A crumbling wall mended with Legos, found in Tartu.

As usual, the trip to Estonia wouldn’t feel complete without a visit to the adventure park at Otepää.

Thanks to Ingrid, I have some photos of me climbing as well.

The last trail is challenging for all of us. Now that Adrian is as tall as the rest of us, we’re on an equal footing.

That trail ends with the so-called Tarzan leap – hold on to a thick rope and leap off a platform to swing across a twenty-metre gap to a net on the other side. After a few attempts it no longer feels scary – as long as I don’t stop to think about it.

Of course we’re all harnessed and clipped into things so there’s no real risk.

The trails all end with zipline rides, which is like the cherry on top.

Finally the two long zipline rides across the valley and back cap off the entire day.

The Hansapäevad festival has shrunken and simplified into a Hansalaat market. Gone is most of the medieval feel and all the cultural activities; we’re left with just a market. Which is still fun but not the same thing.

We had vaguely planned for a picnic but then the kids ended up just eating market food instead. Bubble waffles. If I’d had more energy, I’d maybe have tried to argue for a picnic but I didn’t. Perhaps that was a good thing, because we got hit by several surprise rain showers later in the day.

After browsing the market we went to Toomemägi and climbed the cathedral ruins there.

Dogs and kids with bad knees stayed down below.

My friends are all dog owners now, and the dogs are on the large and energetic side. The easiest way for us all to meet up is to go out for a walk with the dogs.

I ran ahead a bit to get some distance for the photo. I suspect Ingrid lined them all up in the meantime.

I’m off to Estonia with the kids, to visit family and friends.

We’ve always used Tallink ferries to get there (apart from the early days when I flew) but this time we’re trying a different approach. Tallink never reinstated the second ferry (after cutting down from daily trips to every other day during the covid pandemic) and now their schedule doesn’t suit us. I went looking for alternatives. Flight + rent a car? Expensive. Different ferry line? Better schedule, better prices, better times, but less convenient harbours. Worth a try.

DFDS leaves from Kapellskär which is further away from us than central Stockholm. On the Estonian side they go to Paldiski instead of Tallinn, which is further from Tartu but on larger roads. Tallink ferries are basically floating hotels and act accordingly: there are lavish tax-free shops, onboard entertainment, plenty of restaurants, and they try to keep you there as long as possible to squeeze the most money out of you. DFDS on the other hand just focuses on getting you there: leaves several hours later, and gets there several hours earlier. Which suits us really well. The ferry experience was fun for the kids when they were young, but now we’re all just waiting for time to pass and wishing we could get there sooner.

I enjoyed watching the crew play Tetris with all the large lorries.

Estonian butter knives are the best. Swedish butter knives (not pictured) are better for spreading butter than ordinary table knives, but they’re thin and the blades are small, so they’re not very comfortable to use. We somehow manage to wear ours out, so several of them are now barely more than flat sticks.

I’ve been planning to buy more butter knives of the well-designed Estonian kind when we go to Estonia. I was already planning on it last summer but never found the time. Oh well, we’ll make do with pointy sticks for another year. But yesterday at the crafts fair I saw a whole huge stand of wooden utensils, including butter knives with sturdy, rounded handles – and the lovely smell of juniper wood.

At first I thought that maybe some Swedish firm had copied the superior Estonian design, but then I saw the Estonian brand name. No need to wait until summer – the knives have come to me.

I bought several. And then sniffed at them for a good while before packing them away in my bag.

Ingrid spotted these mini-pancakes at the supermarket that looked just like the quark pancakes we had in Estonia. I think we both knew these wouldn’t be as good, even before opening the package, but some part of us still hoped. And of course they were nothing like the Estonian ones. The Estonian quark pancakes (which even came in several varieties, like one with banana and one with oats, I believe) were delicious enough to eat as a snack straight from the bag. These quarkless Swedish ones were bland even after heating. The quark makes a difference, of course, but store-bought Swedish pancakes are also always disappointing compared to home-made ordinary pancakes. I don’t know what they do with them – or what they don’t do. Skimp on butter and fry them in oil?

On long drives along straight roads with nothing interesting to look at, I like listening to music to avoid zoning out. Radio is the first, obvious solution, and I’m willing to listen to boring pop music while driving that I wouldn’t choose at home, but the long ad breaks get really annoying. So now it’s Spotify through a Bluetooth speaker that we bought especially for the car. (And that lives in the car and stays in the car and doesn’t get borrowed for any reason, because that’s how its predecessor vanished.)

There’s plenty of music that sounds good at home but doesn’t work in the car. Some frequencies become inaudible, while others sound unpleasantly sharp. Guitar-dominated rock music is right out. Drums and vocals work well, so sometimes I’ve picked some random Latino or afro playlist from Spotify. On this trip I realized that musicals and Disney movie soundtracks work great. We got through the entirety of the original Broadway recording of Hamilton on our way from Tartu to Tallinn to Stockholm. (Followed by the soundtracks for Moana and Encanto on the back and forth trip to Uppsala to drop off my brother.)

Hamilton is still as awesome as ever. Seeing it live in London was an incredible experience, but even hearing it through a pint-sized Bluetooth speaker while driving sends shivers down my spine. Ingenious rhymes, catchy melodies, great voices, punchy delivery. I’m starting to think of maybe going back to see it live again.

On our way back home, somewhat tired, somewhat sad to be leaving, but also glad to be home soon. The trip could maybe have been a day or two longer, but now we’re leaving on a high note.

Picnic and bathing at lake Pangodi. The weather was warm, the water not so much at first, but OK once I got in and started swimming.