World Kissing Day

A very enjoyable day sightseeing in Tartu. We started in the town square which was where the finish to the World Orienteering sprint race was held. This is where we found the Kissing Student Fountain and decided it fit the bill for World Kissing Day.

'The Kissing Students' sculpture and fountain is one of the most recognised symbols of Tartu. A fountain has stood in the same place since 1948, when newlyweds and their guests would visit it for luck, and people would also take a dip in it. The sculpture was created by Mati Karmin and completed in 1998. Since 2006 the fountain has been surrounded by tiles bearing the names of Tartu's sister cities: Bærum, Deventer, Ferrara, Fredriksberg, Hafnarfjörður, Hämeenlinna, Kaunas, Lüneburg, Pihkva, Riia, Salisbury, Tampere, Turu, Uppsala, Veszprem and Zutphen. They are situated in the direction that the cities lie from Tartu, marking the distances.

From there we had a walk round the old town visiting the observatory and just as a shower started the greenhouses of the Botanic Gardens. The extra is Angel's Bridge the oldest bridge in Tartu and the name is derived from the name English bridge.

We just got back to the house to find the legendary Thierry Gueorgiou had held off the competition to win gold in his last World Championship Middle distance event.