I may be in the Tallinn neighborhood within the next month or so. Does anybody know whether Estonia offers factory tours and if so, how one is arranged? A few days ago I sent an email to a Tallinn address listed on the website, but I haven't received a reply.

Hi Karen,

Dr. Indrek Laul (owner of Estonia piano) is a member and friend of our forums.
I've emailed him your question.

If you can tour it (I don't know the answer), and are allowed to take pictues, please remember to come back and post pictures and comments.

Best,

Frank B.

Indrek's reply:

Thank you forwarding this email, yes, we offer tours, mostly to Estonia piano owners, but also to some good enthusiasts and friends, such as the good PW members!

To arrange it, please have them email to info@estoniapiano.ee, factory will contact them.

However, our company is closed from end of June until the beginning of August, for vacation.

Thank you, Frank! I'm getting more and more committed to this trip, which is a good thing. The initial plan was to spend about a week in Helsinki with a friend who is there for training. Tallinn is a short ferry ride away. I'll contact Dr. Laul when plans are firmed up re dates. If it works out, I'll definitely come back with pics.

Sounds exciting Karen,

Hope it all works out for you.

Best,

Frank B.

Dr. Laul?

I was in Tallinn, but I wasn't able to meet with Dr. Laul or see the factory. I had a loose travel schedule, and my arrival clashed with holidays.

I did attend a piano recital in which an Estonia was used.

You may have noticed Tallinn mentioned in the news lately:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6602171.stm

I arrived on the afternoon of April 26 and was awakened at midnight by the sound of breaking glass. The retail downstairs of the building I stayed in was quite ransacked. To me, it looked like 99% looting and 1% politically motivated. An excuse to break windows and steal merchandise.

But Tallinn has a beautiful old town and the people are very friendly. For the non-Estonian speakers, almost everyone speaks English very well. It's rather embarassing - the restaurant servers speak perfect English. I didn't get outside of Tallinn. Things were so interesting that I stuck around.

Next time, I will make a more solid appointment with Dr. Laul.