ATDTDA (2): Esthonia Hotel (39.24)

[Tim Strzechowski]

Lew went to register at the tall, rickety Esthonia Hotel (p. 39).


To my knowledge the Esthonia Hotel, like the Packers Inn, is Pynchon's invention.  But ...


 
Estonia (older English spelling Esthonia), officially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti or Eesti Vabariik), is a country in Northern Europe. Estonia has land borders to the south with Latvia and Russia to the east. It is separated from Finland in the north by the narrow Gulf of Finland and from Sweden in the west by the Baltic Sea.

Estonia has been a member of the European Union since May 1, 2004 and of the NATO since March 29, 2004. Along with Finnish, Hungarian and Maltese, Estonian is one of the few official languages of the European Union that is not of Indo-European origin.

[...]

In response to a period of Russification initiated by the Russian empire in the 1890s, Estonian nationalism took on more political tones, with intellectuals first calling for greater autonomy, and later, complete independence from the Russian empire. Following the October Revolution, Estonia declared itself an independent republic on February 24, 1918. After winning the Estonian Liberation War against Soviet Russia (the Treaty of Tartu was signed in February 2, 1920), Estonia maintained its independence for twenty-two years. Initially a parliamentary democracy, the parliament (Riigikogu) was disbanded in 1934, following political unrest caused by the global economic crisis. Subsequently the country was ruled by decree by Konstantin Päts, who became President in 1938, the year parliamentary elections resumed. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia

http://www.riik.ee/en/

http://www.tourism.ee/