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bernienapp
Dec 14, 20233 min read
The sword
A long, iron blade arcs swiftly, cleaving flesh and bone, an arbiter of destiny. A twist of fate for Kalevipoeg, Estonia’s mythical giant...
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bernienapp
Dec 3, 20234 min read
Losing a house, gaining a family
The hospitality we received in Estonia was outstanding. Our search for Napps in grandfather’s hometown confirmed this in a single,...
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bernienapp
Nov 22, 20233 min read
Looking at Russia
Wooden houses and tall trees line the Narva river; fishermen dot a smooth, brown, steady current. Russia’s face to the West, 100 metres...
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bernienapp
Nov 18, 20233 min read
A note on cycling
I am forever thankful to the logging truck driver who put their life at risk to save ours. We rode a small road downhill to a sudden stop...
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bernienapp
Nov 6, 20233 min read
Estonian etiquette
Keep at least 3 metres' distance from someone you haven’t met before, says a website on how to socialise in Estonia. We thought we’d...
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bernienapp
Oct 25, 20233 min read
Death at the stroke of a pen
More than two years ago I discovered among our father’s papers several typewritten copies of a two-page document he had never mentioned,...
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bernienapp
Oct 20, 20232 min read
Estonia's most dangerous animal
Not wolves, bears or lynxes – the meanest critter in Estonia is 2mm long, and almost impossible to avoid. Ticks are much like spiders and...
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bernienapp
Sep 28, 20234 min read
An old farmhouse
Deep in our family memory is the farmstead, the talu where grandma grew up and where dad spent a winter and spring during the war. While...
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bernienapp
Sep 23, 20232 min read
Soul of Estonia
More than half of Estonia’s land area is forest, and so the forest figures large in the Estonian imagination, in myth and legend, culture...
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