Nantes, France

View on the hostel I am staying in. Nantes, France.

Open window at night. Still too hot.

Castle of Nantes

Flag of Nantes.

Wall in one of the toilets in old town.

Residents of Nantes are very proud of a giant moving elephant, that moves across the town once a year.

Anarchists are active in Nantes.

Poster for the unification of Brittany. Nationalists with a leftist influence. Breton language, now close to extinction is one of few Celtic languages (Cornish in South-West England, Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Isle of Man area)

 Musée des Beaux Arts.

After the battle of Waterloo. Morning.

 

Another scene from  Musée des Beaux Arts.

Was walking around old town, trying to find language schools. Found protesters, demonstrating against the new airport that Nantes wants to build not far from the town. 

I asked a guy in the beret cap if they are going to occupy the square. He told me that they do not like violence, and just want to spread information, but if they have to, they will resist. I told him that in Eastern Europe people do not tend to protest. He agreed, citing his friend from Russia. I liked the young Lenin, but had to keep walking.

Action-art!

Typical street in Nantes Old Town.

Sebastian is master of unexpected encounters. I am not sure he is aware of it himself.

Audience:

Backstage action

Crazy drummer at Toolse FreeLove Festival

The third festival this week was called FreeLove, in Toolse, North-East Estonia. The name was especially ironic since it was full of local chavs who were ready to punch your teeth in case you said something wrong. Especially if you did not speak Russian. Luckily, everything went well and without incidents. 

Toolse Castle where festival was held.

Making plans for the night.

Occupying grass in front of the castle.

Professional cook/soldier

Session before the main concert.

Check out the drummer

Highlight of the while night.

People climbing 

Morning

FreeLove is held every year in different places around Estonia, this was my first attendance. I expected more people and better weather, but in general it is worth attending since it is also free...  

Volunteering/добровольцы

I decided to take on volunteering one day and joined my friend at Maidla, near Rapla, in central Eesti. The work was supposed to be with kids but it turned out they were almost my age... 

The orphanage where kids live

Our team's house

As well it was time to visit Viljandi Folk Festival for the first time.

Lonely sailboat on the lake near Viljandi

Honestly most of the program was boring, except some variations from our Georgian and Jamaican friends. Me and my volunteer team arrived to Viljandi on the last day of the festival..That could have been the reason other performers did not have that "something" that these guys had:

My team member waiting for something:

Another festival was happening in another village called Maidla in Ida-Virumaa (North-Eastern Estonia). This festival is organised once a year for all Maidla villages (5 of them in total) from across Eesti. It included a long boring speech, during which I felt I was on a Communist Party meeting:

However, the dances that followed the speech, mixed with some local home beer, cheered up the audience:

Korean toilet paper:

Korean noodles:

Korean sauce(?):

Another Korean sauce:

Korean chewing gum:

Korean sauce again. Very spicy and goes well with chicken:

Korean spices:

Daily routine of playing Uno:

On the way to the local shop in Maidla, Rapla vald:

My work:

My team members and orphanage staff enjoying the last dinner together. Of course it included a ceremonial speech at the beginning.

If you want to donate anything to the Maidla orphanage, visit http://www.maidlalastekodu.ee/kontakt