estonia is quite tiny - only 1.3 million people, with a third russians. however they seem quite happy to be estonians, and try to maintain estonianism despite russification. after centuries of occupation, in 1991 they are independent again.
that's pretty cool.
their country is about 3 times bigger than israel, which makes it rather thinly populated place, i think.
they developed skype.
and they won the eurovision.
and they have the oldest running pharmacy in the world (i think).
but more than anything else, these people are alive.
Tallinn is alive and kicking even at 1 am, and although it's quite small, the hang out area is compact.
so ok, there are tons of tourists and such, but hey - stockholm and helsinki are also full of tourists.
The main vibe i'm getting is that after decades of being bullied by the russians, occupied by the swedes, and danes, and romans, and what not, they are simply happy to be out and about, dancing to 80s music and what not, being hippy even if it's 40 years late (who cares?), and having a very good economy.
the food, btw, is almost as good as in Israel (but not quite).

go estonia!