woke up today in kuressaare to the sound of rain. not a good sign. so i went back to sleep. john and i figured we would skip the bus tour around the island and rent bikes to explore the island. sleeping in felt so good that i didn’t care if we had missed the tour, however, the breakfast ending at 10am is what got me out of bed.

after breakfast, the rain had stopped, and we walked down to the lobby about to head out when we spotted adam in the hotel office. since the weather wasn’t great for biking, we decided to catch the tour of the castle once they finished with the bus tour. adam gave us instructions on when and where so we headed toward the castle.

as we made our way to the castle, the sky was overcast, and i finally could discuss the wish I made on the miracle tile in vilnius. i held back on discussing cause a wish doesn’t come true if you talk about it. i told john that on the miracle square i had wished for warm, sunny weather while on the island. not world peace, not a happy life, not anything. i just wanted sunshine on the island. the entire trip was cold temperatures mixed with intermittent rain. so the wish was an easy one, and it had a 50% chance of happening. just sun would satisfy me. it was a test to see if the guide was right that whatever wish you make, it will come true. at least that is what has happened for her. as i thought about the wish, i thought about the millions of people who formed a chain between three countries in protest of the russian occupation. i figured the energy behind that action would remain in the miracle tile giving its “power”. i know hocus pocus, but what the hell, why not. let’s see what happens.

we had some time to kill, so we walked around the grounds and stopped into a blacksmith shop where we were fortunate enough to watch a blacksmith forge something out of metal. there was an unusual amount of photographers in the store taking picture of the blacksmith. in fact, all over the castle grounds were kids with big cameras taking artistic shots of the castle and grounds for, i can only imagine, an art class. watching the blacksmith work and being in the midst of a medieval castle was like going back in time and gave me an idea of the way of life back then.

we met the group in front of the castle and joined them for the tour of kuressaare castle. we walked underneath the spear-tipped gate, through a tunnel and into the courtyard of the castle, which was tiny. it had some type of weaving devices and two life size standing cut outs where you stick your head in of a nun and some skeleton sitting in a chair. john and i experimented with what we would look like as a nun. suits john better than me.

off to the side, the tour guide, jaan, pointed out a sunken room with a skeleton sitting in the chair that was obviously the same as the life size cut out. whether the bones were not real as the story goes, when they opened the chamber, the bones turned to dust. no one really knows how he ended up there.

for being 60% original, the castle didn’t resemble the crumbling castles we had seen. very few spiral staircases and ornate ceilings and walls. inside the different chambers, we found an exhibit of the history of soviet occupation along with artifacts such as guns, armor, uniforms, etc. we also found a model of the castle and moat. in the top of one of the tower was a cafe, and guess what, it had free wireless. damn, i love this country!

we climbed the wooden staircase up to the cafe. the views were great, but the cafe only offered a limited selection of coffee, so we didn’t stay. we climbed out of the castle and went into town to have lunch. we went to a hip looking lounge called chameleon and sat on the terrace. i worked on the site while john read for his class. as we were sitting there, the sun started shining through. for lunch, i had the macaroni and meat, and they had free ketchup. yum! course, our friends, the kgbees, showed up, and one of them landed on the butter knife and was stuck. i flung it off, and we watched the bee act retarded as it tried to fly. the bee kept running in circles and rubbing its appendages together. the bee couldn’t take flight and that was alright by me. eventually, it took flight but half of its body didn’t work. hmm, butter. i thought about trying to touch the other bees with butter but never got around to it.

by now, the sun was shining, and we started seeing blue skies. i was getting excited that my wish was going to happen and i would be able to bike around the island. it wasn’t warm, but at least the sun was shining. as we sat out on the terrace, we noticed a large number of baby strollers zooming by the terrace. the strollers were huge and obviously expensive. kuressaare is a baby town. even in the park, there was a huge sandbox and playground.

we went inside to take a break from the chilly wind. the interior of chameleon had slick lines, neon backlighting, dark colors, and comfortable couches. it also had in the corner a play area for kids. through the windows, we could see people filling up the terrace and the sun was shining brightly. it had turned into a really nice day. even though one can’t put much emphasis on a silly wish, at least it did come true. i told john, “you’re welcome.” i need to go back to the tile and wish for something else.

we left chameleon to explore the town. the side streets had small quaint houses with cobblestone streets. we found a bike shop, but the store closed early, which would allot us about two hours for biking around. i knew the hotel rented out bikes, so i told john i was going to head back to the hotel. he had the new economist so he decided to find a cafe.

the hotel was an excellent deal. 60 kroons (~6 USD) until 10pm and it came with a lock and tire pump. quickly, i changed, picked up the key, grabbed a map, and started biking toward the marina. didn’t want to miss any daylight.

