Day 510: A Meetup, Finally

After yesterday's false start, we headed back down into the old town and met mum and Rae at the spot - they'd just arrived which was nice. Great to see them both after almost a year (we last saw them in Manchester in late July). Had a coffee to catch up and then wandered the old town and the fortress for a few hours. They were here on a cruise that stopped at the major Baltic ports, so we played tour guide a little bit since we'd been here for a few days and had a good grasp on the history etc.

Took our time over a long lunch at a nice steakhouse, then did a bit more shopping and some sightseeing. Their boat was leaving at 4:30pm so around 3 we started to wander back towards the port. There was a cafe just near the cruise boat but unfortunately Shandos and I couldn't get in there because we didn't have boarding passes! So we said a fairly abrupt goodbye, as they departed back to the ship en route to St Petersburg.

It was so nice to see a familiar face again, since they were basically the first people we'd met up with since seeing a friend in Berlin back in November. That's a long time to have nobody else to talk to! Always sad to say goodbye as well, but it'll be much less time now, since we're planning to be back in Australia for Christmas.Read more