Tartu: Part II

Raekoja plats - Town Hall Square

Just some shots from last week's nice weather. Decided to take advantage of a good photo opportunity after a long winter of grayness!

Emajõgi River

Today the snow is all gone. It was in the mid-forties temperature wise, with no clouds in the sky and full sun. In fact it was nice enough to go hang out outside by the river for the first time in a while!

In other news...
Last Sunday I went on a photo excursion in a bog close to Tallinn. Unfortunately the weather was very bad on Sunday (about a foot and a half of snow), so I didn't really get anything worth showing! But, it was still nice to see a new part of Estonia.

Here's one of the better shots I got:

My next goal is to get to one of the larger islands on the west coast of Estonia: Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. I'll have to wait for even warmer weather though....

Suur Reede

Today was Suur Reede (Good Friday, but literally translated: "Great Friday"), so my host family and I "painted" eggs naturally, naturally.
When I say naturally, I mean naturally... This is the traditional process used to color eggs -- no artificial food coloring necessary!

Step 1: Get some raw eggs, onions, tea leaves (optional), pieces of fabric, scissors, and string.

Step 2: Place an egg in the fabric swatch and surround it completely with onion skins.

Step 3: Then wrap them up.

Step 4: Boil them.

Step 5: Unwrap and admire!

If you want, go ahead and polish them with some olive oil.

To me they look like eggs made of polished hardwood, which is much more interesting than your standard blue and green Easter egg!

Weather

Sunday, April 1, 2012:

 Tuesday, April 3, 2012:

Estonia has had a very weird year of weather....
And I think these photos attest to that!