Estonia has been free from Soviet control for the same amount of time as Russia, yet it seems to be doing much better. The cars are newer and nicer. The streets are clean and the city has the markings of an environmentally-conscious city. The people look better off than their Russian counterparts. The land of Kazaa and Skype is reputed to be the most wired country in the world, in terms of broadband availability. It was such a contrast coming from Russia and seeing the differences in post-Communist development so clearly. In fact, the only clues I saw that Estonia is still developing was everything was cheaper and we saw lots of knock-off stuff.

And the clincher for me was the national beer, Saku. Being a domestic beer, a can is only about 60 cents USD. But although cheap, it tasted like a great amber (my favorite kind of beer, for the uninformed). Here’s to Estonia!