biking toward the marina reminded me of biking in debordieau, south carolina. there were bike paths, flat as far as you could see, marsh style weeds, and bugs. i was a human windshield. i tried avoiding the little swarms of gnats, but they would land on me. i discovered my shirt was covered in them. when i came to a stop, they flew away.

i found a bird watching tower and a soviet bunker along the way. everywhere i went, i could see the castle turrets.

i reached the marina and took some pics of the boats. i was looking for some weird boat names that my dad might get a kick out of. surprisingly, the boat names weren’t that far from english names, such as maris, centaur, and primadonna. also next to the marina was a shipping yard for trees. the marina had a little restaurant with a terrace, but there wasn’t time to enjoy a drink. i wanted to take full advantage of the sunlight, so i headed back toward the hotel.

past the hotel, past the castle, and down the other side of the coast. in front of a hotel was a weird statue. a naked, buxom man and woman carrying a boat full of fish. the woman had this really silly grin on her face.

with the sun in my face, i pedalled down the coast looking for any other paths i could take. i found a path through a forest, which turned out to lead nowhere. i backtracked and headed down the main path. the main path ended and turned into a dirt road heading into a forest with rocks poking through the dirt and puddles from the morning rain. i biked a long time, and i started assuming that the road has to lead to something remotely interesting, so i continued. i just happened to look to my right and saw a horse and her colt standing on the side of the road. i slammed on the brakes and whipped out my camera. i barely got a shot of them before they went back into the woods.

the road did have an end, which was a marsh landing next to the sea. in the distance, i saw these brown and white bumps that appeared to be moving. perhaps more horses? i hiked into the marsh until the path disappeared, stood on top of a rock, held the camera as high as i could and took a picture. the camera didn’t capture a good photo of the objects but i was pretty sure they were horses. on my way back to the bike, i found a red grasshopper on one of the rocks i was walking on.

back on the bike and backtracking through the forest. the sun was setting and i was getting a little cold in my shorts and t-shirt. i made it out of the forest and back on the main path heading into town. i took a long way toward the town center where i figured john would be sitting outside reading. the long way took me through the old part of town, which wasn’t what i expected. i expected cobblestone streets, old world architecture. instead, the houses were wooden, the street flat and nothing special.

the streets turned to cobblestone as i approached the town center. i had always wondered what it was like to ride a bike on a cobblestone street. i had the bone jarring experience for about a minute before relocating to the flat sidewalk.

john wasn’t around the town center, and after a quick text, he told me he was heading through the castle grounds back to the hotel. i quickly caught up with him and finished the walk with him. inside the lobby of the hotel, we ran into a british couple, who were the most entertaining, academically minded, and loved to pick john’s brain about current events in politics. after discussing the palin speech, they insisted we join them for dinner at la perle, an italian restaurant owned by a lively, hospitable american who used to work for the FBI in Estonia.

after a quick shower, i was starving and could have eaten a horse. i wasn’t really looking forward to dining with a bunch of academics who wanted to talk about politics, but whatever, maybe i will learn something.

the food was very good. i had the lasagna, but it was way too hot. after i was able to taste it without tasting like fire, the sauce was very good but the balance of cheese was off, so the nyc italian restaurant is still the winner of best lasagna. mmm, might have to go there when i get back. bill, the lively american sat down with us, poured the wine drinkers some extra wine and talked about how he ended up here. i will spare the details. basically, he was stationed in estonia as the legal attache for the fbi. after x number of years, he retired and settled in kuressaare. he owns a couple other restaurants. according to the brits, he was the epitome of an american host, hospitable, lively, friendly, and generous, which i would recharacterize as the epitome of a southern host.

so, i did learn something over dinner. don’t dine with lofty academics talking about politics. i’m kidding. it is always good to subject yourself to new ideas and expand your mind with other people’s perceptions. the conversation ranged from the baltic’s history, human rights, american politics, and some other topics i can’t remember. val, geoff, and judith were fun to dine with and of course, john had to be on and i went along for the ride.

after paying the bill, john and i headed over to the lounge place with the chess set. but they closed in 30 minutes, so we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night. i was beat from the biking i did today, and i knew something was going to be sore the next day. i just didn’t know what.

so, my wish came true. i was content. biking around the island was such a great release of tension/energy, and it satisfied the curious/exploring side of me. in addition to the biking, i am happy we were able to explore the castle with the group. it would have been a shame to miss out on seeing the interior of the castle.

well, kuressaare is the last new destination in the trip. tomorrow we head back to tallinn to conclude the trip. the day after, we would be flying back to nyc. a part of me is looking forward to returning to nyc and seeing friends and getting back into a simple routine. although i love tallinn, and i might decide to stay forever inside the medieval town walls drinking saku on a terrace in the town hall square. we shall see …