ESTONIA - DID YOU KNOW?

A meaningless collection of strange, but true facts about Estonia

	The Game That Never Happened
	Famously, Scotland were due to play Estonia in Tallinn in October 1996 in a qualifying match. The Estonian team failed to turn up to their own fixture. Caps awarded by the Scottish FA are famously known as the Three Second Caps (the game only lasted 3 seconds)! Read the full match report here.

Proud Olympic City
Yes, indeed, the Olympics did take place in Tallinn with the sailing and yachting events in the 1980 Moscow Olympics being held at Pirita beach. Do you want to go sailing in the sea ... or on ice?

	Even the Churches Have Ears
	KGB secretly used the spire of St Olav's Church - the really tall spire in the Old Town - as a radio tower. The locals never even knew about isConveniently it was also located next door to the Estonian KGB hq

	Home of Soviet Chewing Gum
	Chewing Gum was banned in the Soviet Union as being capitalist americana. But in an effort to show that what the Yanks could do, Soviets could do better, the Kalev confectionary factory in Tallinn was permitted to produce chewing gum for the 1980 Olympic Games.


Dig a Grave for Stalinism
n 1989, 5,000 volunteers turned out to dig the foundations for the Estonian National Library in defiance at Moscow's plans to scupper the plan by slashing the building budget, in their eyes digging a very grave for the Stalinism which has undermined their nation. The Velvet Revolution is under way!

Apparently traders have been decorating the Christmas tree in Tallinn since 1411 (although the Latvians, claim that they did it first!).

Why not visit Tallinn's beautiful Christmas Market, and while you are here, have a go at Curling?


If you go out in the woods today...
...then take care, as over 600 wild bears roam the Estonian countryside...and if the bears, don't get you, then the 170 wolves and 16,000 wild boars might do so instead.