Promenaadi Parnu

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The beach in Pärnu is perfect - sea, sun, sand. I was burnt within 10 minutes, despite the kids' factor 50 suncream. There were plenty of things for the kids to climb on and swing on, that cost nothing.

Nick, however, had the worst toilet experience he claims ever to have had.
"It was like the French Pits," he explained, "but smeared." Mmmm, nice. "They worked, though," he added, "I didn't need to go after seeing them."

Bonus.

... to the pan and then tread on the case, breaking it, before producing some gloopy, inch thick, industrial strength pancakes. They weren't bad with sugar and jam.

Nick, however, was fortified by the rediscovery under one of the seats in the car, of a box containing two rotten peaches and the remains of the much missed Polish sausage. The sausage sported small, white, blooms of mould, but this didn't stop him drooling over it and eating it with clear enjoyment.

As we were so excited the night before, all this packing, getting to know each other (as we didn't have all the time in the world for that), few glasses of wine ... We woke up at 12pm the next day. Although we were a little disappointed that we didn't have an early start we felt fresh from the long sleep and happy that we both shared the same sleeping pattern. (as long as we can!) We made ...

... but the bike was still there next day at 15 o'clock. I guess they'll pick it up at Monday.

The hotel was nice and our room was very spacious and had a balcony as an extra. We stayed at the spa level and the spa was 20 meters away, so as soon as I was done with CityBike we put bathrobes on, walked to the spa and soaked in jacuzzi for pretty long time. It felt pretty good after 280km of cycling, and especially after cycling in the rain.

The spa itself was small ...

... of Tallinn. Instead of stopping by at least for a day and taking a proper look around, all I got there was just a brief stop-over. They say the town becomes pretty sleepy come autumn, but in summer it allegedly springs to life with life on the beach, dozens of festivals, night clubs and the big party crowd that moves in here for the season. Of course, for us from the Mediterranean, saying that a town above 58° of ...

This blog is now finished. I will stay in Estonia for a couple of days, celebrate the weekend in Riga, and fly to Singapore on Monday. I will be living & working in Singapore for about 1-1,5 years (well, that's at least the plan), traveling around the neighboring countries. If and when I manage to create a blog about my trips around there, it will most probably reside in blogspot.com. Life goes on. Enjoy every moment.

This evening I arrived back to Pärnu! Home sweet home! Some general numbers... - 44 days (on the trip since 20.Sept. Actually, I spent 17.-18.Oct in Estonia, so the total should be 42 days) - about 70 hours of pure flight time - 6 countries (Estonia, Latvia, Germany, UK, UAE, South Africa) - 4 timezones skipped (earliest UK summertime GMT+1 ...

... We had a table at a neighbouring restaurant, so had a nice bottle of rose while we listened to the concert. It was a popular classics concert containing such favourites as Beethoven's 5th, William Tell Overture, Peer Gynnt Suite and Ravel's Bolero to name a few. We really enjoyed it. We have now returned to the hotel. Tomorrow we venture into Russia and from our guide's warnings are not sure what communication we will have. I will post what I can, when I can.

... the flag on the top of the tower is one of the best-known symbols of Estonian independence. Crowning the hill of Toompea is the Alexander Nevesky Cathedral, the largest and grandest of Tallinn's orthodox cathedrals. Not far from here you will find the Lutheran Toomkirik or cathedral of St Mary the virgin, the oldest cathedral in Tallinn. I had just about had my fill of churches by this time and was choosing to ignore the calls of all the saints and instead answer the call of a different ...

... Kind of defeats the purpose of them being there, one would have thought. The town centre is attractive (or at least would be if they weren't in the process of ripping it all to pieces for some reason the woman in tourist info wouldn't explain) but also very small. A real 'walk and you've seen it all in 1 hour' place, though in it's favour it did have a very nice park just behind a fairly ...