Automaton & Pig

Automaton & Pig
Originally uploaded by skitster.

So we arrive at the Museum of Estonian Music in Tallinn while we were there in July 2005. We just want to learn about, and perhaps hear, some Estonian music.

We’re asked if we want a “musical guide” while we’re going round and, thinking that we’d get a CD with a commentary linked to numbers on exhibits.

After climbing the three flights of stairs (viewing some fantastic Estonian cabaret posters from the 1940’s on the way) we find that there’s a little old lady who showed us round the exhibits, invited us to play some of the grand piano’s and cranked up the musical boxes when requested. These included this thing, an automaton with a pig on its lap.

While running, the waistcoat rose up and down to suggest breathing and the pig looked at its master, out to the viewer, that back to its master. Possibly strange and beautiful, possibly scary at hell.

A Half Litre of Hell Hunt Light

A Half Litre of Hell Hunt Light
Originally uploaded by skitster.

They do beer there, too.

Hell Hunt

Hell Hunt Pub
Originally uploaded by skitster.

Clare and I spent the last week of July exploring Tallinn & Finland which has, finally, given me something to write about.

'Hell Hunt’ is a pub in Tallinn, Estonia, the name means 'friendly wolf' in Estonian, apparently, but an older, pre-tourist pub sign that's inside the pub depicts a stag, not a wolf.

I'd like to think I was drinking in the 'Wild Hunt' pub, and the wolf bit was invented to not-freak us out, but I do like the new logo with the naked lady straddling the ‘friendly wolf’ too.

Good bar. Good beer. Good cheese platter, served with an entire roasted garlic as a garnish. Slurp.