Blogs from Uusimaa, Finland, Europe - page 14

Huh.. Huomenna pitäisi lähteä vihdoin viettämään loput kesälomasta. Ihan järjetön kiire töissä ja tietenkin reissusuunnitelmat eläneet taas ihan loppumetreille. Tai no, ykköskohde Filippiinit on ollut selvillä jo pidemmän aikaa, mutta lentolakot ja koreoiden kähinä ovat hiukan vaikeuttaneet reititystä ja saaneet pään sekaisin. Melko järjetön reititys tästä näytti muodostuvan, mutta kova oli hinku sukeltamaan ja Filippiinit on siihen huippukohde. Camotesin saarta on luonnehdittu monella keskustelupalstalla tyyliin:" ei ole mitään muuta kuin hiekkarantaa eikä kännykään toimi. Paikalliset kalastajat touhuaa vaan aamulla ja sukellusskene ei ole vielä kehittynyt kunnolla". No sehän kuulostaa ihan paratiisilta! Moni muu Filippiinien paikka on täynnä biletystä, joka olisi varmaan ollut valinta 10v sitten. Käytännössä pari majoitusvaihtoehtoa(jos ei halua paikallisten nurkkiin lojumaan) ja 1 ... read more

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 What a difference a day makes! Went from a capital city (Reykjavik, Iceland) that is smaller in public buildings than most small towns in US that are county seats to a CITY with narrow trams, HUGE railroad station like in Vienna and Frankfurt, buildings more than 5 stories etc., and many people rushing everywhere. Iceland with a total population of 300 thousand for whole country and its mostly pastoral setting was left far behind. (To see the blog for Iceland, the first part of our trip, go to: http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Iceland/blog-590551.html Walking from the train station to the hotel (Scandic Marski)---local bus from airport dropped us off there---we cam... read more

So finally the big day arrived and yesterday we were able to finally achieve one of our main objectives of our trip, attending Phil's and Sarita's wedding in Espoo, Finland. After 5 weeks of travel through Bali, Thailand, India and Finland we made it and were very excited about it all. All the trip planning, travel, sharing of rooms and beds, tailoring of clothes and stresses were put behinds. Hopefully it would all pay off. So how did it go you ask? Brilliant, on every level. We left Helsinki at 3.30pm for the 30 minute drive up to Espoo. We had a large (and very flash mini-bus thanks to Kirsty) for a large portion of the family from Australia. We were all in our glad rags for the big day. This was actually part 2 of ... read more

Seeing as I've massively over-compensated for my late ferry check-in by turning up 2 hours to early for my Stockholm ferry, named the Silja Serenade, I shall take the opportunity to catch up here. Yesterday I set out on a northbound excursion through some quiet parkland. I just kept walking along the coast and stumbled upon the Sibelius Memorial, a big bundle of floating organ pipes on a rock next to a melting head. It reminded me of my Harmonium and it's lovely decorative pipes. I hope Reg is in good health and making rapid progress with his pianolas... Anyway, I continued on my way stopping briefly on a splendid rocky outcrop to be buffeted by the Finnish winds (perhaps bellowing from the great harmonium in the sky). What a pleasant walk, I thought to myself ... read more

After nearly 5 weeks in Asia we have arrived in Scandinavia ready for the wedding. Alex is absolutely rapt that people have stopped following him around and pinching his cheeks (the Fins are pretty tall so probably don't see him). Our flight from Dehli to Helsinki was excellent. Because the average male here is 185cm and the average female is 170cm (yes I am the avearge height of a Finnish women) so we had plenty of leg room on the plane. It was a very comfortable flight. A CF of 8 to Finnair and those tall Finnish people. It was about Sunday lunchtime when we landed and most of the people were catching connecting flights to other destinations. As a result there were not many of us who went through immigration and out of the airport. ... read more