Tallinn Trip – Estonian History Museum (Barbed Wire)

This is the sort of random exhibit that I like in a museum, some old and slightly rusty barbed wire. Irrelevant in itself, but it at one stage marked the border between Russia and Estonia following the Treaty of Tartu. This was a good deal for Estonia, they got their independence and also a cash handout, whilst Russia were able to stop having to worry about the Estonian War of Independence which had been going on since 1918. The skilful deal was signed by Jaan Poska, who would have likely made an incredibly competent second hand car salesman, on behalf of Estonia and secured their independence until what transpired to be the Second World War. The barbed wire is from near the border with Narva, a crossing which has recently seen reduced access because of the whole Russian war thing. And it’s a reminder that sometimes rusty old things in museums have seen more drama than on a reality TV show.

Anyway, apologies to my two loyal blog readers that I’m now writing about barbed wire and apologies that there isn’t much Bev, Steve, Ross or Susanna gossip here. Ross had pretty much completed the museum, Steve had nearly completed it, I was about 30% of the way in and Susanna and Bev were still reading about Estonia in the fourteenth century.