http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Phyllis-and-Gene/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Phyllis and Gene en-us Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:25:29 +0000 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:25:29 +0000 Day 21 Sunday June 21 2009 A Day Trip from Helsinki to Tallinn Estonia We were happy to see some of our Elderhostel tour members at the buffet breakfast at the hotel this morning. Everyone but us will be flying away later today. Our flight isn't until Monday so we have one extra day in Helsinki. Since the entire city is virtually closed for the Midsummer holiday we have decided to t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-416161.html Day 20 June 20 2009 Saturday in Helsinki Today is the last regualrly scheduled day of our Elderhostel trip. Tomorrow everyone but us will be leaving but more on that later. After breakfast we went on a bus tour of the city. Due to the midsummer holiday the streets were quite empty which made it much easier for the bus to get around. Helsini is the only European captial with no mediev http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-412950.html Day 19 Friday June 19 2009 Harjattula Finland Most of our Elderhostel group of 23 are rather sad that we didn't have another day in this lovely setting. But we are also eager to go to Helsinki the capital of Finland. So it is with mixed feelings that we leave this lovely spot of wild floweres forests along the Baltic Sea. These past few days we have been blessed with the bluest of ski http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-412236.html Day 18 Thursday June 18 2009 Turku Finland After breakfast in the school dining room we embarked on an all day excursion. As we passed through the edge of Turku pronouced tourkooo with the emphasis as for all Finnish words always on the first syllable the r is rolled and they they strecth out the vowels. Everyone is the area seems so proud of their city they speak of it so l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/blog-411914.html Wednesday June 17 2009 Turku Finland We arrivied at the harbor in Turku at 700am without any breakfast on the ship. We were hoping for coffee and a roll but no time. We managed to get our luggage on the elevator then down the gangway and then a long walk through the terminal to our waiting bus. Our new site coordinator Heikki Toimi was at the bus to welcome us. The drive to the scho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-410242.html June 16 2009 Tuesday Sweden Turku Finland Wonder of wonders We looked out the window this morning and saw a blue sky and sun shine Finally on our last day in Sweden we are going to have a nice day After breakfast we had our last talk from our Sweden site coordinator. Paul the Professor. Due to another group coming in our lecture was moved to upstairs in the manor house a lovely pal http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-410136.html Day 15 Monday June 15 2009 After breakfast we learned how the European Union was first thought about after WWII. France the Netherlands Belgium Luxemburg Italy and West Germany all signed the Rome Treaty in 1958 forming an European Economic Community. The countries agreed to economic cooperation customs cooperation a common market and common agriculture policy. In 1973 the Uni http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-409513.html Day 14 Sunday June 14 2009 Today is an all day field trip. Unfortunatley it is still raining. We have lost track of how many days it's been raining now. But we were told that is hasn't been this cold in Sweden in June in the last 50 years I've been wearing layers but could have used a warmer coat. Someone on our trip was told last June they were hot when they visited Scandi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-409453.html Day 13 June 13 2009 After breakfast we made our way up the hill to hear a lecture entitled A general look at Sweden today. Our site coordinator Paul Reichberg is a retired professor at the school. He actually lives in Uppsala which is a two hour train ride each way and he has been teaching at the school for 29 years He told us his father was Jewish and living in Vienna when the Anschl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-408513.html Day 12 Friday June 12 2009 In route to Sweden It's still raining this morning. I wasn't surprised as I had heard heavy rain pelting the hotel roof during the night. The hotel had a very nice buffet breakfast and great coffee. It's fun eating the soft boiled eggs out of the little egg cups with the tiny spoon. I guess it's something of an art to crack the top open and eat it without g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-408498.html Day 11 Thursday June 11 2009 This morning we said goodbye to our Askov folk school and headed east in our bus toward Copenhagen.We passed fields of red poppies fields of bright green pastures and lots of farms. At 1pm we arrived at our hotel in the small town of Hillerod just north of Copenhagen. Evidently hotel rooms in Copenhagen were fully booked months ahead of time by a medical conf http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/blog-408175.html Day 10 June 10 2009 from Askov Denmark Today was my favorite day in Denmark. We left the Askov Hojskole Folk School in the morning for an all day excursion to the town of Odense the letter d is silent the 4th largest city in Denmark. The main reason for our visit was to visit the museum of Hans Christian Andersen and the Open Air Museum. Odense located at the mouth of Odense http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/blog-408158.html Day 9 Tuesday June 9 2009 This morning in our Danish history and culture presentation by Professor Dochweiler we learned that in 1536 King Christian III took over the Catholic churches and monasteries confiscating their money and treasure. He then announced to his subjects that they were now protestants Denmark became a democracy in 1848 when a new constitution was written based on and i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/blog-407316.html Day 8 Monday June 8 2009 We had an introduction to Danish history today. Our professor from the folk school was Henning Dochweiler who has recently returned from Vienna where he was the head of the Danish Institute of Culture for 30 years Denmark has a total population of 5.4 million people and is only the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined. At one time it also included N http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/blog-407256.html Day 7 June 7 2009 After eating breakfast on the ferry and then struggling to get our luggage down the narrow passageways and in and out of the elevator and off the ship we found our bus and driver Lars. We then set off with our Group Leader Carl for the 3 hour ride to the Askov Hjskole the first folkschool in Denmark. It was built in 1865. Gene and I actually have a small three room fl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/blog-406270.html Day 6 June 6 2009 Klepp Norway We had an excursion to the nearby North Sea's Jren beaches the most famous beaches in Norway. They are wide and full of soft sand. They are rimmed with dunes covered with planted vegetaion to prevent erosion. The beaches of Norway are all protected and no building is allowed along the shore. All the beaches are open to the public. The sea is a surprising http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/blog-406263.html Friday June 5 2009 This is our favoriate day so far on our three week Scandinavian adventure. The weather gods were kind to us and the seemingly gale force winds we had experienced four days straight vanished with the night Thank goodness We had a full day excursion starting with a bus ride from the folk school in Kleppe near the port of Stavanger to the tiny Lauvvik where we caught a b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-405643.html Day 4 June 4 2009 The sky is so blue here and the air seems especially clear. The sparkling water of the fjords with their frothy white caps is lovely but that cold wind off the North Sea has been really cold We had a guest lecturer this morning a tall slim Norweigan dressed in black jeans blue and white stripped long sleeve shirt and black sneakers. He spoke excellent English so it was ea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-405293.html We landed in to Stavanger Norway this afternoon at 1pm local time 22 hours after we had left our home in The Villages FL. We flew US Air to Philadelphia and Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then a smaller Lufthansa plane to Stavanger Norway. Hurray I wrote the above information last night after 10pm local time but decided to stop and go to bed. The moon was up but it was still quite light http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-404679.html