Laurie says:

After I left Iceland, after a few days in Helsinki, I went on to Estonia. It’s one of the Baltic states and has been described as a country of cities in the forest. Over forty six percent of Estonia’s territory is covered by forests. (Unlike Iceland where trees are less then five percent.) It is extremely beautiful in a delicate way

Estonia is a country that has been occupied by others for almost all of its history. (Except for 22 years in the early 20th century.) They have maintained their identify through language (related to Finnish), culture, and song. Their successful rebellion against the Soviets in 1989 was called the Singing Revolution.

I was there visiting my daughter Cid and her partner David. David was a Fulbright Scholar teaching dance and choreography in Viljandi for the spring semester. (Cid’s Fulbright in Estonia was a few years ago.) I was supposed to visit them then, but that volcano erupted in Iceland closing down flights and canceling my trip.

The forests feel like you’re inside a fairy tale or a woodland fantasy novel. The forest floor has scattered mushrooms and berries and I picked some edible early blue berries. The bogs are edged with forests and are flat with delicate vegetation and seemed to me to be lacking in drama until we came upon a stunning series of bog ponds filled with water lilies. I swam in the cold brown peat water among the lilies.

The photos are snapshots of some of the places that I experienced.
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The forest was on the edge of a bog.
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There is a delicacy to the blog flora that really pleases me.
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The bog was reflecting the clouds.

The next Estonia photos will be of the old city in the capital, Tallinn.