Finally a good meal at a restaurant--and no chocolate

Yesterday afternoon, the senior missionaries (4 couples and Sister Harper and me), met with President and Sister Dance at the Mission Home for some training. I hadn't met one of the couples previously. Elder and Sister Pehrson serve in Estonia. She emigrated to America as a young child. More accurately, she and her family escaped from Estonia just before the borders were closed. He emigrated from Sweden to America and that's where they met and married. She still speaks Estonian fluently and they had a who served previously in Estonia and one son who completed his mission to Lithuania just prior to their arrival here. Very nice people, doing a great work in Estonia.

We then took a bus (and walked) to an Oriental restaurant (no decision as to whether it was Chinese, Japanese, something else, or a combination). The food was very good, whatever kind it was, and there was no chocolate anywhere to be seen! We each ordered off the menu and it was set up so that you chose from rice or noodles (a couple varieties of each available), chicken, beef, pork, shrimp or veggies, and then chose a sauce. I had the sweet and sour chicken with spinach noodles. It was a generous serving, presentation included strands of grass on top.

We left the restaurant and walked (in rain/snow) to the Dome Cathedral for a concert. This time the concert was poorly attended and I can understand why. It began with a very heavy/dark organ solo, followed by about 30 minutes of organ solos, most of which were dark/heavy. Elder Gubler said he kept watching for the chandelier to fall (it reminded us of Phantom of the Opera in places). Then 8 women came out, dressed in long billowy skirts and wearing fur jackets (remember this is the place that is not heated). They had beautiful voices and sang more notes than words. They would sing a note and let it reverberate through the cathedral and then sing another one. They were very talented. The "leader" had a very deep voice. Then a violinist performed, together with the organ. A portion of that number was very pretty, but much of it was very intense, too.

As we left the Cathedral, we walked out into a bitter cold Baltic wind, and walked over cobblestone streets, down "alleys" to the bus stop, and home. Even here, it's always nice to arrive safely home.