slept fine and woke up alert. with 5 minutes remaining before departure, i was the last one on the bus. i got the ol’ stink eye when i boarded. there is one thing i can say about our group, at least they are extremely prompt and on time. we left sigulda in the morning for the islands off the coast of estonia. i love estonia due to the free wireless, the fact that you don’t have to pay to use facilities, and the friendlier nature of the estonians (english is spoken more widely here than in latvia and lithuania). in a strange way, i felt like i was going back home. plus, if you remember from my time in vilnius where i made a wish on the miracle tile in the cathedral square, i will see if it comes true.

there is something about the touring bus that makes me go to sleep. john thinks they are pumping sleeping gas into the ventilation because it isn’t a tired feeling, it is an exhausted feeling, and i have the hardest time waking up from it.

the itinerary for the day was traveling to kuressaare on the saaremaa island. along the way, we would be making stops at various attractions, and i was so overwhelmed with sleepiness that it was becoming irritating to be woken up every so often to look at a church or a windmill. regardless, i did get out of the bus and take photos before i dragged myself back into my seat for some more slumbering.

we made a stop at a local shopping center in estonia after crossing the border from latvia. the shopping center had free wireless, but i didn’t have time to use it. we had to pick up some lunch for the boat ride over to the islands. i picked up the usual fare, minus the alcohol this time, and searched for hummus to go with my crackers. i didn’t know what hummus would be in estonian but i figured i might find it. in the states, it is usually in the international section. i doubted that i would be able to locate an international section in estonia. i never did find it the hummus or an international section. i probably walked right by it. i didn’t ask anyone cause i was still in the mindset of latvia/lithuania where it would be difficult. oddily enough, the aussies bought lawn chairs cause they were really cheap whereas they are quite expensive in australia. wtf? are they going to take them back home? they don’t have chairs in australia?

anyways, back on the bus, aka nap time. we reached the ferry, which was a massive car ferry. a massive 18 wheeler with a crane on the trailer boarded the boat. it must have weighed several tons, but the boat didn’t go down. that got me thinking. there has to be a system on the boat that maintains a certain bouyancy. after googling around, i found a patent for an air cushion device that would be used on car ferries. perhaps that is the answer to my question, or they could employ the same system used in submarines by taking on saltwater when heavy vehicles exit, and vice versa.

ferry ride uneventful. we were back on the bus on the island of muhu and sleeping again. the weather was overcast and just felt like a sleepy day. our first stop was a tour of a living village that depicted life in the olden days with small cottages, a school, various farming methods, and a memorial to a famous poet, johan smuul. he wrote a poem to stalin and his writing was pro-soviet. obviously, estonia isn’t pro-soviet but they have only been independent for less than 20 years. it was interesting walking around the village. it reminded me of similar colonial villages i had seen in north carolina.

after the tour, john and i didn’t find much of anything to do except go back to the bus to rest and lounge in the seats. after a while, we were off to the next location, which was karja church. i was asleep when adam was talking about the importance of the church, so i didn’t really understand why we were there. nevertheless, i took some photos of the interior. it was a 14th century church with a beautiful interior.

believe or not, i managed to sleep on the 10 minute ride from the church to the next location, a collection of five windmills. the windmills were impressive and i realized that the long stick on the back of the windmill allowed the people to move the windmill in the direction of the wind. i also got a close up shot of a billy goat.

back on the bus again. didn’t sleep this time as we made our way to a 100m wide, water filled meteorite crater that was blasted into existence about 2700 years ago. next to the crater was a school along with a market and a handicraft store. kind of weird to have a school next to it. the crater was massive, and i wasn’t able to capture the entire thing in one photo. i ran around the rim of the crater just for sport before heading over to the market. saaremaa has their own island brew and it is quite strong, 10%! the market carried the beverage, and of course, i bought one. didn’t waste anytime on drinking either. i expected bitterness which is usually linked with stronger beers, but this beer is brewed using some type of berry to give it the extra kick. it did have a tiny berry after taste, which became stronger the more i drank. i gulped it down like a regular beer, which gave me a pretty strong buzz. i went from sober to buzzing quickly, and surprisingly, i wasn’t tired anymore.

finally, we made it to kuressaare where we could check into the hotel and get out of the sleeping chamber. kuressaare is a fantastic seaside town with charming cafes and an impressive medieval stone castle, kuressaare castle. the castle is a 14th century castle and is the best preserved castle in the baltics. 60% of it is original. the castle sits on man-made island with bridges making it accessible. in other words, it has the only moat i have ever seen!

our hotel was behind the castle and next to a stadium. in order to get to the town, we walked through the castle grounds and took in the medieval setting. it was overcast with a hint of raining, so we didn’t hang out on the grounds. we were also starving and found a little bar and grill near the town’s center. as we were sitting on the terrace having dinner, the sun started poking through the clouds, which made me hopeful that my wish would come try while being on the island.

after dinner, we wandered the town center, which wasn’t very big, and the town was pretty dead. since school started, the students who usually work and live on the islands have gone back to the mainland leaving the town empty. we found a cool loungy bar across the street. next to our table was a chess set, and i taught john how to play chess. it was fun teaching him the rules of the game and finally having a person to play with. i am usually playing chess on my blackberry against the computer. john caught on to the logic, strategy and piece movement rather quickly, and we had a few fun games. the last game must have lasted a long time because when we looked at our watch, it was almost midnight. we had been playing chess for four hours. it was obvious cause our heads hurt from all the thinking.

the walk back to the hotel through the castle grounds was enjoyable. it was a little cold and the sea breeze was strong. we found adam sitting in the lounge watching the us open cheering on a british player. i went to reception to buy a beer, and the damn thing was 95 kroons, which is about 9 us dollars. well, that is certain a way to capitalize on a captive audience. there was only wireless in the lobby so i sat in the lobby to work on the site. i was so tired that i posted some pics and then went to bed.

the journey from latvia to kuressaare was kind of annoying with all the little stops in between. i would have been happy to just go straight to kuressaare. kuressaare was everything i hoped for. a magnificent castle and a quaint town next to the sea. john and i agreed that we would skip the tour tomorrow and rent bikes to bike around the town and coast. so, the next day is the ultimate test to see if my wish will come true that i made in vilnius on the miracle tile. i went to bed hoping for a sunny day tomorrow.