Lennart Meri 1929 - 2006

Today was Lennart Meri's funeral. Lennart was Estonia's first post-occupation president and the first president in Estonian history to die in Estonia and receive a state funeral. The funeral was carried live here on state television and his body was driven through the streets to the presedential palace with thousands of onlookers joining the procession. Regardless of what people think of his politics Meri was a pretty good first president to have after years of occupation (much better than our second president), he lived through being sent to Siberia to become a strong supporter of Estonia joining Europe. The service was very nice and included a nice eulogy written by estonian writer Jaan Kross, after a number speeches from various international digitaries the entire service was finished off with a touching rendition of "Mu isamaa on minu arm".