Estonia Ranked No.1 in the World for Internet Freedom

Great result! Despite the fact that internet freedom has declined for the sixth consecutive year across the globe, this is definitely not the case in Estonia. In Estonia the government interferes in citizen's lives as little as possible.

To read the full Freedom House report, please click here: Freedom on the Net 2016

Happy Father's Day! Head Isadepäeva!

In Estonia, Father's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in November. On this day I will be thinking of my dear father in Australia and wish all other fathers a wonderful day!  If you would like to make your father a tasty treat for Father's Day, here are some ideas from the Nami-Nami website. Isadepaevalauale

Here's an interesting fact for Father's Day. According to Statistics Estonia, the average age of a man at the time of his first child's birth has risen from 28 years in 1989 to 33 years in 2015. That's a five year increase from one generation to the next.

Tallinn Christmas Market 18.11.2016 – 07.01.2017

The dates for the world famous Tallinn Christmas market have been released. The Christmas market located in Tallinn's Town Hall Square on Raekoja Plats will be open every day from 18th November 2016 until 7th January 2017. Opening hours are 10 am to 7 pm and hot Christmas drinks are available until 11 pm.

Stallholders will be offering a broad range of handicrafts not found in regular shops and local caterers will be offering Estonian Christmas cuisine ranging from black blood pudding and sour cabbage to ginger breads and warm, invigorating Christmas drinks.

Now that Estonia's national airline Nordica has teamed up with the Polish carrier LOT, it is even easier get a direct flight to Tallinn than ever before! 

For more information about the Christmas market, please click here: Tallinn Christmas market

National identity card for Australians? Digital government lessons from Estonia

As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s digital transformation agenda gathers pace and renewed urgency in the wake of the botched 2016 Census and the new Digital Transformation Agency gets going, the PM would be wise to seek a meeting with government tech heads in Estonia, where 99 per cent of the country’s services are accessible online.

Anna Piperal is the Managing Director of E-Estonia Showroom, a government-funded investment agency that travels the world showcasing Estonia’s digital prowess and its achievements, marking it out as one the most successful e-societies on Earth.

Ms Piperal was recently a keynote speaker at Civica Expo in Sydney but took time out to speak to Government News about how Australia could learn from how Estonia has transformed itself into an exemplar of digital government.

To read the full Government News article, please click here:
National identity card for Australians? Digital government lessons from Estonia

How to correctly pronounce Estonian vowels (a e i o u õ ä ö ü)

When it comes to learning Estonian, people often have trouble correctly pronouncing the vowels. Some are long in length whilst others are short then there are the vowels that native English speakers are simply not used to.  If you need a bit of help, here's a good video that will not only help you with the vowel sounds but increase your vocabulary as well. Enjoy!

The many faces of architecture in Tallinn

Here's an interesting read I found on the Visit Tallinn website. The article provides a good history on architecture in Tallinn starting from the 11th century gothic period to renaissance, baroque, classicism, art nouveau, pre and post war architecture and modern. It's a fascinating read for anyone interesting in the history of Tallinn. 

Some of these buildings are truly stunning!

To  read the full article, please click here: The many faces of architecture in Tallinn

On this day in 1632 - the inauguration of the University of Tartu

Established by King Gustav Adolphus of Sweden in 1632, the University of Tartu is Estonia's finest and most prestigious institute of higher education. To this day it continues to rank among the world's best universities. The University of Tartu was inaugurated with a special ceremony on the 25th October 1632.

To learn more about the university's history, please click here: University of Tartu