30 years ago today, on 29th April 1995, the first McDonald's Restaurant opened in Estonia. It was opened in Tallinn's Viru street near the Viru gates at Viru Street 24. McDonald's uses part of the first floor of the building which was originally a hotel called "Hotel Europa".
Not everyone is pleased that a McDonald's restaurant is located in the Old Town but whenever I walk past it, it is always well patronised.
For the first time in history, the Economist Democracy Index has ranked Estonia as a “full democracy”. Estonia was upgraded from 'flawed democracy' along with Portugal and the Czech Republic in the new ranking. Overall, the global Democracy Index score has fallen from 5.52 in 2006 to an historic low of 5.17 in 2024. More than one-third (39.2%) of the world's population currently live under authoritarian rule. Sixty countries are now classified as “authoritarian regimes”
This painting by Ernst Hermann Schlichting is titled 'Vaade Tallinnale Narva maanteel' (view of Tallinn from Narva highway). It depict the Song Festival Hill at Lasnamägi.
Each year on April 22, more than a billion people celebrate Earth Day to protect the planet from things such as pollution and deforestation. Earth is our precious home and we should do our best to take care of it. Small deliberate acts on a daily basis, can make a difference.
Water is essential for life on Earth, and it's interesting to note the different words Europeans use for water. Only Estonians and Finns call water 'vesi' but our Finno-Ugric cousins in Hungary use the word 'viz' that probably stems from the same origin.
Easter is known by several different names in Estonia. Munadepüha (egg holiday), kiigepüha (swing holiday, referring to playing on the traditional wooden village swing on Easter Sunday) and lihavõtted (a direct reference to the return of meat eating after Lent). Easter is also all about chocolate and having a delicious feast on Sunday. Happy Easter everyone!
Today (18.04) April's absolute heat record was officially broken. In Southeast Estonia, the air temperature rose to nearly 28°C. The maximum air temperature in Valga was measured 27,8 ° C. The previous record belonged to Kunda (27.6°C) on 24.04.2000.
While I was looking at the Nostalgiamuuseum page on Facebook this morning, I made a wonderful discovery. Someone had colourised one of my old family photographs! The photo of my grandfather with his parents taken outside their home in Köie Street. This is the first time I have ever seen one of my grandfather's childhood photographs in colour. Thank you Margus Mändveer!
I also discovered that Margus Mändveer had also colourised the photograph my great-grandfather Arthur Lestal took of the liquor store Aegviidu.
Easter is one of my favourite holidays as it awakens my creativity and inspires me to decorate my home with the colours of spring. Eggs are one of the main symbols of Easter and there are so many ways to create beautiful eggs to display in your home. Nature provides many vibrant colours for you to use, and if you have the skills, etching eggs can really create stunning designs and patterns.
To achieve vibrant natural colours, use this guide:
One of the beautiful things about Tallinn's Old Town is its timelessness. You can walk through the town and many of its features are as they were centuries ago.
'View of Tallinn from Mere Avenue' was painted in 1875 by Baltic German artist Theodor Albert Sprengel (1832-1900).
