Sunday, May 22, 2011

Geocaching and Waymarking Estonia

Can you spot the geocache in this picture? (Answer at end of post.) Ordinarily, I'm not a big fan of urban geocaching, but I wanted to add "Estonia" to my list of countries geocached. I think that makes 10.

There aren't a ton of waymarks in Tallinn, but on my recent trip, I decided to hit a few of them and add a couple more. I started out with adding a "You Are Here" ("Asud Siin") sign just outside my hotel.
I think my favorite part is the other "You Are Here" sign right behind it. (No, I didn't mark that one; I don't have time to be a completist.)

Next, we come to what was probably my favorite waymark, "Moment After the Kiss". Near the hotel, just outside Old Tallinn, is a park with a hill known as "Kissing Hill". The government (no idea whether local or national) commissioned this sculpture a few years ago. I think I just like the fact that a government was able to install something other than a bland, literal statue of two people kissing. Props to the Estonians for their taste in art.
Hmm. According to the sculptor's web site, there was also a "Moment Before the Kiss" sculpture that I missed. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

I visited a couple more waymarks of minimal interest, and created one more. I had been to the World Heritage site of Old Tallinn almost exactly four years ago. Although I had just started waymarking, I didn't create the waymarking in the "World Heritage Sites" category. I rectified that this time.

OK, well what about that geocache? It was under the post box.
Sorry for the odd angle on the picture, but it was actually harder to take the picture without attracting notice than it was to retrieve the geocache. To retrieve it, I just sat on the ground and pretended to fiddle with my phone (OK, I actually was fiddling with my phone, trying to get WiFi) until nobody was looking too closely. Sadly, neither geocoin I had with me fit in the box, but I did accomplish my goal of finding an Estonian cache.

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