Trip to Osmussaar

The embassy staff went on a teambuilding trip on the 14th of September. Instead of the traditional go-to-a-cabin-and-drink-and-eat-for-a-weekend it was decided that we should go on a one day trekking excursion to the remote island of Osmussaar, which lies one and a half hours drive and 45 minutes sailing from Tallinn.

The only way to get from the mainland to Osmussaar is to charter a boat. The embassy had chartered a small fishing boat, which seemed barely able to traverse the waves we encountered en route. The skipper was not impressed by the size of the waves and hardly found them worth mentioning, even though people were being thrown back and forth in the little cabin. In any case I puked my guts out on the way back and forth.

After surviving the first leg of the journey and kissing ground after the landfall, we were faced with the big question of where to go. For such a small island of six square kilometres and two inhabitants Osmussaar had surprisingly many roads and signposts, pointing in every direction. After a bit of parley we toddled along one of the gravel roads between juniper shrubberies, succulent weeds and heather. Here and there bogs and small lakes reflected the crystal blue September-sky. The landscape had a harsh quality to it which the advancing autumn did nothing to soften. We were not alone, that was clear. Everywhere there were small piles of poo of a size which I was sure no rabbit could produce. And yes, soon we started to encounter sheep which blocked the trail in front of us until they chickened out and bounced away, bleating stupidly. Some of the rams had some really nasty horns.

Soon we encountered a small ruined church, hidden among the ground hugging trees, which had served the 140 Swedish-Estonians living on Osmussaar before they fled during the Second World War. The church had been hit by bombs during the war. The tower was now the only part left which kept the surrounding graves company.

According to one legend Odin, the chief god of the Vikings, is buried here, hence its Swedish name Odensholm. But the only thing which seems to be buried here besides Swedish farmers are rusty Soviet war machines and bunkers en masse. Beneath the heather and shrubbery, brown and bend metal was betraying the calmness and pristineness of the island. Ventilationshafts and half flooded entrances led down into the dark concrete burrows of long gone Soviet soldiers.

After an hours worth of trekking we came to the home of the sole inhabitant of Osmussaar. An old man and woman greeted us in front of their tiny house. The lived of the sheep and by seeing after the land for the state. Their home was surrounded my small half-buried building which included their sauna, cold cellar and outdoor toilet. They also had a satellite dish which I suspect might be their only entertainment during wintertime. In front of the house lay an old torpedo. Anybody who has seen “Dr. Strangelove” will understand this picture.

The old man took us to a nearby platform of a never completed soviet long-range canon. Operational, it was supposed to be able to reach targets 36 kilometres away. The Russians had used the scorched earth tactics and blown the canon up when they deserted Osmussaar in the face of the advancing German army. Now all that remained was half broken concrete and a vast hole filled with intricate but corroded metal constructs.

In the end we reached the lighthouse at the opposite tip of the island from where we had landed. The coast was much more dramatic here than on the other side, rising straight from the sea. Here we stopped and ate before we turned home. All in all a very enjoyable day, except for the puking.

The Estonian Experience

And so it became that I started a blog as a part of my new strategy to strengthen my online presence. Actually I’m personally against involvements in online communities such as blogs, My Space and Face Book because they are too time consuming. I mean, if there is not enough time to have a life in the real world, there is certainly no time for a virtual life.

But I give in because this blog will be an opportunity for me to stay in touch with old friends at home and new friends in Tallinn. It also seems suitable that I start my new blog now after this eventful summer which has seen a lot of changes for me personally with the movement from Århus to Copenhagen, the journey to China, and now the stay in Estonia for the next six months working as an intern at the Royal Danish Embassy.

Tallinn is fantastic, but my first impression was a mixed experience. When I landed in the airport last Tuesday with a jetlag from China it was very cold and windy, and I had been told that Estonian summers were hot and sunny. The two interns, Rosa and Rune, whose positions we were taking over picked me and my fellow intern Laura up in one of the embassy’s cars and drove us to our new apartment. Build in the Soviet era, the drap functionalism and worn down interior and exterior of this concrete silo will warm the hearth and moist the eye of any remaining fans of communism. But it’s situated a five minutes walk from the embassy and ten minutes from the centre of Tallinn. Sweet.

But as I said, Tallinn is fantastic. This city centre is an almost intact hanseatic merchant town from the middle ages, complete with a city wall, picturesque gothic towers, red tile roofs, steep and twisting alleyways with cobbled stone pavings which is lined with cosy and cheap bars, cafes and restaurants. Denmark may be called a fairytale country, but enchanting Tallinn is the real fairytale city. It feels centuries older than Copenhagen. The tourist economy is evident everywhere, but because of the Estonian Statue Crisis and the rising prices there are not so many tourists as there used to be. A good thing for me and a very bad thing for Tallinn and Estonia.

The embassy is still in holiday mode, so half of my colleagues including the ambassador are still on leave. But the rest of the employees seems nice, and the work interesting, although it’s all very new. The expat diplomat network also seems very good; I have already met people from the Norwegian, Swedish, British, French, Italian, American, and Russian embassies. So until now the Estonian Experience has been great!

Sunset and cocktails at Radisson hotel