because it had no mention on the back of whether it had subtitles, I wonder/ed whether maybe it was dubbed, into whatever language they speak in the country where it was made - Denmark I think. Anyway, I didn't wonder enough to bother buying it.

I didn't buy this either. The snakeskin put me off I think.

I saw these. These exist.

After I took a picture of this place below I had that kind of North by Northwest feeling that someone was going to kill me inexplicably. But no-one did. (Yet)

Back in Karlova proper...

A fabulous soviet apartment building.

Started to get a bit fascinated about these multiple backyard shed things

I hope you like this one below.

I gather part of the appeal of Karlova is the avenues of trees. I am used to this though.

Those steps (below)!

Ok none of that prepared you (or me) for this...

I hope I did that building justice. Here are a couple more interesting places and structures... I really don't know what the relevance is of Tolstoy to the below, but sure, why not...