The fair animals of Estonia
I get up, come downstairs, and have nothing to do for anyone else until they wake up and start demanding my attention. No dishes, no laundry, no never-ending mountain of chores and home repairs and projects. I'm not even planning activities or organizing stuff for the day (because I didnit last night). My time is mine. I can sit outside and read my book and listen to the rooster crow, the forest birds chirp, and the leaves rustle. 
morning view
This is what vacation is about.
Eventually the munchkins did wake up and break the quiet. I'd like to say that I planned on making french toast because it's Saturday (which is french toast or pancakes day at home), but really we just overbought bread, eggs, milk, and jam, and that's what I know how to make that uses those ingredients up.
We said goodbye to the serenity of the cabin, and headed north towards proper cell signal.
When in Tartu the other day, we heard about a street festival happening this weekend, and went to check it out. The day was grey and overcast, and I'm surprised so many people were out. I'm also amazed that it didn't start raining at all while we were there.
The main street of the festival had about 6 food trucks and then 2 blocks of yard sale/flea market tables. I found a collection of books in English. Half I really liked and the other half I had heard good things about, so I figured that this person has taste I can trust and I bought one. Most of the used goods in the area were clothes though.
flea market
Next to the flea market, there was the world's least-safe playground, made up of old scaffolding, ropes, and other leftover bits and pieces that someone seemingly randomly attached together. We did let the kids play in certain areas of it, with us as spotters in case they fell (since there were no proper railings), but it was pretty sketchy and there were areas we were not letting them touch.
Inside a courtyard, was the safer kids area. They had a sandbox and a toy borrowing shelf. They had face painting (5-10€ per face) and stands run by kids.
unsafe playground
Guy saw a couple of kids with a hot cocoa stand (I guess that's the cold summer equivalent of a lemonade stand). We got the kids chocolate-covered marshmallows on sticks to go with their hot cocoa and made 2 sets of kids happy.
We wandered the back alley part of the fair. That was the part for all of the artists. A lot of them had stickers, prints, and other items for sale that I suspect were either inspired by the TYPA center or made there. A lot of the art was very morbid or punky. I was looking for something for the house, but it wasn't really my taste.
artists
Having seen the festival, we went back to the food trucks to supplement the lunch we brought with us. Honestly, my kids are usually pretty good and get along well with each other. But when we were at the truck, debating which fries to get, they just could not stop pushing each other. So we skipped on the fries, ate what we had packed, and were on our way.
As we passed a huge lake, we saw another National Geographic frame. I hadn't expected to see any this far north. It was on the other side of the road and not easy to stop for in our direction, so we didn't, but it was fun spotting it anyway.
Out destination was the Elistvere Animal Park. It's not really a zoo because the animals are rescues and are all local. It's not a preserve because the animals are all separated by species in caged areas that are much smaller than their normal habitat.
On the one hand, the animals seemed well-fed and cared for medically. On the other, the reindeer was clearly suffering from some mental distress. All of the animals had plenty of shelter, and many of them were hiding out in theirs or sleeping so we didn't have much to watch. But, that means the animals can do what they want comfortably, even if it's less convenient for tourists.
The bear and the bunnies were the highlights, mostly because they were moving and visible.
Each pen had a QR code we could scan to hear about the animal inside. We tried a couple, and heard both general facts like what they eat, but also the stories of the specific animals in the park and how they were found. After the first few though, the kids weren't really interested in listening. They just wanted to see the animals.
reindeer
On the way out, they had a "smush a coin" machine. My oldest decided that it was worth using his money for it, so we let him. It's about a week's allowance, but he decided that he really wanted to do it. We let the younger one make one as well, even though she doesn't get allowance yet. Both kids promptly lost their coins in the car.
We did have to clean out the car before returning it, but still, one was missing.
Apparently, the youngest has also been storing bits of food she hasn't wanted to finish in the door of the car. We've had the car for a week and somehow she has half a grocery store squirreled away.
We arrived at Tallin Airport Stay, which is actually a hostel, I think. Because we are 4 people, we were able to get a whole room, so we both had the benefit of hostel-level prices, but also privacy and our own bathroom.
It clearly used to be some sort of industrial building as it had much wider halls, crazy piping visible in the ceiling, rubbery floors, and just didn't feel like a hostel. However, the rooms were quite spacious, and the shower even had a small tub. The wifi was great, so the lack of a tv was fine. The kids were over the moon for their bunk beds. The location is 5 minutes from the airport. Especially as a place to stay for just 1 night before an early flight, I recommend it.
Once settled, we headed out to the nearby mall to get dinner. We've mostly picnicked and eaten in this trip, so I was hoping for some local food, already hot and ready.
Our choices seemed to be: American fast food chains, Asian restaurants, 1 Italian place, and a very expensive burger/grill place. We tried a sit-down Asian restaurant (as opposed to the Poke bowl place or the fast food Asian or the sushi). I was a bit skeptical because they had Indian and Chinese and Thai dishes, and just generally an extensive menu. Generally, a restaurant can only do a few things well and a very extensive menu means they're doing some things less well.
But, I was very impressed with the (Indian) food I got. It was delicious. The kids liked some of it, but some was too spicy.
The restaurant also had an extensive fancy drink menu, with pictures on the non-alcoholic page. The oldest decided he wanted a fancy drink, and since it was the last night of vacation, we caved. (Although he had to split it with the youngest.) I think they felt very grown-up with their fancy glass with fruit on the rim.
We made a brief stop at the arcade, and even let each kid play one game. (That's more than we usually do.)
And talk about spoiling- when we got back to the hostel, we let the kids have infinite bathtime until they got bored. After the short showers they had done outside in the cold, being inside where it was warm and having a long bath, and afterwards a heated floor was quite the treat.
And that's the end of this adventure. We left early the next morning for the airport and had a nicely uninteresting set of flights home.
This featured blog entry was written by spsadventures from the blog Adventures by spsadventures.
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