Friday 11 August 2017

Estonian adventure

We had a lovely trip to Estonia; sadly for three of us, our bags did not trouble the hotel with their presence! (Mike was the lucky one!)
The place was beautiful, Kuressaare, capital of the island Saaremaa about 4.5 hours from the Estonian capital, Tallinn.
...and it had a splendid castle with a moat too!



...and a windmill, as you do!


We performed in a beautiful church (Chris has put some photos of it up on Facebook): 
St Laurence Church - Laurentiuse kirik.  It had an excellent acoustic and was therefore a joy to rehearse and perform in.
We did find some clothes in which to perform, courtesy of the shop, Saaremaa Kaubamaja - not sure they had ever had people attempting to buy the same clothes before!

We had a delightful evening, our usual breadth from King Henry VIII to Billy Joel & The Beatles, and William Byrd, through Offenbach to Richard Rodney Bennett.  A very enthusiastic and happy audience greeted us...
..and we were well looked after by Festival director, Andres Paas, driver Kalvi Pöld, and especially by Maret Naagel, who did much for us, including liaising with the airport about our missing bags, telling us where to get stuff! & helping us know more about Estonian words.
Because, we did try some language out on the poor unsuspecting public.  As ever, Mike was in Dictionary Corner, but we all had a go... including singing a folk song in Estonian to end the evening... and marvellously, they got what we said and seemed delighted by it!
...and altho' mostly Estonian (this is very much an Estonian's holiday place), there were also Germans and French, and indeed a couple from just north of Birmingham, naturally!

Home now, and awaiting the delights of sharing the stage with Medlz in Dresden on the 25th... hooray!

...and for those who are interested; our pear tree has such a splendid crop, that I have preserved some for use later in the year... yummy!


(If this sort of thing does not indeed interest you, I apologise; normal service will be resumed next blog...)