Me and you; and you and Me

Dear Reader, every so often I take a short break from updating this blog. It's not because I don't love you...I do, truly. It's because so many people love me! When I have visitors, and I've been fortunate to have so many, they become my world during their visit. The nameless masses that have perused my blog, I hold you dear, and might even think about you from time to time. My visitors, however are exceptionally special in that they would travel so far to see me. It warms my heart and has made this wonderful experience in Estonia even better.
You never know what's going to happen when you come to Estonia. They weather could be hot, cold, rainy, muggy. There could be snow on the ground, or dust in the dry air. If you're lukcy, the weather will be nearly perfect. But fortunatley for me, this isn't why my visitors came to Estonia.
They made the trip to see me! I will forever have special memories with these folks that spent a few days, or weeks with me in Eastern Europe. And we have the pictures to prove it!
So thanks again you guys! And thank you to those who read the blog as well. I love getting responses, e-mails, and kind remarks from all of you. Two months to go!

The Parental Unit

For the last two weeks, Mom and Dad have been visiting me in Estonia. I am truly fortunate and blessed to have friends and family who love me enough to come and visit me nearly halfway around the world. Thank you.

I know that my parents had a great time, as do all of my visitors, however, they were not instore for my personal brand of big-city turism...Andrew Schmidt-Superturist. It's really more of a guide to life really ;) Here are a few ground rules:

1. You must walk everywhere. Only use public transportation for day trips and when you're too exhausted to walk another step. In the case of roadtrips, you must have a Mabel.
2. You must walk enough to be so exhausted you cannot take another step. This usually entails at least a good 5-8 hours of walking a day. In the case of raodtrips, see previous blog about my roadtrip.
3. Do you stop to eat?....NO! Eating is secondary to the turist experience. It is an afterthough usually thought of as a nuisance. The best case scenario is that there is a quick easy place to pick up food you can take with you on your walk.
4. You must see everything...and take a picture of it. Does this mean you have to go inside everywhere?....NO! After your 100th palace/castle and church many of them start to look the same anyway. I should probably go inside more often.
5. Follow the suvenier rule: You can buy one big item (preferably something that can be folded or light), or three smaller items (in my case, 2 postcards and a keychain).

Here are some highlights from the 2 weeks my parents spent with me. We spent 2 days in Tallinn, 1 in Narva, 3 in St. Petersburg, and 5 driving around Estonia. The other days were really travel days.