Estonia is not much bigger than WV in both size and
population. However, it's two largest largest cities Tallinn
(the capital) and Tartu (the university town) have a population
of 350,000 and 100,000 respectively. Estonia is so far north
, that at this time of year there is little darkness at night.
When I was there, the sun came up and the birds were singing at
3 am!
In business ratings.. Estonia is number 4 in the world.
The U.S is number 14. Estonia is mostly flat but has very small
rolling hills. Estonia, like WV is mostly forested, with
pine trees being the dominant tree. Estonia was conquered by many
of it's surrounding neighbors over the centuries, due to it's
tiny size. Russia was the last, but after the wall fell,
gave Estonia back it's independence.
Estonians for the most part hate the Russians because under Soviet rule,
during W.W.II... almost 2/3s of Estonians were killed outright or sent
to Siberia where they died. Old Town in Tallinn is one of the oldest
medieval cities in Europe, and Tartu University has drawn people from
all over Europe for centuries.
When two Estonians converse, bystanders could imagine
they are hearing birdsong. In fact, the Estonian language is one
of the most euphonious and onomatopoeic in the world. There is no shortage
of words describing various subtleties of natural sound, made by wind,
water and forest, while at the same time the number of words describing
tastes and smells is quite small when compared with other languages.
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