Blogs from Uusimaa, Finland, Europe - page 12

After not going to bed until 3:30am and being woken up at 8 by people leaving I wasn’t happy. I turned over and snoozed until my alarm went at 9:30am ok ok time to get up. After slugging out of bed it was off the market for a fresh fruit breakfast then off to the hop on hop off tour to see a little of what I had missed yesterday when the rain was coming down. I had planned to hop off at the furthest point and take pictures on my way back but I got tired of the traffic and the accent of the women narrating cus, ones is enough. It was also a bright sunny day so what the heck. I got off at the third stop and walked towards Temppeliaukio (the church in ... read more

Today I sat waiting to set up a bank account surrounded by other people. The bank teller came over to say a couple things and I felt like the least intelligent person in the room. I did not understand one word that came out of her mouth. I think I am going to start studying an hour of Finnish every night or I will just continue to look like the confused/lost tourist. The last thing I want to be like are the immigrants in Canada that refuse to adapt to our culture. You know the ones where you dial to order a pizza from, and it goes something like this: "Hi I would like to order a large pizza." "ya ya." "Can I get a pepperoni pizza?" "So you want a hawaiin pizza with pop." "No ... read more

Day 17, Sunday Monday and Tuesday, 7th –9th August, 2011 Helsinki Let’s go shopping!!! A girly afternoon of exploring the centre of Helsinki with another cousin Mia. Lots of other tourists were on the same quest, I heard lots of English, and other languages being spoken around me. We walked past the beautiful Art Deco frontage of the railway station, the entrance flanked by two statue figures with chiselled Nordic features. We wondered along the cobble-stoned (Luckily I didn’t wear high heels for walking in town- I would have done myself an injury) footpaths to Mannerheim street and Alexander street to look in at the many boutiques; lots of little shops featuring handcrafts by various Finnish artists and artisans, inventive and beautiful. We stopped in at Globe Hope, a business which creates goods from recycled materials, ... read more

one day trip in Helsinki, with Harry and Jenny!... read more

Day one Thursday 21st July, 2011-07-22 Helsinki to near Jyvaskyla I arrived ABSOLUTELY exhausted from being in a seat for twelve hours. The plane was about 20 minutes ahead of schedule which the captain was very keen to inform the passengers. The time was 6:10 am Helsinki time and the weather was a warm 20 degrees Celsius. Beautiful except for the fact that my butt was numb, I’d managed about three hours sleep since leaving home at 7:00 the previous morning, and my body clock was screaming it’s two thirty in the afternoon and I want out of here. Apparently there is a limit of how much plane travel I can handle. Disembarking went without a hitch, but who in their right mind thought that a fully loaded handbag, a seven kilo carryon bag and a ... read more