Viiking Parnu

... of beach towels. The clinic wasn't hard to find. They took pity on a confused English tourist and took a look at Saskia's toe despite being a psychiatrists. They probably gave it some therapy too. The psychiatric nurse cleaned it up and disinfected it, the way I'd been doing, but this time with some bright green antiseptic that made Saskia's toe look like it belonged to a witch. They said the stitches could come out tomorrow and they didn't seem worried about the ...

... a line at exactly the right height for the person who has set them. In other words, if you aren't six foot two, you are stuffed. Both would probably give you splinters, as the chipboard they are fixed to was swollen and split with age and weather. It was only for the brave, believe me!

So, I set up the tent while the kids bounced on the trampoline. Then Nick made pancakes on the little camp-stove I'd bought all those weeks ago in England. He managed to set ...

... later we were already in Latvia. We had promised ourselves that we only hitch hike cars, no lorries, but after a nice lorry driver offered us a ride in a parking lot, we couldn't say no. So we had to eat our words already a couple of hours after after promising that. It was also our first experience with Russian on this trip. Next driver, a quiet nice man, told us a joke about Estonians ...

... road number E67 / 4), which is famous for the large amount of trucks and high speeds. The road wasn't actually that bad. There were some trucks, but road shoulders were in good shape so we had no trouble cycling as they passed us by. I was more afraid while cycling near Turku in Finland on roads than on Via Tallinn. Of course, the scenery at Via Tallinn wasn't very interesting, but if the goal is to move quickly and relatively safely along the shoreline of Estonia, it's a good ...

... you even start, but if someone was born in Estonia, or Finland, then their standards are most certainly different. After all, Pärnu was allegedly famous as a health resort, as well. And it could be that anywhere, any time of the year. In any case, one more of those towns of which there were piles in the Baltics, i.e. 750 years old or more, I am sure it deserved more time. But this time my way lead me to Tallinn.

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.

... one too fast (so almost got fined) Generally, it feels very strange, looking back at the past weeks. So many different places, so different people, so different experiences. A bit unbelievable that I was in South Africa only yesterday. But what do you know - just a bit more than 20 hours of flying, sleeping, eating, driving - and that's that!

... We made our way along Pikk street. This has an amazing number of buildings of medieval and later origin, beautifully decorated and now wonderfully preserved. Went back to the Town Hall Square for lunch. We revisited Balthasar, a restaraunt we had eaten in in 2001. It was still the same in decor as well as in quality. Had a fabulous meal there. We then wandered through the streets surrounding the square but returned there just before 3 as there was a free concert being ...

... I really could have anything I want and I choose muesli. Crazy! The days at sea are spent reading outside or in some corner of the ship, except when there is a class or show that seems interesting. There was a comedy show that was quite funny the other night. I am becoming quite fond of the mango daiquiris' here! It is also very entertaining to watch others on board. Many of the Europeans retreat to the upper deck to soak in ...

... standing around my things. Thinking that they might like the look of my clothes or ruc-sac I quickly left the bitter cold of the water and made my way to my things. When I got there an old Estonian guy said something that I didn't quite catch and when I asked him to repeat it he said 'are you crazy??' replying that I wasn't he shook his head and replied 'me thinks you are crazy' and pointed to the water quivering. After satisfying himself that I was in fact crazy he bid farewell and ...