We'd planned on spending some time exploring downtown Helsinki today. Mostly, we wanted to sift through the flea markets Tara had discovered during her research last night. We had no intention of buying anything, it just sounded like fun. So, this morning, I made waypoints to several of them in our GPS and we hit the road.

It took about ten minutes to make the drive from our campsite to the city. Then, about two to realize our plan was fatally flawed. When we pulled over to park near our first market, Tara discovered parking was €4 per hour. Ouch. We were briefly bummed we hadn't taken the metro, or rented the tandem at our campsite when Tara realized that another, larger market was on the edge of the city. Off we went.

After circling around back roads for twenty minutes trying to find it, we both realized we no longer cared. Our dispassion was borne out of the reality that we spend something like half of our life these days trying to find stuff. This was supposed to be a rest day! So, we headed back to the campsite.

We whiled away the remainder of our day at the beach with a picnic, a swim, and some good reading. Now that's more like it!

Hours later, when it was time for dinner, Tara made another batch of camp-style currywurst! Yum.

Wallet Theft Update:

Today, we received a message from my Dad informing us that the state of Minnesota will only allow him to request a replacement DL for Tara and I if he has power of attorney over us to do so. At first I was bummed, thinking we'd have to take our chances at the Russian border with our IDLs. My Dad, on the other hand, was unconcerned.

Somehow, in less than two hours, he'd hunted down enough information create a letter giving him power of attorney over us for this function, and managed to get it notarized! Then, he went to the courthouse, convinced them it was a legit proposition and placed the expedited order. Incredible.

Seriously, again, thank you so much Dad, Mom, Mark and Lisa. We hardly know where to begin with our gratitude; your support is invaluable to us. We love you guys!