Music festival wraps up

Today(Sunday) was already the last day of this 4 day festival, and our last concert was Curly Strings.   What a fantastic, collaborative atmosphere pervades this festival.  Just about every artist invites another to join them on stage, together the bands trysomething new and wonderful.  Really hard to pick a favorite -- the music ranged from meditative concerts performed in the really old st john's church to wildly, crowd pleasing, toe tapping pieces played in one of the two venues that are surrounded by castle ruins.   Today, during the Curly Strings concert, it began to pour.   The crowd was unfazed and just danced more wildly.   

Another big highlight was meeting with Maarja and Tiina this morning, who shared geneological data with us about the Reisenberg family.  We went for a walk with them to Viljandi's famous water tower, where we climbed to the top, and then it was on to the Viljandi city hall and museum.  The whirlwind tour ended with a visit to the coffeehouse Viljandi on Lossi street.   Viljandi has an amazing history, and strong commitment to traditional arts and cultural education, but is still worried that there are no longer any industries here.  Population of this little city that was founded in 1283, is flat or decreasing. 

 This is our last evening at the guesthouse, and so have decided to BBQ something and enjoy this sweet space, with its nesting swallows and bog plants.  We are also drying out from getting so drenched at today's concert.  

A few other highlights of our guesthouse stay: seeing a stork catch a mouse and then, in order to take the heavy load up to its nest, back up to get a running start for take off.  Very cool.   Also, because the house had no coffee filters, learning to make great "cowboy coffee."  Amazing what you can do with just a pot and good instructions from the internet.

Thats it for now.

Viljandi Folk Music Festival 2016 - Viljandi, Estonia

We are very much behind on this trip's blog, but i will try to catch us up.   We arrived in Estonia last Wednesday, after a smooth trip.   Travel time passed quickly, as we were watching the Democratic convention!   

 Estonia feels like a second home these days.   We did have one unpleasant surprise.  We were going to rent a car, but that is no longer allowed without an international driver's license.  Yikes,   We had a great stay at the st petersberg hotel in Tallinn's old town (wonderful breakfast), and tried other car rental companies but eventually exhausted options.  The next morning we gave Estonia's bus sysrem a try -- had a comfortable, incredibly inexpensive bus trip to Viljandi.   We llinked up with the owner of the guesthouse we would be renting, who was kindly able to (through a friend) find us a car to loan for a few days so we could get back and forth from our house and the music festival.  

The guesthouse is very Estonian-complete with a sauna, a pair of nesting storks, a special stone out front.  It also has a little pond out front and a forest nearby, plus some pesky flies.   We are amazed at how inexpensive food is --even large bottles of imported olive oil are just $3 dollars or so.  A bag of groceries--$10 to $12.  

Now on to the music festival, which feels like a cross between the Renaissance fair and MetsaUlikool (Estonian cultural program in canada).  The music is great, the audiences appreciative.  We have heard some amazing stuff.  All of the groups perform varients of traditional music.  Some Is Estonian (as Viljandi is known for its Traditional Arts Center), but there are music groups from all over the world.  I will write more about the festival tomorrow.

One non-festival highlight was finding the cemetary plot where my Reiseberg forbarers are buried.  Strange to see it with my own eyes.   More on this too.