Blogs from Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland, Europe - page 32

Ever since starting my travels with my Mother, it's been a struggle to log in and blog. She thinks it's a waste of time, waste of money, what's there to say, who's reading anyway, yada yada, and I get her ueber disapproving looks whenever I mention that I want to go internet. Fine, whatever, we are almost to the end anyway. I will write some more when I get home and post some last lovely photos, even though we all know that it just ain't the same to be doing a travelblog from home. Laters, Judy... read more

Hello everyone, The first thing we learned about Finland is that they do not consider themselves to be part of Scandinavia. They do not have mountains and their language is completely different. They draw closer parallels to the Irish temperment. For example, they share an animosity toward authority--especially the police. They are suspicious of anyone trying to be better--people who wear a jacket and tie. The Finns are also suspicious of anyone who speaks Swedish. They learn Swedish in school, but then forget it as quickly as they can. Finland is a full member of the European Union--they also use euros. The group most affected by this union is the Finnish farmer. They lost their subsidies and as a result half have disappeared. By the way, Norway is still not a member of the EU, Sweden ... read more

Sing it with me....'the love boat, soon we'll be dah dah dah (obviously dont know the words).... okay there's a point to that beginning.... Last night we sailed across from sweden to finland on an extremely large overnight ferry, otherwise affectionately known as the love boat!!! Word is a couple of contiki rebels managed to find a bit of lovin.... however most witnesses reported back with an immense amount of self inflicted sickness....related to the excessive consumption of alcohol, not the swaying of the boat!! The evening started with a karaoke stint, with the aussies happy to clap along to the crazy sweds singing whatever it was that they were singing. For the record, those swedes go off! However, there came a time when the aussies were no longer happy to clap along, they wanted songs ... read more

The flight across Japan, Mongolia and Siberia en route to Helsinki.... read more

Hi all. Looks like I´m gonna be putting my entries in late afternoon, so tadays will include last night and so on. A little complicated but I'm sure you get the picture. With that in mind, last night was awsome. I returned to my room to find I now had a decent room mate; an old Finish guy called Emile who had come to Helsinki from northern Finland to play in a Chess Tournament. When I came in he was practicing a with his woden board, so after introducing my self I challenged him to a couple of games. Needles to say I was slaughtered. Both times he had me beat in less than 20 mins despite letting me retake every other move saying 'I think manybe this is not so good´. Leaving Emile I decided ... read more