Halloween in Estonia

Since most of eastern Europe apparently doesn't care about Halloween, we had a devilish time trying to find pumpkins in October. Even in Estonia, where the holiday is beginning to catch on, we couldn't find any pumpkins. We were distressed. How were we to celebrate Halloween with no jack o'lanterns?!

But then, we found orange bell-peppers.

(That's Kaylie with the pepper. I don't know who that random guy is.)

But alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. There was a lot that happened that Halloween. In fact, rather than writing it all over again, I'm just going to pull out the segment from my travel log that covers that day. (Hurray for journaling!)

Ahem.

"10:10pm, October 31, 2011

This has probably been the coolest Halloween of my young life.

One of the guys who works at our hostel has connections - to a guy with connections - and was able to get us in to this freaky old prison. We paid 9€ each for the nighttime tour, and it was so worth it. The prison - once an ancient fortress on the seacoast - was only shut down six years ago; so the guy who was giving us the tour has friends who spent some time in there (for unknown crimes).

It was really creepy. Our tour guide got the keys from his hook-up and took us into some parts of the prison that aren't open to the general populace. Some of the building's lights had gone out, and there were several rooms we had to sneak into with flashlights in hand. We saw prison cells, solitary confinement, and the execution chamber. We also got to see a "haunted" room, which is apparently inhabited by a malevolent ghost that drives prisoners insane - it had more suicides than any other room. Everyone was freaked out by the end of the tour. I was delighted.

Then I went with the other ILP girls to a medieval tavern for dinner. It was unreal - like a fairy tale come true. The place was all made of stone and was lit only by candlelight. The servingwoman had a plump body and a sharp tongue.

"I'll have a large pot of elk soup," I told her determinedly. ("Worthy Elk Soup, Full of Taste" according to the sign.)

(Yummy, yummy!)

The woman raised an eyebrow at me, pulling a clay bowl off the stack and ladling soup into it. "Have you got any money?" she asked in a near-Irish accent. I showed her my coins and we did business.  She passed me the bowl. (No utenstils; in medieval times, people who wanted utensils brought their own, apparently.)

Heather - one of the ILP girls - was still looking at the different choices with a critical eye. "I'm not sure if I want a spinach pie or some soup. Can I try some of yours?" she asked, looking at me.

Before I could respond, the servingwoman interrupted, "Don't let her." I looked at the woman curiously. She leaned toward me over the counter, conspiratorially, and I leaned in to listen. "I know an old story," she said, warningly, "about a little man with a little spoon . . . ."

I listened to the tale. I didn't let Heather try my soup.

We spent a long time sitting in a dark corner in that tavern, conversing in the flickering candlelight, telling ghost stories. The soup was delicious, but the atmosphere of the place nearly overwhelmed me with pleasure. Again, I found myself filled with pure delight.

And elk.

When we got back to the hostel for the night, we started celebrating Halloween the American way: we got candy. (I've been saving American candy for weeks just to eat tonight).

We've had a really hard time finding pumpkins in Russia, but here in Estonia Jodi was able to find a suitable compromise: orange peppers. Leslie, Kaylie, and Jodi all bought some, and they look like mini-pumpkins. They even carved them, and we lit them up with our cell-phone lights. It was a lot of good Halloween fun.

So, all in all, it was a great way to spend Halloween."

(This is Kaylie carving her "pepperpumpkin."
I didn't get any pictures of them lit up.
My phone camera is incredible - for a phone camera -
but it doesn't have a flash, and does poorly in the dark.)

Anyway, that was Day 3 of our ten day vacation. Halloween; a wonderful holiday. Estonia's really not a bad place to spend it, if you've got the chance.

Still, though, I'll bet you guys had a pretty great Halloween in the States, too. (Probably everyone there even knew that what the holiday was!) I'd love to hear about how yours went.

Next up to bat: Pictures of Estonia
On deck: The Forests of Sweden