Little Tallinn, the capital of little Estonia. From ages past Estonia had no kings of its own, but had elders who managed affairs of state. The kingdom of Denmark held the grand Duchy of Estonia from 1219 to 1346. After a couple of hundred years of ugly skirmishing, the kingdom of Sweden held Estonia til Peter the Great of Russia defeated the Swedes in the great northern war. Peter took over Estonia and built for his wife Catherine the Kadriorg Palace in 1718.

In various places around the garden are preserved attractive patches of a variety of ragwort which in many places around the world is considered to be an offensive pest. Interesting that in the palace the rococo decoration seems to feature quite a lot of ragwort. Fascinating.

There is a monument in Tallinn giving credit to The Russian Boris Yeltsin for enabling Estonia at last to achieve independence. Estonia now has president Alar Karis rather than a king and relies on membership of the EU and NATO for a sense of security

Last week it was the girl with the pearl ear ring by Vermeer, this week it is Sweetiepie with the Amber ear rings from Estonia. Way back 40 million years ago the Baltic Sea was a vast forest which flooded and the soggy trees over the millions of years turned into amber. And a few thousand years ago lumps of amber started washing up on beaches to become an important part of Estonian trade. Currently the Baltic is the worlds major source of Amber. In China Amber is currently replacing Jade as the desirable semi precious mineral with consequent increase in value. For more info google “the amber road”. Check out Sweetiepie with her 40 million year old ear rings.

The seventy year difference between my age and that of interesting young people does present difficulties for meaningful conversation. Sport is a possible subject for dialog but computer games provide better common ground. The phone game 2048 introduced by Zoe has been useful. I asked young Alex in Finchley if he knew of 2048. He certainly did, taking my phone to demonstrate some of the finer points. Encouraged by this, I found myself a couple of weeks later sharing a spa on the QV with the 13yo Ryan.

Was he interested in the Cricket?

Not really.

Computer games?

Oh yes!!

2048?

I like 2048.

And in the steamy spa he demonstrated 2048 on his watch. I was impressed. Left him immersed in water and 2048.

Skagen is at the northernmost tip of Denmark. A very pointy tip. So pointy that it is possible for a long line of people standing in the water aligned North – South to all have one foot in the Baltic Sea and the other in the North Sea.

For centuries Skagen had been subject to a plague of shifting sands that buried all in its path. Including the famous Tilsandede Church. From the middle 18th century the church became buried deeper and deeper in the drifting sand so that the congregation had to dig their way in to services. Until 1795 when they gave up the struggle and the church was abandoned and demolished, except for the tower which remains as a tourist attraction. Although many tourists come to visit the town with its cute little red and yellow cottages, fishing remains the main business of the town.