TALLINN TO HELSINKI-BLINK AND YOUR THERE

ARRIVING AT HELSINKI'S FERRY TERMINAL, YOU CAN'T MISS THE USPENSKI CATHEDRAL (1868), THE LARGEST RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA.


Tallinn is one of those places ideally located for an excursion of a few days or a week. The most accessible country for a short getaway is Finland. Almost a commute,
Helsinki is about 35 miles north of Tallinn, across the Gulf of Finland.

The proximity of each nation’s capital has contributed to a growing
commerce between the two countries, and large numbers of tourists
from Finland come to Estonia to enjoy the relatively low prices. Estonia
has wisely allowed tourists returning to Finland unlimited duty free on
alcoholic beverages (Estonia produces excellent vodka) and this practice
has enormous appeal to the heavy drinking Finns.

By car, our apartment in Tallinn was about five minutes from the ferry
terminal. There was ample parking. We departed the ferry terminal at 10 am on a Friday and arrived in Helsinki before noon. From the quay it was a short taxi ride to our hotel, the Hilton.

Elysee and I chose the Super SeaCat ferry, an automotive/passenger
ferry of large size that makes the crossing in one hour fifty minutes. There are several Super SeaCat crossings a day, and other choices as well; even helicopter service! In the good old Soviet days, there was one crossing a week! Guess who got to go?

SAUNA DIPLOMACY

WHIRLPOOL TUB, SAUNA AND TUKISH STEAM ROOM IN OUT TALLINN APARTMENT




ELYSEE TOOK ME IN THIS UNDIPLOMATIC POSE


Excerpted from my book; OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA: AMAZON.COM

A famous practitioner of sauna culture was the Cold War Finnish
President, Urho Kerkkonen. He would assemble his Soviet counterparts
in the sauna at his estate and not let them out until agreement was
reached on the items being discussed. A famous story surrounds the visit
of Dean Rusk, at the time US Secretary of State. Rusk had previously
removed from the agenda a visit to the President’s sauna. Perhaps it was
not his sort of activity. Kerkkonen, being the host, persisted, and besides,
it was his sauna time of the day. He showed Rusk around his estate and
they ended up at the sauna. They, along with their ambassadors, sat for
while. The heat came on and Kerkkonen took off his jacket. Naturally,
Rusk did the same, others followed. Soon, off came the shirts, ties, and
other trappings of diplomatic dress. Out came some cold beer, bathing
water, and the American’s experienced a “refreshing” round of Finnish
Sauna Diplomacy.

I don’t want to leave the impression that only the Finns practice the art
of the sauna. It is present throughout the Nordic region. Every hotel Elysee
and I have stayed in, featured their sauna. And, as I have noted earlier when
describing our apartment, we not only have a sauna but a whirlpool bath
and Turkish steam-bath as well. I have become accustomed to taking a
sauna many afternoons, afterwards shaving for the day and showering. It is
very relaxing and sets me up properly for the evening cocktail and the news
of the day. In fact, as part of the bath, I find it much more practical than the
hot-tubs found throughout Florida, which generally are seldom put to use.

THE SAUNA

A CENTURIES OLD ESTONIAN PEASANTS SAUNA THAT WOULD BE FOUND ON AN ESTATE



INSIDE A VERY OLD SMOKE SAUNA. LARGE WATER BARREL WITH INDIVIDUAL BUCKETS. THIS WAS A VERY REVERED PLACE.

Excerpted from my book: OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA, Amazon.com


If you visit a Nordic country for any amount of time, the sauna will
eventually make an appearance. All decent hotels have them. Most
homes and apartments of any style, and resorts and country cottages
would not be without one. Plus, if you spend any time in Finland, you
will encounter a sauna culture that is prevalent throughout society. The
Finnish language is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult to learn,
but most of us already speak a little. Yes, “sauna” is a Finnish word, and
the Finnish people lay claim to being the guardians of a proper sauna
culture. Any argument about the origins of the sauna is not important
to the Finns. For Finns, today, the correctly constructed Finnish Sauna,
properly used and so ubiquitous in Finland, it supports their claim to be
the leading sauna nation. And why not? In a nation of slightly over five
million people the government confirms more than 1.2 million saunas in
apartments and another eight-hundred thousand in weekend cottages,
public places, and resorts. That’s about one sauna for every 2.5 Finns. It is
even reported that the Finnish embassy in Washington, D.C. claims to be
the only embassy with a sauna. I’d say that the Finns have bragging rights
when it comes to saunas.

An important point about the sauna is the rules of conduct. First of
all, let me dispel the notion some Americans and others have about the
sauna. It is not equated to the “hot-tub,” x-rated image, perpetrated by
Hollywood, which implies that the only reason for a man and a woman to
get into hot water together is to get it on, not get the dirt off. Generally,
except for families, today, the public sauna is not unisex. Nakedness is
part of the tradition, but that has nothing to do with sex.

