Our first cross country ski

It turns out that cross-country skiing is largely easier than it looks – as long as you have two functioning knees.

We headed South of Tallinn this morning to one of the major cross-country skiing areas. After a brief introduction from a teacher we set off. Callum and Declan were moving along nicely almost immediately. Jennifer fell over a couple of times and then found her rhythm. I struggled. In theory the straight motion should have meant it was OK even with my knee, but it turned out there was more, and too much, lateral motion as well. The star of the morning was Declan, who not only moved along nicely but managed, bravely, to take on a lovely downhill slope at speed – twice.

This afternoon we paid a brief visit to Tallinn’s Kiek in de Kok – an artillery tower built in 1475.  The name means ‘peek in the kitchen’ which is apparently a reference to the bored guards atop the tower watching the townspeople’s activities. The pronunciation is tricky – imagine someone with a really strong New Zealand accent saying “kick in the cook” and you’d be close. The tower is a museum of military history and, truth be told, wasn’t up to much. The bottom two floors were devoted to an Estonian who because a feted Sumo wrestler in Japan, which was weirdly interesting for a moment.

Then a final visit to the supermarket – we’re cooking at home this evening as we’re all in need of some vegetables. Jennifer, Declan, Ana and Bob went for their last Estonian skate, while Callum continued his obsessive work on his timetable program and Julia and I entertained each other.