Mall Stroller

Mall stroller - that was me today. It was cool, windy and sprinkling, so inside I went. When you rent a stroller there, it costs $4.00. $5.00 to get one, and a dollar back when you return it. I rented one because I didn't want to use my cane or my ski sticks in the mall.

Next time I think I'll just cadge a cart from Target or TJ's. I'm just not confident walking for extended periods with no support, and if you lean on a wall or grab a column, people think you're in trouble.

They say that once around the mall is 4/5 of a mile, which would be .8 - so it's .2 farther than from Clinch to the West End.

It's harder to pretend you're in Norway when you're in the mall.

Global Geocaching

When we go on our cruise at the end of May, we'll be visiting seven different countries. There are geocaches everywhere that you go in the world, so Dick wanted to make sure that we find at least one in each country. He found email addresses for cachers on the the website, and sent some letters asking about caches that might be in the areas where the cruise ships dock. So far he has received three responses. This is the letter that Dick sent to all of them:

Greetings from the USA,
We are going to be in Gdynia/Gdansk Tuesday May 27 on a cruise. We have a limited amount of shore time and would like to find a cache in town in which we could leave one of our geocoins. Could you please recommend a cache in town that is, convenient to the docking area, not strenuous, and is large enough to receive a travel bug. If none is available, perhaps you might be placing one this spring?
Thank you,
Dick and Nancy of Basswood Bend
PS: As a reward/ thank you gift/ sweetener, we would be glad to drop one of our unactivated coins for your personal collection if you would like.

POLAND (Gdansk)
[GEO] basswoodbend contacting Topik from Geocaching.com‏
From: Richard Steiger (basswoodbend@gmail.com)
Sent: Tue 4/08/08 5:58 AM

From: Alicja i Sławomir Jędrzejewscy Date: 2008/4/7
Hello
Thank you for your message. We have been in Gdansk with our daughter and we've found few places to hide a cache. Before we'll do it please ask a few questions:- How much time have you got for searching this cache and from place will you start searching ( airport, railway station, old town)?- How will you move in Gdansk ( by car, by bus, walking )?- Could you reach a point view or you couldn't climb a little hill? Because of travel bug witch will be in that cache we suppose the cache should be registered in Geocaching.com. We send a link to most popular geocache portal in Poland: http://www.opencaching.pl/


FINLAND (Helsinki)

Date: Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 2:49 AM
Subject: Re: [GEO] basswoodbend contacting reijamasa from Geocaching.com
To: basswoodbend@gmail.com


Hello Dick and Nancy!

I´m sorry to inform you that we do not know much about Helsinki´s
suitable caches for your needs. It must be over a year since we have
been caching in Helsinki area.

But what I can do is give you a name to ask from, he knows much better
than we do; he lives there.
Ask from Mikkozzz, I know he can help you, he has many local caches of his own.

Have a nice time in Helsinki.

reijamasa


SWEDEN (Stockholm)

Dick and Nancy,

For a really close cache that would hold geocoins I would recommend the
cache "Katarinahissen" (GCPCRH). It is about 300-400 meters away from where
the cruise ships usually dock so even if you only have a half hour ashore
you should be able to get there ;)

It's hidden in a stone wall and you have to go up some stairs from street
level to get to it. It's not hard at all (grabbed it during my lunch hour in
full "bank-suit"). Spoiler picture is really good.

I've attached to KML files (for Google Earth); one points out where the
ships usually dock and the other one is for the cache.

If you do head into town I would also recommend a few of my own caches
1) "The Stockholm Syndrome" (GCN14J) - Just outside the bank where a hostage
situation in the early 70's gave name to a certain psychological phenomena.
2) "Urban Squirrel" (GCKV2D) - "Quicky" outside the Prime Minister's office
(no way that would be possible in the U.S.)
3) "The Murder Weapon" (GCMB6V) - Hidden along the escape route of the
murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme. Cache is big enough to hold a TB

I will unfortunately be in Rome on the 22nd of May. Otherwise it would have
been great to meet up and I could have given you a quick tour.

Good luck and I hope you will enjoy my hometown

/Ulf Gerhamn