Before
Christmas I was quite exhausted after so many activities at work and other places.
I even got ill during the last week in spite of my normal biological state. So
I worked at home to get the rest duties done - even had a seminar online.
Our
children announced no one is around during the Christmas so we decided to
choose a sort of do nothing strategy. It included the Christmas time at a Spa
in Rakvere, Estonia. There we had almost five days to avoid any obligations:
Only breakfasts, dinners and massages and beauty cares were scheduled. Otherwise
we concentrated in walking in the town, swimming in different kinds of pools
and do some gym - or just relaxing.
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| After the Christmas Eve dinner |
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| This pool was even too warm |
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| Exercising |
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| Having a pedicure |
The worst
thing in the hotel Christmas was you just couldn’t hide from various versions
of Christmas carols in uninterrupted chain. However in the
Christmas evening I also played some of my versions, not very easily
identified, though...
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| Improvising The Jazz Sparrow in the Christmas Morning... |
Rakvere is is
a town of 15 000 inhabitants situated in the North East part of Estonia.
The district is mostly populated by Estonian Russians but Rakvere is mostly
Estonian speaking. Actually it is an old Estonian German city Wesenberg,
founded in 14th century. And of, course, there is an old German
castle that is blown up by Peter the Great – a very usual story in Estonia. The
ground of the area contains oil shale and therefore there are some mines for
that smoking stuff.
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| Rakvere Castle |
Some parts of
the city have remained the pre war feeling with well off houses along the
streets – nowadays only partly renovated. Of course there are the Soviet layer
and also the modern layer of buildings.
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| At the Trinity Church of Rakvere |
After
coming home we finally had our own Christmas preparations because our children
and grandchildren came for Christmas dinner. When we went shopping to get stuff
for it we noticed many Christmas things was quite cheap – we even got some orchids
for free!
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| Making my wafels... |
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| ...and different ways to enjoy them |
We had two
sittings, one for my and the other for my spouse’s offspring. The regime varied
a little but in both cases my nettle buckwheat wafers with Smetana and smoked
whitefish were included.
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| Incorruptible opinions on my biscuits |
The year changed between the two sittings. I hope the new one will be as happy as the last one was to me - and I hope it for everyone.
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| My toast to the New Year |
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