The culture of the sauna is embedded in the Nordic psyche and
goes back to pre-history and pagan times. Saunas are a quiet place; no
boisterous, loud behavior is tolerated. The experience is almost spiritual.
In former times the doors were made low so one entered the sauna bowed
down as in a reverent position. For some the experience is likened to
being in a womb, with one emerging reenergized as though reborn. In
ancient times they were used for giving birth and as a place for the old to
die. Consider the sauna as a place of peace, a place where one can softly,
but minimally, converse, meditate, and leave the tensions of the world
outside. The sauna was a place, again in ancient times, where one would
communicate with their ancestors. They were, of course, also the place
where one bathed and removed the grime from the hard labor of working
on the landlord’s estate.

PARNU/MUHU: LAST STOP VILLA ANDROPOV

"COMRADE GENERAL, WELCOME TO OUR FINEST SUITE."



VILLA ANDROPOV WHERE THE ELITE PARTIED




ELYSEE INVITES YOU INTO LT. HADINOV'S FAMILY RETREAT.


Excerpted from my book: OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA Amazon.com

It was my idea, while in Parnu, to stay at the Villa Andropov. Their web site, otime military guy, was the name. Andropov was the next to last Soviet General
Secretary, before Gorbachev, being in office only sixteen months before
he died at the age of sixty-nine of kidney failure. He was KGB all the way,
having been head of the Soviet secret police for fifteen years. The Villa
Andropov was started under his administration as General Secretary, as
a retreat for high ranking Soviets in Estonia, similarly ranking Estonian
communists, and leading Soviet state visitors. That it was named after
such an exalted figure as Andropov testifies that this place was meant to
be where the elite meet.

During its prime, Villa Andropov was heavily guarded by military
forces around the clock. Estonians were unaware of its existence and
kept away at all times. The beach was private and long enough to secure and screen
at each end from public viewing. The Villa had its own cinema, seating about
100, and therein is a tale.

The projectionist was Estonian. He would be escorted to the projection room by a back door, screened from any chance to see who was in the audience, and spirited away as soon as the show was over.

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the resort/retreat
was abandoned and came under Estonian state ownership. The Villa was
falling into disrepair and was bought from the State in 1997 with plans for
renovation as a resort, linked to the already well known summer resort
of Parnu. An 18-hole golf course was completed in 2005 and the Villa and
its properties are open now as a resort. It is still dilapidated, in need of
major renovation, and in its present condition gives off an eerie sense of
a long neglected graveyard.

During our first night, except for a wedding party, we were the only
guests. The place is simply weird. Our lodgings were in a compound
separate from the main building; a two level, family-style timshar-like
motel. It was set up to be a family retreat but had no utensils in the
kitchen, but there was a functioning sauna. The main building, which
also had guest rooms, was really getting to be rundown. It either needed
bulldozing or it should have been shut down for a couple of seasons for
repair and rebuilding. Looking at some of the suites that held the Soviet
elite, we were seeing a 1970’s time warp. Although furnished in the 1970s,
the furniture and fixtures looked like leftovers from a Hollywood set
in the 1950s. Formica tables and lava lamps?

At breakfast the next day I had the sense of being witness to the final stage of Soviet collapse as though the trains had stopped bringing supplies some months before. The buffet breakfast had a platter of cold fried eggs, there was only white
bread, no butter or spread, salty tasting coffee leading to thoughts that the sea had invaded the plumbing, cereal without anything but milk to
go in the bowl, and a plate of something that might have been meats
and other unidentifiable products.

I sensed the ghosts of Soviet’s past roaming the empty corridors, staggering after their negligeed Olgas, swilling vodka from the bottle, demanding service from a cringing staff, their drivers and aides waiting outside in the snow. It was like the last days of Pompeii, Soviet style. The place has promise, but it needs investment
and attention quickly. I’m glad I saw the place, but Elysee and I quickly
agreed, one night was enough. I saw how the other half lived, and it
wasn’t very pretty. Elysee and I were elated to be back in our love nest a
day early. One more night with the ghost of Yuri Andropov, and the men
with white coats would be coming after me.*

* When I was a member of the United States’ arms control delegation negotiating with the Soviet Union on theater nuclear weapons (1981-1983) Yuri Andropov was then the Secretary General of the Soviet Union. The negotiation went nowhere. Andropov died in 1984. Gorbachov came to power in 1985, and by 1987 he and Ronald Reagan signed the INF treaty. The right men do make a difference.

PARNU- LAST STOP ON OUR VISIT TO MUHU

A 1930s Art Deco hotel on Parnu beach; perhaps where Chaplin stayed?

Excerpted from my book: BOOK OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA. Available @ Amazon.com

DAY FOUR
Returning from Muhu, our last visit was to the resort town of Parnu.It was off season, most places having closed at the end of August.

We actually checked into our lodgings about six miles from Parnu.
We were booked into a surreal compound named Villa Andropov, where
the following day we were scheduled to play our last round of golf in
Estonia. The golf course had recently been opened and showed some
promise, but on rising the next morning we found that the Baltic Fall
weather had finally caught up with us. Neither Elysee nor I was in
any mood for playing golf in 30-knot rain-spattered winds, on a soggy,
recently opened course. Instead we spent the afternoon on a quick tour
of Parnu and a visit to their art museum named after Charlie Chaplin.
Yes, Charlie Chaplin! As you can gather, our visit to Parnu was turning
out to be weird.